Page 44 of Never Your Valentine

“Only if we—” She stops herself. “Never mind.”

I raise a brow. “If we what?”

She pretends to focus on the next card. “Nothing.”

I let her dodge it. No reason to poke whatever that almost was.

She hands me a card with two cinnamon rolls holding hands. “Impress me.”

“You sure?” I ask. “I won’t be gentle.”

“Bring it.”

“Inside it says something about being stuck together.”

“Too easy.”

“Thanks for rolling with me through life.”

“Mmm, maybe.”

“Oh wait.” I lean in like I’ve discovered a masterpiece. “You’re the sweetest mistake I ever made.”

“These are supposed to be romantic, not guilty confessions.”

“Same thing,” I mutter. I pick another card before she can object. A pair of intertwined hearts with little faces. I don’t give her a chance to explain. “Inside this, it says: Let’s fuse souls.”

“Not even close.”

“I’m telling you, these two have already filed joint taxes. Let me guess, it says: United in love, divided in everything else.”

Her mouth drops open. “Seriously?”

“Together forever, because neither of us can read red flags. Get it? Because they’re red?”

“You’re the worst,” she says, but she’s laughing at me.

I’m laughing at me too. At us.

It hits out of nowhere, like stepping off a curb I didn’t see.

I like this. I like her laughing at my awful jokes. I like that she lets me ruin her precious cards. I like the way she meets my cynicism with sunshine, yet somehow I don’t get burned. I’m having fun. With Annabelle. Teasing each other about how incompatible we are.

Total incompatibility means zero romantic threat. Nobody catching feelings. Which means we can finally be friends.

She straightens, still giggling, and hands me another card, already bracing for impact. “This is the last one,” she says.

A cartoon cloud is blowing little hearts around. “This cloud looks like it’s about to sneeze romance on someone.”

She nudges me. “Open it.”

I do. It says: You make everything lighter.

I look from the card to Annabelle and back again. “Clouds make things darker. That’s literally their job.”

“You’re the worst.”

“You keep saying that like it’s news.”