Page 61 of April

“She’s a…”

“Model, yeah.”

“Like, for those weekly free coupon things we get in the mail?” she asked.

“No, like she lives in LA and does some runway work.”

“Sorry? She lives in LA?”

“Yes. She’s in town for a few weeks for some photo shoots,” Asher shared. “She actually messaged me yesterday, but I didn’t reply because of the whole Cindy thing, then the Gavin thing, and then you and I were hanging out.”

“She’s a model?” she asked, needing to repeat it. “Can I see her picture? Maybe I’d recognize her.”

“She’s got some Dior contract and works with Gucci, too.”

“She does what?” Linden asked, surprised.

Asher passed her the phone then, and the piece of bacon Linden had just put into her mouth fell to the plate.

“This is Stephania.”

“Yeah,” Asher said.

“TheStephania. She doesn’t have a last name.”

“I’m sure she does. She just doesn’t use it professionally.”

“Asher, she’s not justamodel; she’s asupermodel. She’s a queer supermodel.”

“I know.”

“And you weren’t going to tell me this?” she asked as she scrolled through the photos that were clearly taken by professional photographers.

“It’s not really her,” Asher replied. “I’m sure it’s just someone using her name and info.”

“Probably. But you never know with these things. A lot of celebrities are on dating apps now.”

“Don’t they have their own rich, famous people app for that?”

“Maybe. But Stephania only started to get really famous recently. She has that androgyny thing that’s really in now. She did some small stuff and has been around for a while, but she hit supermodel status late for a model.”

“I’m sure it’s not her,” Asher said.

“But if it is, that could be cool, right? And you weren’t going to tell me about this? Really?”

“I wasn’t going to message her back. Honestly, at first, I didn’t even know who she was. I thought she was beautiful, obviously, but I was busy and not thinking about giving the app another shot when it came in, so I didn’t pay attention. Then, I checked the message again this morning when I woke up and you were cooking, and I realized who she was.”

“A supermodel wants to go out with you.”

“She just asked to talk if I was interested.”

“But she’s only here for a few weeks.”

“Yes, that’s what she said,” Asher replied and took a bite of her pancake. “I’m not going to go out with her.”

“Why not?”

“Linden, she’s only here for a few weeks. I don’t want to go on a couple of dates with someone, like them, and have them leave right after, before we can get started. And I don’t want to just have sex with her.” Asher paused. “It would be my first time with a woman. I don’t want it to be with someone I’d never see again.”

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