Page 38 of Choosing You

“I’m trying not to focus on that,” he admitted. “And I just thought the festival would be fun because this time, she wouldn’t be running away. I already told Jade I wouldn’t work the kissing booth anymore.”

Devin’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? Wow.”

He shrugged. “Well, it was fun for a while, but for the last two years I was only doing it because I was hoping Sloane would come back.”

“So you’re really committed to doing this, huh? Taking her to this thing?”

“You and MacKenzie socialized with everyone,” Will said, a little too defensively. “And you didn’t know her all that well in the beginning.”

“It was totally different,” Devin argued lightly. “MacKenzie and I were working together every day, and she was living in my house. We had plenty of time alone. If I were in your shoes? I’d want to spend all of our weekend time alone. Take her out on a proper date—one that doesn’t involve hanging out at a town festival—and maybe make that weekend a little less about the physical and get to know her more.”

In theory, it sounded good, but there was no guarantee that Will was going to have any kind of self-control by the time she came back. As of now, it had only been a couple of hours and he was already missing Sloane and thinking about seeing her again.

Kissing her.

Touching her.

“Oh, man…I know that look,” Devin murmured. “You’re a goner.”

Yeah, tell me something I didn’t already know, Will said to himself.

Fortunately, MacKenzie called out that there was a call for Devin, so that officially ended their conversation.

Working on cars all day, however, gave him lots of time to think, but at the end of the day, he didn’t have any answers. Only more questions.

When he got home, it was a little after six and he went through his nightly ritual of showering before making himself something to eat. Tonight, he was a little more exhausted than usual—thanks to Sloane—and he was satisfied with whipping up a batch of mac and cheese. After he finished eating, he was sitting with his feet up on the couch when his phone dinged with an incoming text.

Sloane: Hey! How was your day?

His face hurt from smiling so hard. It was so freaking amazing that she was texting him and he wished she were just sitting here with him right now.

“I guess texting is like the next best thing,” he murmured before responding.

Will: Hey! It was a long and dirty day. A typical Monday.

Will: How was your day?

Sloane: It was a good day. I took a yoga class at Hailey’s studio and then spent the afternoon babysitting my niece.

Sloane: I had no idea babies could poop that much.

Sloane: I must have changed her diaper like four times.

Sloane: Zero stars. Do not recommend.

Sloane: LOL!

Will chuckled as he got a little more comfortable.

Will: How come you were babysitting?

Sloane: Max had to meet with some inspectors at the bar and one of Hailey’s instructors called in sick so she had to cover a class.

Sloane: So it was me and Layla for around four hours total.

Sloane: Hailey ran errands after class and I told her I didn’t mind.

Sloane: That was before I realized what a big pooper Layla was!

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