Page 25 of A Very Grumpy Thanksgiving

I take a deep breath and look around the shop before I lean closer to my friend.

“I slept with Nolan,” I tell her.

“What!?” A voice shrieks by the front door, and my head snaps up, relaxing when I see my sisters, Maple and Olive, standing at the door.

“I, uh, I slept with Nolan last night,” I tell them.

“You’re fake boyfriend?” Maple asks at the same time that Olive says, “Your neighbor?”

“Yeah…”

“So, are you two officially together?” Lilou asks me.

“I… don’t know,” I admit. “We slept together, and then I left while he was still sleeping, and we haven’t talked since.”

“Well, do you want to be with him? Do you like him?” Maple asks me, and I swallow hard.

“Yeah, I do,” I whisper.

“Then talk to him! Tell him that you want to really be his girlfriend,” Olive tells me.

“I…” I trail off, and they all share a knowing look.

“It can be scary,” Maple says gently, and I nod.

“What if he doesn’t want to be with me? What if it was just a one-night stand for him or a mistake? Then I’ll have to keep living next door to him and seeing him all of the time, and he’s still fixing up my house, so that’s going to make it even more awkward, and then I’ll have to sell the house, and move to avoid him and?—”

“Whoa! Slow down, Saffron. It’s going to be okay,” Olive says, her eyes wide with concern.

“You don’t know that,” I groan miserably.

“You need to talk to him,” Lilou says, and I nod.

“I know, I’m just scared.”

An image of Nolan above me, moving inside of me, fills my head, and I swallow hard. Last night felt so real, and I can’t help but wonder if it just felt that way for me or if he felt it, too. Was it just a fling for him? Or something more?

“Just be brave and ask him. The worst that he can say is that it was just a one-time thing, and then you can work on moving on,” Maple says.

“Hey! You guys all hanging out without us?” Ginger and Mira ask as they come into the bookstore.

“Saffron is freaking out, and we’re helping her,” Olive tells them, and I groan.

“Why?” Ginger asks.

“She slept with Nolan last night,” Maple tells them.

“Woohoo!” Mira cheers, and I shake my head.

“I’m worried that it’s just a one-night stand for him,” I explain.

“It’s not. I’ve seen him look at you, and he’s always mooning over you,” Mira says.

“Yeah! I mean, I wish that someone would look at me like that,” Lilou agrees.

“Babe, I keep telling you that I’ll look at you any way that you want me to,” Milo says as he joins us in the store, and Lilou jumps, whirling around.

“We need to get a bell for the doors,” she grumbles.

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