Page 126 of The Turning of the Tables

It took me a second, but when I got it, it made me laugh. “Okay, Yoda, then solve my current employment problem.”

“I’m afraid, Luke, that you’re going to have to fix that one yourself. Although I hear the Shawano PD needs a few more CSI techs.”

I was silent for too long.

It was a joke. I knew that. Knew it on so many levels. And yet.

I wanted it not to be.

Noah used to spend more nights at Lulu’s than he did here, and I was pretty sure the only reason he still had his own place was because of me. He didn’t need my part of the rent—God knew he’d already been paying for this place without me for years—even if I felt obligated to pay it.

Yeah, okay, it was a little insane to even think about the idea that I could move halfway across the country to be closer to this guy I’d only known in person for two weeks, plus an extra three—so five total—of texting and talking on the phone. The whole idea was completely nuts.

And yet I was actually thinking about it.

For way too long.

What Elliot said next was even more insane.

“If you’re seriously thinking about that, you can stay with me.”

33

SETH MAYS

Did you mean what you said?

ELLIOT CRANE

Of course.

N6628 WI Hwy 47.

What’s that mean?

Where I live.

So you know I’m serious.

I didn’t knowwhat to do with that. I’d been thinking about what he’d said—about the Shawano PD needing a CSI tech, about how I could come and stay with him—for the last two days. I’d been thinking about itconstantly. Part of me thought it was completely insane. I’d never even left Virginia. Not once. Not even on a vacation.

I’d never had the money for a vacation, and none of my boyfriends had ever done for me what Lulu wasdoing for Noah. The vacations I’d been on had been camping—which I love, don’t get me wrong, but the Shenandoah valley isinVirginia, and it’s beautiful—or somewhere close, like a weekend in Virginia Beach or a day trip to Williamsburg.

And here I was, seriously considering driving halfway across the country—more than a thousand miles—to essentially throw myself at a man who had made it clear that he didn’t want a romantic relationship with me.

In my defense, he’d said that the second time we’d seen each other, three days after we met. Neither one of us had expected more than a night of hot sex that had become several nights of hot sex, which had now become whatIthought of as a friendship, if not something that had the potential to become more than friendship. But I had no idea how Elliot thought of what we had.

And I was honestly a little afraid to ask.

There is nothing more awkward than asking someone about your relationship only to find out that they do not think of it the same way you do—they aren’t in love with you, they don’t want to be exclusive, they aren’t interested in romance with you at all. And I was absolutely certain that while I was very interested in a romance with Elliot, I was skeptical that he felt the same, or even a fraction of what I felt.

But he’d laid down Rule Two when he thought he was going back to Wisconsin and I was staying in Virginia. He went back to Wisconsin, but I was now thinking about moving out there. And it made me wonder if he’d be more interested if I didn’t live a thousand miles away.

At the very least, I hoped I’d at least have a friend.

He’d said I would have a place to stay.

He’d even sent me the address.