Page 46 of Why Not Both?

“Well, thank you. And thanks for changing the subject earlier.”

He shrugs. “It’s easy. You can always count on Adalie if you need to change the subject. Though Vic and Derek totally saw through it. Probably Adalie, too.”

“I still appreciate it.”

He wraps me in a hug, warming me to my toes. “I’ll see you on Wednesday, firecracker.”

Then he presses a kiss to the top of my head and holds the door open for me to go inside. When I get to the elevator, I turn back and wave at him where he’s standing, watching me through the door. He waves and then goes back to the car where Vic and the driver are waiting.

Chapter 18

Spencer

Spencer

As is my usual routine these days, I stand at the window looking down at Sunset Beach with my coffee when Vic emerges from her bedroom.

“Has she run past yet?” Vic asks, deadpan.

“I don’t know. Because I am not a stalker.”

She snorts and goes to pour herself a cup of coffee as well, coming to stand next to me to also look out the window. She’s taken to doing this for me, so I don’t feel like such a creep. And I love her for it.

“There’s something I’ve been thinking about lately,” I say after a few moments of silence.

“What?”

“I think it might be time for me to find my own place.”

In my peripheral vision, I see her turn toward me. “Why?”

I consider how to answer her for a moment. Then, I say, “I don’t really have anything that’s just mine.”

She doesn’t argue with that. Instead, she says, “I like having you here.”

She says it in her small voice, her I’m-letting-you-see-something-that-might-hurt-me voice.

“I like being here. But I think it’s easy. It’s safe. For both of us.” I turn to face her. “Do you think Emily is your person?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe me being here is stopping you from figuring it out.”

She lifts her eyebrow. “You hate her.”

“Yep. But I will love her if you do.”

“You’ll love her, huh?” she asks, disbelief lacing her tone.

I roll my eyes. “Fine. I’ll tolerate her. What do you want in life, Vic? Because neither of us have been in any kind of serious relationship in the last seven years. And if I keep staying here, that’s probably where we’re going to be in the next seven years as well.”

I turn back to the window, resting my head against the glass.

“So you’re moving out.”

I snort. “You know what the market’s like here. It might take some time. I should have got in when you did.”

“You had your reasons. In fact, didn’t they have something to do with not wanting a serious relationship?”

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