Page 139 of Problematic Summer Romance

Maya:A bit funny, come on.

Maya:If I give you my two euros, will you forgive me?

Conor:No, but I’ll use them to buy a gag and mittens, since you are unable to behave.

Maya:You really don’t know the price of things, uh.

Maya:Anyway, where are you?

Conor:Check your phone

Maya:Oooh. When did you share your location?

Conor:You were asleep.

Maya:Cute! What else did you do to my nubile body while I was unconscious?

Conor:Check the sole of your right foot.

Maya:Wow.

Maya:I can’t believe I actually expected to find something.

Maya:Well played, Harkness.

Conor: It’s what you get.

Conor:Trouble.

It takes twodays for the eruption to die down, three for flights to become available, five for me to head back with the dogs. Good times, good food, good company. I miss Conor, but not in the way I used to. Less like a hole in my chest, and more of a temporary ache in my joints.

Paul offers to help me transport Tiny and Bitty, and flies into Austin with me.

“Thank you,” I tell him at the airport, as we finish our espressos at the bar counter, elbows brushing, croissant flakes sticking to our fingers.

“You’re welcome. So, you and Hark?”

I nod.

“Cool. I mean, weird.”

“Why?”

“Well, he’s terrifying.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Yeah, he is.”

I laugh. “Okay, fine, yes. He is a bit terrifying.”

Paul snorts. “I just didn’t see this coming. I mean, did you know I interned with him? He was such a hard-ass. And you…you’ll always be the girl who puked on me all those years ago.”

I think about the stench of half-digested mac and cheese filling Eli’s beat-up Honda Civic. And then about what’s to come—new job, new life. New boyfriend, old love. I think about the little moments that are going to make up my near future. Sorting myself out. All the firsts ahead. Baby steps and races to the finish line. Building memories.

With a smile, I say, “I won’t, though.”

Nyota:First day back at work. Had an EGG WHITE OMELETTE for breakfast.

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