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"Good choice. I'm making more coffee!"
***
Emerging from the bath, I discovered Elara had done more than brew coffee. She was stuffing a picnic basket with goodies from a grocery run.
"I thought we'd head out? Take a picnic to the beach?"
"Sounds fucking phenomenal." I breathed in deep. There was no tightness. No feeling like I had to hurry up and finish my breath so I could take the next.
"I got you this," she said, holding me a rectangular object that had been carefully gift-wrapped. "I hope you like it."
As I unwrapped it, I laughed. "Small Town Sweethearts? God damn, you actually bought it." I flipped the novel over, scanning the blurb on the back. "A heart-pounding tale of love, lust, and lots more!"
"I know romance isn't your thing," Elara explained seriously, "but this book is meant to take you out of your normal life. Let you forget yourself for a bit."
I smirked. "I hope Lily gave you a discount on this."
"Ha! Not a chance. She drives a hard bargain."
Together, we gathered the last few picnic items and headed down the path to our secluded stretch of sand. Gulls cried overhead as a fresh breeze ruffled our hair. The sun was bright and the clouds were small. It was perfect.
Elara spread out beach towels and we settled side by side.
"Thank you for taking this time with me," she said. "You deserve it so much."
"I don't, but if it makes you happy."
"Cole, honey, just accept it. You’re a good person. An exceptional person, in fact."
Honey.
The way she said that word made my heart stutter. Fuck.
"I appreciate it,” I told her. “And I hope you know that you’re a good person, too. An exceptional person.”
She blinked at me. "Thank you. Now, why don't you start reading?"
Now, I won't pretend that reading that corny novel transformed me into a romance fanatic. But the story flowed so easily that before I knew it, I was a quarter of the way through. I even caught myself laughing a few times.
"What's funny?" she asked, reading a book of her own.
"It's more the characters than any one thing."
"Sounds like you're enjoying it."
"I am. Although I kinda want to scream at the main guy, Jax."
"Jax with an ‘x’? Very hot."
"He needs to get over himself, though. Just give in to his goddamn desires and kiss Claudia. They’re clearly meant to be together."
"And how does Claudia feel about this?" Elara asked.
“Well, Claudia’s got her own stuff going on. It’s like, there’s all this stuff she thinks she wants, but I can already see a mile-off that those things aren’t gonna make her happy. She’s trying to become this baking YouTube superstar, but it’s ridiculously hard work and she keeps getting all these nasty comments.”
“You think Jax can help her out?”
I shut the book and shrugged. “Not sure. But they should damn well have some good sex while they’re finding out.”
