Page 8 of The Key Holder

I chuckled. “This isn’t a college dorm where we have to label our food. You can have anything of mine that you want.”

Shit. That sounded like a pickup line, but a quick glance told me he hadn’t reacted that way to it.

“I can make us omelettes too,” Dylan offered.

“Sounds great. I’ll start the coffee.”

“I made some iced coffee already if you want that. It’s in a pitcher in the fridge.”

That sounded good. “Iced coffee? Fancy.”

“Well, it’s warm out and⁠—”

“I didn’t mean that to sound like I was teasing. I love iced coffee.”

“Oh. Okay.”

We had definitely been out of contact for too long. It was never this awkward before, but Dylan had always been sensitive. Yes, time had passed, and there was the whole seeing each other masturbating thing. But I really hoped it wasn’t going to be like this the entire summer.

If he was okay with that.

“Plans for the rest of the day?”

We had eaten breakfast in relative silence and then I had gone upstairs to shower. When I came back down, Dylan was still sitting at the kitchen table, but reading a book.

“Not sure. Unpack, I guess.”

I didn’t want to wait any longer. I had to know. “Are you good with me staying here for the summer? With us being here, together?”

“Together?” His head practically whipped up.

“Yeah, here at the cabin. I can still leave.”

He shook his head. “No, no, no, of course you can stay. You’re here for a reason and there’s plenty of space for both of us.”

I wanted so desperately to ask what his reason for being here was—and what he thought mine was—but whatever relationship we were going to have moving forward had to happen organically. I couldn’t force it. Especially if we were going to be living together for a few months.

So much had happened in my life; I could only imagine what Dylan had been through. Of course I had heard some stuff from Melissa, but it’s not like sons shared everything with their mothers.

“What are you going to do?” he asked. “You went for a run already. Is the afternoon reserved for crunches or push-ups?”

“Is that what you think I do all day? Exercise?”

“You’re still a personal trainer, right?”

“I still coach too.”

“Yeah, but your bod—you clearly still work out a lot.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

He mumbled something unintelligible, then smiled and said, “Not at all.”

“I can work out less if it bothers you.”

“What? No! That’s not—forget it.”

I was about to ask him another question, but then it hit me again. He might still be attracted to me. As tempted as I was to experiment with an intentional shirt-lift to find out, I grabbed a banana and sat down across from him instead. “What are you reading?” I asked.