Page 481 of Dark Love

“Dahl.”

“Exactly. So I’ll give her as much time as she needs. But more than that, I liked her. She seems like a nice woman. Do you know how many friends I have?”

He shrugs. “No. You haven’t introduced me to any.”

“That’s because I don’t have any friends… well, Max might sorta be one. But it’s not the same having guy friends as it is having girl friends.”

“Why don’t you have any?”

It’s my turn to shrug mostly because I can’t answer that without explaining my teen years to him. Those are better forgotten.

“What about those two women that were at my club with you?”

“We’re friendly, but… I don’t know. Maybe we’ll become friends eventually. That’s beside the point. You can never have enough friends, and I’d like Imogene to be one.”

Vex’s brow wrinkles.

“What do you disagree with?”

“Trusting people is a weakness. Being friends with people leaves you exposed.”

He’s right.

“Why haven’t you trusted people, Dahl?”

My therapist would say it’s some sort of learned trauma or distrust of myself. “Because it’s easier not to. And I’m lazy.”

“A woman that spends four hours making bread for a stranger is hardly lazy.”

“Even if she’s the same woman that plans to spend all of Sunday in bed reading?”

“How about we split our time between bed, the library, and my balcony?”

His balcony? “I didn’t see a balcony.”

“You didn’t exactly have a tour the last time.”

That means. “You have a library.”

Vex nods.

“Can we go see it now?”

“You sound like a kid asking to go out for ice cream.”

Ohhh. Ice cream sounds good too. “We could pick up ice cream on the way to your library.”

“Dahl, it’s nine at night, and you have to work tomorrow.”

The irritating man is right. “Party pooper.”

Vex chuckles, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “We could pick up ice cream on the way back and eat it in bed.”

“See, now that’s a good answer. Then we can spend the whole afternoon Saturday and most of Sunday exploring your library.” I would have suggested tomorrow, but if I don’t get to work packing, I’m never going to get it done. Where did I stick those suitcases?

“Sounds like a plan.”

I should really tell Vex about next week, but not now. Right now, I need to decompress from the day with more sugar and safe arms.

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