Page 79 of No One Wants That (Blitzen Bay)

“That’s not what I meant. I’m not going to hurt you because I want to be with you.”

He shakes his head and turns away from me again. “I’m guessing you wanted to be with him at one time, too, since you dated for two years. Or were you trying to force him to break up with you that entire time?”

“Not the entire time,” I say, sitting back down. “Look. Whether you want to be with me or not, I’m not getting back together with Mateo.”

“Okay. One step at a time. Let’s enjoy the rest of our morning.”

“Agreed.”

He sits back down and grabs his backpack. He pulls out bagels, peanut butter, and bananas. “Are you hungry? I brought breakfast.”

“I really prefer cream cheese with my bagel,” I say, smiling, “but I guess you can’t fit everything into that backpack.”

He pulls out a bag with cream cheese and butter. “You already know that Hermie’s bag has endless supplies. Why would you doubt me like that?”

“Seriously?” I say, trying to look inside the backpack. “Does it have like a trap door or something? Or are there magical elves in there that create whatever you need at the time?”

He swats my hand and pulls the backpack away. “Stop being so curious. It’s like Pandora’s box. Once you look inside, the magic ends and wicked reality sets in.”

“Well we don’t want that,” I say as I watch him prepare my bagel. “And I don’t really think any wickedness can cross the borders of Blitzen Bay. Every time I visit here, I feel like I’m living in a little utopia.”

He hands me the bagel and pulls out a carton of orange juice. “Yeah, this place is kind of perfect, isn’t it? I’ve traveled all over the world, but I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere that comes close to it. I told Sam I wanted to buy it from him, but unfortunately, I’m a couple million short of the asking price. You want to go in with me?”

“Yep. I can add at least a hundred dollars to your offer.”

“We should be good then,” he says, laughing. His face is finally releasing the tension that flooded over it when we started talking about Mateo.

“Since Nash and Noelle are going to live here full time when she gets out of law school, maybe they’ll go in with us. We can be joint owners.”

“That sounds perfect.” He reaches over and wipes some cream cheese off my lip and then leans in to kiss me. “Maybe Sam will come down in the price.”

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