Page 39 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

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“What are you reading?” Luke asked her as he packed the last of his things in his bag on the sofa. Cables for his phone and two packs of gum she’d picked up from the store for him while he showered. He’d been chewing a lot of it. She hadn’t asked why, but she assumed it was to do with the changes she’d asked of him. There had been no sign of coke, and while he hadn’t quit smoking completely, he wasn’t smoking around her or in the apartment.

“The Desire Map. It’s about creating a meaningful life.”

He lifted the book carefully to look at the orange and purple cover. “‘Goals with soul’? You already have a lot of goals.”

“Yes. But I’m always looking for growth. And the journey I was on has changed. Figured it would help to reread and reset my expectations for the next eighteen months. Do you set goals?”

Luke lowered the book. “Not much of a goal setter. More of a ‘do what you can and hope shit happens’ kind of guy. How did the posting go?”

“You mean you didn’t look?” Willow asked, glancing up. “I put that first video up nearly three days ago.”

Luke shrugged. “Didn’t know I was supposed to.”

Willow rolled her eyes and put her book down on the sofa. “Give me your phone.”

Luke slipped it out of his pocket. “Here. But if you go mooching around on there, you’re going to see shit you wished you hadn’t.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, her stomach flipping over. “Have you been—?”

“Fuck. No. But. Well. I haven’t deleted shit that may already be on there.”

Okay. Past stuff she could deal with. “I wasn’t planning on going through your messages. There. I installed some apps. Now, you follow me, and you can see the post and comment. Comments would be good. You could say something like—”

“I’ll say what I feel like saying when I feel like saying it, flower.”

Willow grinned. “Of course you will.”

Luke took his phone back from her. “Holy shit, Will. That post has over a million likes.”

“Yeah. And about fifteen thousand comments.”

“Me commenting now is a bit late.”

“You’d be surprised. I’ve got fans who will be watching to see if you follow me. If you post about me. Check your own comments on your first post.”

She watched as Luke opened a picture she knew he’d posted over a year ago. “What the ... This is just a picture of my old kit at a gig in Coventry and there are now ... three hundred comments that nearly all mention you.”

“And that’s how fandoms are made.”

“What the fuck is LuLow?”

Willow began to laugh and reached for her coffee cup. “My guess is that’s our ’ship name. You know, our relationship name. First two letters of your name—”

“Alright. I’m not a total dinosaur. There’re only six years between us.”

“I turned twenty-three in March, you turned thirty in April. It’s seven.”

Luke gave her side eye, but the grin told her he didn’t mean it. “Fair enough. LuLow. Better than WiKe, I suppose.”

Willow laughed. “Definitely. Do you know how to share from my profile to your own?”

“Vaguely remember it.” He scrolled through his phone. “You posted some more images?”

“I did. The images are more about building a home. The videos are about us building a relationship. I share between the two.”

“Huh. The apartment looks so much better through your lens.”

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