Page 58 of With Stars in Her Eyes
“Did she make you watch the six-hour one too?” Thea cradled her chin in her hands on the counter.
“Obviously. I memorized the DVD menu because it played constantly during finals.”
“Well, I’m not watching that one alone. Honestly, watching this one alone was interesting because… well, you haven’t met my mother, but I’ll just say there are some similarities between my mom and Mrs. Bennet.”
I winced sympathetically. “Yikes. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Before I could say anything else, Sam pulled Thea to the middle of the store where the map of booths for the book fair was laid out on one of the large book tables. We were less than two weeks out from Menagerie Books’ biggest event of the year. The manager I had taken over for during her maternity leave came back last week. I had reverted to the role of a typical bookseller, which gave me a lot more time to overthink about the next steps with Thea, while ignoring calls from everyone about the uncertain future of Kestrel.
The minutes watching my best friend and the woman I had a shameless crush on talk gave me enough time to muster everyounce of my resolve. And with that resolve came the simultaneous self-doubt. After a lot of reflection and conversations with Sam, I realized I had never exactlydated. I met lots of women and…well, I fucked a lot of them during my first year on tour. What Sam elegantly and affectionately refers to as mycell-hoephase. After that I traveled too much to think about something long-term. But all in all, it was kind of miraculous that sex was comfortable for me at all given how things were during my first experiences with it.
Butdating?
Well, that shit was scary.
I could count on one hand the number of people I felt comfortable talking to at length, and no matter how many people I met while touring, that number hadn’t changed in over ten years. But ever since I met her back in March, when something happened to me—like a funny exchange with a customer or a week without migraines—I wanted to tell Thea.
Thea would finally be attending a book club meeting at the pub tomorrow. Everything seemed to be budding and blooming from the last couple days of spring thunderstorms. And I was… happy? And Thea was becoming a big part of why I was happy.
Well, Theaandthat I’d spent every night and day off approaching my music like an athlete rehabbing their body after an injury. I had experimented by going to local music venues. I had monitored my body closely for triggers and early symptoms.
Thea had been in and out of town so much that I had made a ton of excuses as to why I hadn’t asked her out yet.
But given the shit show that the rest of my life was right now… fuck it.
She came back to the counter for the thermos. “Thank you so much for this.”
“You’re welcome. Maybe would you want to watch the first part of the longPride and Prejudiceafter book club tomorrow night? It seems fitting.” I risked some eye contact with Thea, hoping I wouldn’t lose my nerve. “You could come over to myplace? I could make snacks. Potatoes in some form, obviously.” My gaze dipped to my hands on the counter. “I make cupcakes too. I mean, they’re from a box mix with the rainbow chip icing that’s probably full of chemicals and going to kill me someday, but they’re delicious—” A hand slipped into mine, giving it a short squeeze before pulling away too soon.
“Chemical cupcakes, potatoes, and Colin Firth sounds great.” Thea was smiling that all-five-dimple smile that did things to me. Different things than the book smacking but no less intense. “I’d love to come over tomorrow.”
My own smile spread wide, and what I lacked in dimples hopefully I made up for in enthusiasm.
“I wanted to know if you could come by my studio later, because I’m trying out this camera I haven’t used for a while. I want to photograph your aura.”
“Mywhat?”
Thea leaned forward. “Your aura.”
“Okay, so I think I heard you right the first time, but I’m still confused.”
“So you know my grandfather’s camera collection?”
“The collection we spent twelve hours clearing out your studio space for a month ago?” My hands were clasped together on the counter just an inch from Thea’s. “Yep. I haven’t forgotten about it.”
“Glad you remember.” She winked at me. “So my grandfather collected all kinds of unique cameras, and this one is particularly special. I haven’t thought about it in years, but I was googling, and it seems like some places are charging for photos with it. Samantha and I were brainstorming photo booth ideas for her book fair, and I thought of this.”
“Okay but how… aren’t auras like…” I struggled against the urge to sayfictional. “Invisible?”
“It’s easier to show you.” Thea’s expression turned a little wicked. “When do you get off?”
Not often enough lately.I swallowed, thankful I hadn’t saidthataloud.
“Seven.”
“Come over after, and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.” Thea walked to one of the display racks to read the description on the back of a book featured under staff picks. Another thrill pulsed through me. The book Thea had picked off the shelves was one ofmystaff picks.
