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Palmer
I’m surprised I didn’t get a speeding ticket on the way over to the cabin. The minute I get in, I toss my bag on the chair, sit on the couch with my laptop, and my fingers can’t catch up to my thoughts as I type.
Nia burst into Bea’s room, jumped on the bed, and shook her awake. Bea shot up, alarmed that maybe there was a fire or a break-in.
“What?” she asked, her body in full alarm panic.
Nia waited while Bea sat up and put on her cochlear implants.
“What happened last night?” Nia lay down on the bed. “Because there’s a hot bartender in the living room with breakfast for you.”
Bea replayed the night before. Had her taking an Uber home alone been a dream? She looked down at herself. Not naked, pajamas on. She’d thought it was going somewhere with Pete, but then that blonde girl showed up. How did he even know where she lived?
“What?” Bea asked again to make sure she’d heard her friend correctly.
“The bartender from last night…when I got home, he was sitting outside the apartment.”
“When did you get home?” Bea rubbed the sleep from my eyes. She had slept hard, so she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t seen the strobing light if he’d rung the doorbell. But the more important question was, why was he here?
“Just now.” Her smile suggested she’d done the walk of shame from wherever she and Trek had ended up the night before. Bea was just thankful it wasn’t at their place. “Now…go.”
Bea glanced down at herself once more. She was wearing boxer shorts and a Weezer T-shirt that was so threadbare Pete would be able to see her nipples. “Um…”
Nia saw the worried expression and sprang up from the bed. She was so hyper and in such a good mood, the sex with Trek must have been great. “I’ll stall while you get yourself together.”
She was out of Bea’s room before Bea could explain what happened last night and tell her to kick Pete out.
That left her having to face him, so she grabbed a sweatshirt off the back of the chair and went into her bathroom. She brushed her teeth, and finger-combed her hair into a messy bun. Why was she even putting in any effort? The guy was a douche, and it was creepy that he had somehow found out where she lived. She didn’t need to impress him.
She opened her bedroom door, and Pete’s laugh rang out, the one that had made her all tingly, and damn it all to hell, that same feeling rushed back between her thighs again. Damn him.
His gaze caught hers when she stepped out from the short hallway where the bedrooms were. He stood as if they were going to go somewhere.
Bea opened her mouth, but Pete raised his hand. “Give me a chance to explain.”
She nodded and sat in the chair farthest away from him.
He raised a white plastic bag with what seemed to be a few Styrofoam containers in it. “I picked up some pancakes for breakfast.”
She didn’t say anything, just crossed her arms and waited.
“Sarah is an ex.”
She raised her eyebrows with an expression as if to say, “Duh.”
“We’ve been over for a while, but she doesn’t want to accept it.” He appeared nervous, as though he cared what Bea thought. “I swear we’re not together.”
Bea nodded. She wouldn’t deny that she had hang-ups about relationships. Getting serious with anyone seemed to come as a struggle. Finding out about her parents’ early years when she was fourteen years old had messed her up, even though her parents were blissfully happy now. She wanted to believe in true love and soulmates, but all she could think was that Pete had baggage. Baggage she didn’t want to carry the weight of. Baggage was what had torn her parents apart when she wasn’t even born yet.
She raised her hands. You don’t owe me an explanation.
He looked at his feet and back up. “I like you, Bea.”
He appeared earnest and genuine.
“Why?” she asked before shaking her head. “Never mind. We only met last night.”
“I know, but you feel it, right?”
