Page 70 of The Now in Forever
“No, but I can find out; my buddy is the agent on that one. I can probably get the keys. We could look around.”
Kyle checks his phone. “Oh, it’s later than I realized. I have to run. Maybe I’ll see you at the bar? I’ll be there tomorrow—and all the other days except Saturday. It’s my day off.”
I smile. “Your day off to go work.”
He laughs. “Exactly. Do you want me to get the keys to the bookstore?”
“Yeah, actually. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to take a look.” There’s no harm in looking.
“No trouble at all. Here, give me your number. I’ll text you.”
He hands me his phone, and I enter my number, feeling incredibly guilty as I do. But I shouldn’t. It’s not like we’re going on a date. As I hand the phone back, our fingers brush for a brief moment.
There is a heavy pause where I think he may lean in, but it’s over before I know it.
“See you later.” Kyle walks away extremely fast down the street.
I call after him, “Thank you!”
He waves over his shoulder.
I go for a little walk,finishing what’s left of my latte, window shopping and trying to escape the feeling that’s lingering from my run-in with Kyle like perfume hanging in the air. I should’ve mentioned Ed while we were hanging out. But how? Just say, “Oh hey, remember that guy I insisted I wasn’t dating? Turns out I’m dating him now…I think. Just so you know, FYI and all that.”
He would’ve looked at me like I was insane. Completely uncalled-for information. It’s fine. Kyle and I are just friends. Friends buy friends journals all the time. I just bought these journals for my friends, in fact. Technically, Kyle did. I finish off my oat milk latte and throw the empty cup in a nearby trash can.
When I get back to the house, the deck is set up with a cheese board to rival all other cheese boards. It has all varieties of olives—green, Kalamata, an oily mix of chopped ones. There are five different cheeses, three kinds of crackers, and little pickles that are so cute, I nearly clap when I see them. A bowl of cashews, one of rosemary roasted almonds, and another of walnuts mixed with dried cherries dot the spread. Fresh raspberries are interspersed throughout the board at the same time, separating sections and tying it all together. I reach out for one and pop it into my mouth, the mix of sweet and tart hitting me right in the back of the jaw.
“Hey, no pilfering the snacks. Wait until it starts.” Robin wags her finger at me, a bottle of white wine in her other hand. She dunks it in the waiting ice bucket.
“I couldn’t help it.”
Anh comes out with three stemless wineglasses. “I bought red too. Should I bring it out now?”
Robin purses her lips to the side, eyes searching the clouds before declaring, “We’ll start with the white. Are we all ready?”
“Let me just use the bathroom, and then I’m all set.”
Robin and Anh both flit around the table, fixing little things, making it perfect. It fills my heart with so much joy. Giving them both a kiss on the cheek, I head inside and run up the stairs, feeling like a kid before a birthday party.
I use the bathroom quickly, wondering if I should’ve wrapped the journals. I take my tote bag to my room, thinking maybe I can find some ribbon or string to at least tie the pen to the journal, but I stop dead in my tracks. Ed is in his room, door open, audiobook blaring out impossibly fast words. He’s packing.
“Oh, hey.” Ed catches me watching him. “Getting ready for book club?”
I nod. “Are you and Nathan going somewhere?” I motion to the small rolling suitcase open and half full on his bed.
He runs a hand over his hair. It’s the exact same gesture he used to do when he had a shaved head. I wonder if that’s when the habit started. I wonder if he expects to feel the soft yet prickly hairs under his hand instead of his longer hair he has now. It’s like my brain is trying to distract me from what’s happening. “I have to go.”
“Go?”
He clears his throat. “Yeah, my trip to LA. My agent sold the film rights toVex,and there’s a director attached—a big one. He wants to meet me. Didn’t I tell you all this?”
“No.” All the blood rushes from my face. “Ed, that’s great.”
Ed keeps packing while he talks. “He wants to meet me—him and the producer. They want me to write the screenplay. There’s a party at his house in LA tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
Ed stops and looks me in the eye. “Yeah, my flight’s in a couple of hours.”
