Page 47 of You, with a View

I make sure he sees my 360-degree eye roll, but I do stare at his ass as he walks to the door. He catches me when he looks over his shoulder. The last thing I see before the door closes behind him is his smirk.

What he doesn’t know is that I’m going to lookandtouch. But the only touching I’m going to do is with myself.

That’s a promise.

Fourteen

Theo keeps his distance while we explore the park the next day. It’s for the best, considering our truce’s amendment, but I find myself missing his irritating smirks, how close he gets to murmur dry asides. He walks just ahead of us on our hikes, but occasionally he’ll angle his head to listen to my conversations with Paul.

So, on Monday, when I make my way down to the lobby for checkout, I’m shocked to find him watching my approach. The adrenaline of having his attention again snakes through my veins as his mouth pulls up.

He meets me halfway, taking my suitcase. “Saw your latest masterpiece last night.”

The brush of his fingers against mine sets off tiny earthquakes, and my response is sluggish. “My latest—? Oh.”

Last night I made Thomas sit with me via FaceTime while I crafted my next TikTok. It was only fair to hold him hostage while I muttered to myself, since it was his idea in the first place, but he abandoned me twenty minutes in. Thankfully Sadie kept me company, pumping me for trip details.

Making this video was such a different process from the one I made searching for Paul. Then, I assumed no one would see it. But Iknewpeople would look at this. I spent over an hour erasing and reshooting and editing to make sure everything looked just right. I crawled around Gram and Paul’s map spread on the floor to capture the stops, my knee still stinging but less intensely.

Eventually, I had a sixty-second video that gave the update people had been asking for. Now they knew I’d met Paul. They knew there were letters—I showed the first one I’d read—and additional pictures. They knew there was a map planning out the honeymoon that never was.

They knew I was taking the trip in her place.

I didn’t mention Paul and Theo’s part in it, but that didn’t matter. People loved it, and my relief and hope were instant. The notifications started coming in as I was settling into bed. I turned off my phone so I wouldn’t stay up all night tracking the numbers.

Which is why I’m rolling into the lobby twenty minutes late.

Theo doesn’t look annoyed, either by my tardiness or the TikTok. He looks amused. “I was wondering when you’d get around to making it.”

His teasing puts me on edge. He’s been so robot-like since our almost kiss that my response comes out defensive. “I had to think about it for a while. I wanted it to be—”

I don’t say the word; it’s not how I’d ever describe it. But Theo says it anyway. “Perfect.”

“Just— I wanted it to be right. I wanted to do the story justice.”

“The story that happened sixty years ago or the one that’s happening now?”

It’s such an astute observation that it throws me off balance. Now that he’s said it, I recognize the feeling: living inside animportant memory as it’s happening, and being viscerally aware of it. “Both, I guess.”

Theo hitches a thumb over his shoulder. “Well, you’ve got that guy’s seal of approval. He’s been reading comments all morning. Hope you’re prepared to talk about it all the way to Death Valley.”

I catch sight of Paul sitting in a plush leather chair, one leg crossed over the other. He has Theo’s phone in his hands, reading glasses on, grinning down at the screen like it’s Christmas morning.

It’s a look so full of joy—and pride—that it makes my heart ache. It reminds me of Gram when she’d see my work.

I catch Theo watching me. His expression is a manifestation of the way my chest feels.

“What?”

His mouth parts, then presses together. Then the look is gone, replaced by the sly expression I’ve—shit—missed. “You said I could look.”

I choke out a laugh. “There’s a lot of nuance between looking and staring, Spencer.”

“Sometimes I like to take my time.”

I can’t touch that, not even with a ten-foot pole. “Paul really likes the TikTok?”

“He’s been calling it a Tic Tac, but yeah, he’s into it.”

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