Page 76 of Puck Yes

“I’m jealous. But tell me more about your granddads.”

“They like to camp, and they took me with them a lot as a kid. They taught me everything I know about stars and planets and got me hooked on astronomy. Bryan is a sharp dresser and Ryan has horrible fashion sense. He wears white socks with sandals despite my efforts to stop him. I had to try again this morning,” I say, shuddering.

She squeezes my arm sympathetically. “Hate to break it to you but that’s trendy now.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“When I talk to them, I’m going to pretend you never said that.”

“I’ll back you up if it comes to it.” That feels good, her support, even in a playful way. We chat more as we head inside our building then into the elevator. When it reaches the eighth floor, she says, “Thanks for telling me all that.”

Something warm spreads in my chest. But I say nothing, just nod and give a faint smile.

“I should go write. But before I see you guys tonight, I’ll send you a pre-ward.” She heads down the hall, leaving me wondering what these little moments will be like when this thing between us ends.

How awkward they’ll be.

How uncomfortable they’ll be.

Or if I’ll see her around at all.

Until then, I go to my home and call my dad. I don’t love chatting with him, but I should be a good son and touch base. As I straighten up the apartment, he tells me the latest on his proposal plans for Cora, and I listen, chiming in withthat’s great.

A little later, I take off to meet Stefan. We’re shopping for Ivy’s gifts, and as we’re out and about, my phone pings with an artsy black and white shot from Ivy. Of the swell of her breast. The outline of her piercing. The curves of her torso. Then, the words,You can share it.

I show it to Stefan, and we admire it together in the store. “I want a whole fucking boudoir shoot of this woman,” I say.

“Bet she’d love that too. We’re going to have so much fun with your wife tonight,” he says, satisfaction already in his tone.

“Yes, we fucking are.”

We tell her as much in our group chat, and I count down the hours, trying not to think too much on how quickly I’ve gone from resistance to addiction.

30

TWO MEN AND A VIBRATOR

Ivy

I push on the door to An Open Book. A sign on an easel greets me. It’s for the Page Turners Book Club. There’s a lipstick-mark design on the sign. The book club has more than tripled in size since Trina started it a few years ago, and now she runs it both in person and on Zoom, with romance lovers signing in online from all over the world.

I head to the back of the store where she’s setting up with the regulars, gals who have been part of the club since the start—Prana, Kimora, Aubrey, and a handful of others.

Kimora is shaking the peach-colored paperback with a couple drawn in latte art on the cover. “I’m telling you, if my brother’s best friend saunters into my small-town coffee shop after breaking my heart years ago and peeling out of town, he’s not getting my best latte. He’s getting it in his lap,” she says. She’s brash and bold, but clever, too, as she adds, “But I’d make it look like an accident. I’d be allI’m so sorry.”

“But would you grab some napkins and awkwardly try to clean it up like every movie where someone gets a latte spilled?” I ask.

“No way,” Kimora says with a defiant shake of her head. “I’d leave him alone with his spilled drink and turn to the next guy in line, and he’d be a handsome billionaire wanting to whisk me away on his yacht. He’d want me to photograph gorgeous ocean views around the world.”

“And if he offered to have you quit your job and just shoot pictures all day, you’d say yes?” Trina deadpans.

Kimora fixes her with anobviouslystare. “Do I look stupid? I’d sayhell yes.”

Prana lifts a hand likesign me up. “When this billionaire walks into my store, I’m not sayingoh no, don’t buy me things.I’m likeplease pay off my student debt for one date, K, thanks.”

“Or the rent on my booth at the salon,” Aubrey suggests.

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