Page 58 of Flake It Til You Make It

Taylor barely needed to give it a moment of thought. Walter would say, in that kind, patient, but spine-of-steel way of his,You like this boy? Then you do the right thing by him.

Taylor of a few days ago might’ve believed that “doing the right thing by him” would be dissolving this faux relationship and staying casual friends.

But now, he wasn’t so sure.

No—that was a lie. Hewassure. Terrified, but sure.

“You’re awfully quiet today,” Walter said. “You sure there isn’t anything on your mind?”

“I . . .uh . . .” He didn’t mean to say it. He really didn’t mean to. But it came out anyway. “I met someone.”

“Really? Oh, Taylor, that’s great news. Who is he?”

“He just moved here, actually. Bought the coffee shop. Then changed everything. Kinda pissed off a lot of caffeine lovers in town.”

“You’re gonna rescue him, aren’t you?” Walter sounded amused.

“Actually . . .Rocco’s more the kind to rescue himself. I helped him see it, but he’s on the right path. Forging hisownpath, actually. He’s . . .well.”

“Speechlessness is always a good sign,” his dad teased. “When I met your mother, I felt like I couldn’t string together a sentence for months. But really, I’m happy for you. You work too hard. Could use a little more fun in your life.”

Was Rocco fun? Well, he sure as hell wasn’t dull.

Taylor always felt more alive when they were together, like he was seeing and tasting and smelling for the first time in a long time.

“I think so too,” Taylor agreed. “Guess we’ll see if it plays out.”

“Just like that job you want, you give this Rocco kid that kind of attention, show him a real good time? He’s going to love you, just the way I do,” his dad said firmly.

“Dad,” Taylor chuckled weakly.

“It’s true. You’ve got this.”

Taylor didn’t think he really did, but his dad’s confidence, like always, gavehimconfidence.

“I gotta get to penuchle,” Walter said. “But it’s the holiday season. Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“Okay,” Taylor said, a sudden lump forming in the back of his throat. “Love you, Dad.”

“Love you, too.”

Rocco didn’t know what the heck he was doing.

In this moment.

Or frankly, in general.

He’d not onlyletTaylor kiss him, he’d been a more-than-enthusiastic participant, and then he’d just let him—and himself!—off the hook.

What he should’ve done was tell Taylor to fuck right off and then insist it was off, their “relationship” was over.

But he hadn’t done that.

Rocco huffed under his breath as he opened the door to the Christmas Falls Museum. It had been days and days since their last date and their kiss, and he still wasn’t over it.

Still wasn’t done thinking about it. Or Taylor.

To distract himself, Rocco had been doing some digging, trying to figure out the best place to get what he needed, and at the end of the day, it seemed that would be the Christmas Falls Festival Museum and its curator, Harvey Novak.

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