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Or with anyone.
At least, not just yet. It was bad enough that all of Cowbell Creek knew, even though everyone had been nothing but genuinely kind to me about it since finding out about it this past week. Mrs. Clover even threw in a few extra cookies for me when I bought bread at her bakery.
I looked over at Leo. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Anything. Fire away."
Leo looked like the kind of guy I could trust. And being the owner of a resort that catered to primarily gay men, I figured he might be able to provide me with some much-needed insight. "How do I know when I’m choosing the wrong guy? I seem to have a talent for it, but I have no idea what I’m doing wrong, and more importantly, what I should be doing to make it right."
Leo tapped his chin, his expression thick with thought. "You seem like a really nice guy, Mitchell."
"Thank you."
"You’re a good guy who believes in love, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I see it happen around here all the time, guys meeting and falling for each other. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world."
"It is," I agreed. "And I want that, too. But how do I know?"
Leo drummed his thick fingers against his chest. "You feel it in here, Mitchell."
I half smiled. "Yeah, well, my whatever this is"—I mimicked his movements, patting my fingers in front of my heart—"is either broken or defective."
"Respectfully, I’m going to disagree with you on that one, Mitchell. Everyone has instinct, a gut feel when it comes to love. The issue could be that there’s nothing wrong with your intuition. It might just be that you don’t know how to hear what it’s telling you."
I kept listening as he kept talking.
"Sometimes, we fight ourselves, ignoring what we know deep inside, and instead, we choose to believe the falsehood in front of us. That’s usually how we make mistakes about people or, at least, that’s what I’ve seen. And I’ve got a few years on you."
His lips tipped upward warmly, and I matched my smile to his.
"When you meet someone," he offered in a smooth, reassuring timbre, "pay attention to what’s going on inside of you. Everyone experiences it differently. You might feel a warmth in your chest. Or your heart starts racing. Or you break out in a sweat. But the signs are always there. The issue is we don’t always notice them."
"You’re blowing my mind with this, Leo."
He let out a deep laugh, his face softening. "You’ll figure it out, Mitchell. I know you will."
I wished I shared his confidence.
He rose to his feet. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, just one more. What’s that?" I pointed to a white roof that jutted out of the middle of the pool.
"That’s a swimup bar," Leo answered, letting out a laugh when his eyes landed on my completely perplexed expression.
"Picture it," he stepped in closer to me. "You’re in the pool, sipping on a cocktail, when the worst thing in the world happens."
I frowned.
"Your drink’s empty," he declared dramatically, and we both laughed. "Normally, you’d have to get out of the pool and go to the bar to get another drink, right?"
I nodded firmly. "Right."
"Here you don’t. You can just swim on up, perch yourself on a stool while still half submerged in the water, and order yourself another drink. How cool is that?"
"You’ve gotta stop blowing my mind, Leo," I chuckled. "This is quickly becoming my favorite place in the world."
His rich laugh rumbled around us. "I’m glad to hear it, Mitchell. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, here."
"Me, too."
