Page 62 of Touch of Fondness

“That’s probably because you haven’t ever shopped at this type of place before.”

His resigned nod told her she was on the right track. She put theCaptain Americaone aside and kept sorting through until she found one ofDick Tracy. Flipping it around, she said, “How about this one? Stylish—but in a pop kind of way.”

“Nobody still readsDick Tracyin the twenty-first century,” he said, laughing. His head tilted. “But I do kind of like it.”

She placed it atop the canvas already in his lap. “Now for something to liven up those plain white dishes in your kitchen.” She squeezed past an overly large display to get over to the mugs and dinnerware. It wasn’t until she’d spotted and grabbed the sort-of matching Wonder Woman and Batmanmugs that she realized Archer was nowhere to be found.

A display of tote bags hanging at the end of the aisle wobbled, almost toppling over, but two hands shot forward to steady it. “Sorry,” said Archer, wincing. “Not a lot of space to move around in here.”

Brielle felt stupid for not considering that. For not realizing all of the simple things she took for granted.

“You want me to buy those cups?” he said, not even seeming that bothered by the claustrophobic displays.

“Oh? Yeah.” She examined the cups in her hands, her joy at picking out these cute touches of flavor for his condo slightly diminished when she started thinking about how hard things must be for him. Then she felt guilty for even thinking about him differently.

She really wasn’t sure how she was supposed to think.

“Get them both,” he said, smiling and patting the canvas wall art on his lap. She put the mugs down just as his phone buzzed.

“Damn,” he said, trying to shift the pile on his lap to reach his pocket.

“Oh, I can…” She stopped herself and pointed toward his pocket. “Should I get that for you?”

Something like delight danced across his face. “Please.”

She knew why a second later when her fingers brushed over his thigh to pull it out. She felt her face—her whole body—growing hot.

He grinned as he shifted the pile back into place and took it from her. His smirk quickly turned into a frown as he clicked the screen.

“What is it?” asked Brielle, wondering if it was his mom again and feeling a bit turned off by the thought. What was it about her that made her determined to think of all the bad possibilities of this relationship? Why was it when she told herself it didn’t matter because she just wanted to keep it casual, she knew, deep down, that was a lie? She had to turn around and stare at a display of plates because she couldn’t even look at him without wanting to bend over and kiss him.

“Work.” He started texting a reply, but he looked up a moment, the corner of his lips curling up. “I need to redo a splash page. The writer changed his mind after my deadline.” He raised his eyebrows as he set the phone down. “As the man is wont to do. Hope you don’t mind if we cut the shopping short.” He patted the pile on his lap. “Although I still hope you’ll come back to the condo with me. To help decorate. And for coffee.”

“There are all of four things there to decorate with.”

“Ah, but I need your help hanging these,” he said. “Pauline is going to make herself scarce afterward. If she won’t stop talking, I’ll tell her I have work.” He picked up the phone and started typing again, maybe to text Pauline to meet him back by the car. They’d walked—or walked and wheeled—over to the store together after the movie.

She laughed as she picked at a fraying piece of leather tied around one of her zippers on her purse. “I don’t know what a splash page is, but it sounds important.”

“It sort of is,” he said, leading the way toward the cashiers. “It’s a full-page single illustration, and this time it’s even the first page of an issue.”

“What was wrong with it?”

“I don’t know if anything waswrongwith it,” said Archer, rolling his eyes. “Topher just had a different idea for it.”

There wasn’t much of a line, so Brielle stepped past the cashiers to wait for him to finish paying. Remembering her own message she’d ignored, she dug her phone out of her purse.

There was a new message on top of Pembroke’s from Gavin.

She read Pembroke’s first:I just wanted to say I’m really sorry, and I really appreciate what you and your boyfriend or crush or whatever he is and his mom did for me that night.Brielle winced at the word “boyfriend.”I was an idiot for ever falling for Daniel’s lines. He and his ex-fiancée broke up after graduation and he saw me sitting alone and I just needed something then to hold on to. I needed something to look forward to. I knew things ended badly between you, but I thought… I don’t know what I thought. That it might be different. That it might just be a little fun.

Brielle felt bad. Wasn’t that what she kept telling herself she was doing with Archer? Just having a bit of fun? Not entering into anything serious?

I still don’t have a job, Pembroke’s message continued.I’ve been applying for practically anything. I didn’t want to become a nurse, but I didn’t want to wind up working retail or something. But now I’m getting desperate and am strangely finding the retail jobs don’t want me, either. That having a degree makes me “overqualified.”

This sounds like I’m complaining,she admitted.And I guess I am. I didn’t want to bother you—any of you—but I figured I owed you at least an apology.

Brielle guessed Pembroke didn’t have a job lined up, but neither did she, not really, so it hadn’t seemed entirely odd. But she didn’t realize she’d resorted to looking for grunt work—and that she wasn’t having luck with that, either. Now that she thought about it, Brielle didn’t even really care about the Daniel thing anymore. He and Pembroke hadn’t even been dating a full week. It was just like Daniel to get handsy and possessive after such a short amount of time. She’d email Pembroke back later.

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