Page 83 of Cherry on Top

“There you go.” Enzo finished the first half of his sandwich, but before he picked up the other half, he swallowed down half the water. “It sounds like a perfect fit.”

“Yeah.” Rocco leaned back. “Kinda like you and Will.”

Enzo rolled his eyes—even though it wasn’t like he hadn’t had that thought cross his mind more than once. “I’m only surprised it took you so long to drag the subject back around to him.”

Rocco grinned. “That’s ’cause I was so excited about the coffee shop I had to lead with that first.”

“Of course.”

“It’s going good, then?” Rocco paused. “The other day, at the coffee shop, when he kissed you, you looked floored, then you ran out of there and forgot your muffin. And you know Oliver’s muffins aren’t very forgettable.”

“They’re . . .uh not. I just remembered something I had to do then,” Enzo mumbled. He didn’t think he’d even spat out an excuse before he’d gone running after Will.

“Your mom was a little worried you were upset with him.”

Enzo knew a leading question when he heard it. He hummed under his breath as he finished the second half of his sandwich.

“I told her she was being paranoid,” Rocco continued. “But I wondered.”

“It’s . . .it’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

“So that wasn’t your first kiss with him, then?”

Enzo didn’t want to lie, but then he’d done it before, hadn’t he? Out of necessity, not necessarily out of choice but . . .

“You were there, at our first date. What do you think?” It wasn’t a lie. Of course it wasn’t exactly the truth, either.

Rocco shot him a knowing look. “I think that was a farce. A total freaking farce. You weren’t dating. But now . . .now I think you are.”

“It’s complicated.” It wasn’t, though. Not nearly as he’d convinced himself that it was, back then.

Of course that didn’t mean it was simple, either. How could it be, when for the first time since coming back to Indigo Bay, he’d experienced that same ache that had always driven him away before?

He didn’t want it to drive him away now. He wasn’t going to let it. But that meant learning to live with it, too. If he’d been able to do that before, he’d have just done it.

But you’re older. Wiser. You grew the fuck up. You can do this. If it means keeping Will.

“It would be,” Rocco said calmly. “He lives here. You don’t.”

“I don’t really live anywhere.” It was true. He had some stuff in a storage unit in San Francisco, but otherwise, he traveled around from city to city, painting murals and building his reputation.

“True.” Rocco gave him a speculative look. “So you’re gonna change how you do things, huh? For him?”

He was booked a year out. There were breaks, of course, and during those he’d explored new places, visit Chiara and Ilaria, or even head down to LA and stay with Gabe and Ren for a few days. Occasionally, he’d even let his mother guilt him into coming here.

But now . . .well, what was stopping him from using Indigo Bay as his home base?

Nothing.

Except your own freaking sanity.

But how sane would he be if he didn’t see Will again? If he came back to town and saw him sad and alone? Or even worse, if he saw him happy with someone else?

That was so much worse.

“For him. And . . .” Enzo trailed off. Realizing he was about to say, for me, too. Realized that it was actually true.

Rocco smiled, so knowingly, and patted him on the arm as he stood. “Told you he was hot.”

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