Page 48 of Prince Charmless
“Ridiculous woman, and you have officially descended into madness.”
“Just take it, Taylor.”
And he does just that. I’m a bit caught off guard. My hand is so tiny in comparison his fingers could wrap around twice.
“I think this marks a new era between us,” I say.
I try to take my hand back, but Taylor squeezes harder.
“Don’t think we’re going to be painting each other’s nails. If this is a friendship, it’s going to be very one-sided.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” I flip our hands horizontally to inspect his fingers. “Your cuticles could use some work, though. My mom could help you with—”
He swipes his hand away. I’ll let him eat.
“I should return your keys,” he says when I turn around.
I’m glad the spares aren’t at the bottom of the ocean.
“Nah. You can keep it. Us peasants give our spare keys to friends in case we ever get locked out. So if I get drunk at a barand let my bag get lost, you’re the one I’ll be calling up. Isn’t that fun?”
“You make very unwise choices in friends if you think I’ll come to save your ass in the middle of the night.”
“You’d leave me on the streets?”
“Oh, in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t think twice.”
I make the face of a sad puppy.
“I’d sleep so soundly knowing you were out there, cold and alone.”
Yeah sure.
I turn on the sink to start with the dishes.
“You don’t have to do that,” he says damn near automatically. See, he’s way too polite to let me sleep on the streets.
“Nope. We’re not even if I don’t.”
He doesn’t protest, but I appreciate the offer.
“Oh, I almost forgot! I have a surprise for you.”
Taylor rubs his eyes. “Melina, I’m really done with surprises,” he practically whines.
“No, this is a good one. Check your phone.” I text him the web address. “That’s a private link, it’s not actually up yet.”
His brow furrows as he scrolls through the website. “How long did it take you to do this?”
“I had a lot of it done before—” I stop myself from mentioning our original quarrel. What was it about again? “It wasn’t that hard really, it’s not like you’re going to use it to sell anything. Right now, it’s just a shell, but at least you have the domain. You’ll have to find someone to update it every once in a while with pictures of adorable children.”
“Thank you, Melina, this is, um, it’s—”
He trails off. He’s never trailed off before.
My shoulders droop. “Is something not right?”
“No,” he says, almost cutting me off. “It’s great. And becoming real, finally.” He holds up his phone and takes another bite of my omelet. “It’s not just an idea in my mind, you know?”
