Page 38 of The Story We Wrote

“Are we having a picnic?” I said in disbelief.

“Would it be a good thing if we were?” he asked, suddenly unsure.

“Oh, hell yeah!” I love a good picnic. Give me a basket and a blanket in some grass, and you won my heart. Boone tucked me under his arm and walked me towards the park across the street. He laid the red blanket out and placed the basket on the far edge.

“After you,” he said, waving a hand in front of the blanket. I sat down, and Boone sat next to me. He opened the basket and pulled out a bottle of wine with two glasses. I’d recognize that bottle anywhere; it was my favorite. Boone poured two glasses, one for me and one for him. “Cheers to a fun date.”

Clinking my glass against his, I took a sip. I couldn’t believe he remembered and brought a bottle for the date.

“This has probably been the best one I’ve been on,” I said.

“I had to pull out the big guns,” Boone said. “But just wait.”

“Oh no, wait for what?”

“I have our next date planned. It’s the grand finale,” Boone said.

A sinking feeling crept into my chest as the happiness dissipated. We only had one more date left. I hadn’t even started writing yet, and it was all coming to an end.

Boone pulled out a brown paper bag; I could tell that bag was anywhere. Inside was a blueberry muffin. One of my muffins.

Boone and I spent the next hour watching people and making up stories, except we knew most of them that walked by. I couldn’t help smiling the entire way home, thinking of every detail over and over again.

Seventeen

Aspen

Aspen: I need to meet with you, ASAP. Please tell me you are available tonight. I’m about to explode.

Theo: SAME.

Penny: I’m scared, I can make time.

Aspen: Please and thank you!

Penny: How about the Tequila Cowboy (;

Aspen: *eye roll*

Theo: Tacos?

Penny: SAY LESS.

My mind had been nothing but chaos since spending the day with Boone at the farmers market. Normal functioning hadn’t been my friend, and I didn’t tell anyone about the date. I also refused to take this damn bracelet off. Being stuck in my head with all these unknown emotions hasn’t been fun. My only hope was to lay it all on the table and get another perspective from Penny and Theo.

Writing had been coming in spurts lately. Right now, I wasfeeling confident in the way things were flowing. I worked first by setting the scene, a small town out west. I planned to mirror it after Faircloud but give it its own quirks. I was spending a lot of time on Pinterest, creating the mood and finding visions that matched mine. Creating a mood board has been a true therapeutic process. This was the most I’ve done towards writing a novel, and I was on cloud nine. I knew, with time, ideas would keep flowing and it’d get easier if I reached deep and found the confidence. When I thought about my story, I was consumed by images of Boone. My MMC mirrored him nearly identically. A Zach Bryan love song, and he was the last great American cowboy.

I pulled up to the restaurant where I was meeting Penny and Theo. I needed this last-minute girl time because I hadn’t had a conscious thought outside of Boone Cassidy in days. Our nighttime chats hadn’t stopped, and we were definitely more touchy-feely than ever before. I found myself sneaking small touches, whether that be my hand on his knee, tapping him when he made me laugh, or falling into the crook of his arm on the swing. I knew he did it too, sitting closer to me or brushing by me when he helped clean up at the stand. I couldn’t help feeling electrified when he got closer.

Penny and Theo were already there at a booth in the far back corner, tucked away just how I liked it. I made my way back and plopped down next to Penny.

“You two aren’t ready for this,” I said, sighing and placing my purse on the window ledge.

“Well, hello to you, too,” Theo said.

“Spill it now. Your text sounded urgent,” Penny urged.

“I think I’m falling for Boone Fucking Cassidy,” I confessed, finally clearing out my head. Before I let them ask me questions or comment, I needed to provide a little context. “These past few weeks have been a lot of self-discovery and learning to acceptmyself. I love books. I love reading romance, as both of you already know. I want to be a romance author.” I continued, “I never felt like I had the experience to write about love, and well, Boone and I made a deal. He offered to take me on three dates to give me the inspiration to start. I thought I could do it and we could stay friends, but I seemed to have caught the bug.”

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