Page 135 of Wingwoman
Still, I had to admit being with Hope was eliciting more writing inspiration than I’d ever achieved while dating other women.
I imagined it was partially because I knew it would end.
I knew she was still in love with her ex, even if she liked me and was having fun with me… she’d go back to him.
So there was always that rain cloud hanging over me. Always that edge of sadness, even in our happiest moments.
Even tonight. It was quiet. We were laying on the couch together, her laying with her head in my lap while a movie was on in the background, but we were both on our phones.
It should be as simple as that.
But even now, I couldn’t help that stab of pain that corkscrewed deeper into my chest as she fit so comfortably into my lap… and my life.
Because I knew it was only temporary.
Temporary…
Words and lyrics weaved in my mind, braiding around my thoughts. I quickly opened my notebook beside me and scribbled furiously.
“What hashtags do you use?”
Hope’s question broke my chain of thought.
I blinked down at her, confused. “What hashtags do I use?” I repeated.
“Yeah. Do you have a special hashtag or anything that you post regularly with?”
I rolled the pen between my calloused fingers. “I don’t really use hashtags. I make posts on my social media and then my team goes in and rewrites whatever they need to. Why?”
She shrugged and went back to typing on her phone. “My sisters think I need an online persona to help keep the media off our backs.”
Sisters. She called them her sisters. Not stepsisters. And she didn’t say it with any sort of eye roll.
That was new.
“I thought the whole point of this was for them to beonour backs? To make your ex jealous?”
She pushed off the couch, sitting up. “Well, yeah. And believe me, it’s working. But Raeanne made a compelling argument for using it to funnel only what wewantthem to see.”
I grinned and tossed my notebook and pen aside. “I’m pretty sureIalso said something similar.” It was why I hired the photographer on our first date night. “You listen to your sisters but not to me?” I teased.
“Consider it the one moment in my whole life where they’ll get through to me when you won’t.”
She was teasing me back. But her words—those words—they swirled around my heart and sent all kinds of images of us in the future together. Us together for her whole life, just as she said. Images I had no business thinking about.
“Can I see your profile?” I asked.
She gasped and clutched her phone to her chest. “What?! No.”
I shrugged and grabbed my own phone instead, opening up Instagram.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Looking up your profile. I assume it’s public if the whole point is to feed them breadcrumbs.”
“Don’t you dare!” She lunged for my phone, but she was giggling as she did so.
I raised my arm above my head. “I have to!” I laughed too, as she climbed up my body like a little spider monkey. “Besides, won’t it look weird if I don’t follow my own girlfriend on social media?”
