Page 80 of Your Pace Or Mine

Sorry, I know you don’t like it when I call you that. If I’m your girlfriend, I should at least pretend to respect you.

Well, if you want to know a secret… I kind of like it.

But only from you.

Ashley sends me a bunch of heart emojis and a few GIFs. I guess I’ll have to up my emoji game.

Seriously, we can’t be Bash and Ash in public. That’s too much.

LOL

I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later though.

Okay, cool.

I remember promising to be honest and let out my emotions, so I type out another message.

I love you.

Love you too.

It still sends a shot of joy to my heart to see it in writing. I’m grinning at my phone. I guess people really can change.

It’s not evening yet, so I might as well do some of the work I’ve neglected over the past few days. I scroll through my whole inbox, which is disturbingly full after such a short time. I review the site’s user reports and blocks from the past week to see how our filters are working, which, thankfully, is well. I check out the posts from Tansy, our downtown influencer, and boost them since she’s our only team member who hasn’t been in an emotional maelstrom this week. We’ll need to recruit someone else now that two-thirds of the influencers are off the market.

I scan the comments to my last Mr. Six post. A few loyal followers are invested in a relationship between Mr. Six and Miss Midtown, which is curious.

I’m deep into analytics when I realize that hours have gone by and I haven’t heard from Ashley. Should I text again? Am I failing at this already? Then I realize I haven’t eaten since the lasagna in Waterloo. I’m psyching myself up to investigate the contents of my fridge when I get a call from my concierge, Tony.

“Rossi, you’ve got someone here with food.”

Did I dissociate and order something without realizing it? “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“I sent them up.” He says this in an amused tone, as though he hasn’t completely neglected his job and sent a potential stalker to my unit.

“Why would you—?” I don’t finish the thought because there’s a knock at my door. I’m about to chew him out when I see Ashley through the peephole, standing there with takeout containers, a duffle bag at her feet. My heart leaps in my chest at the sight of her.

I open the door. “Ash, what are you doing?”

Instead of answering, she puts the containers down and kisses me hard and fast. When we pull apart after a minute, she says, “I figured you might freak out, so I came to remind you that we’re in this together.”

Tears spring to my eyes at how well she knows me. Love has made me sappy, but I don’t fight it. I don’t have the words to tell her everything that I’m feeling, so instead I grab the takeout, as well as her bag and she follows me inside.

Once we’re in my apartment, Ashley takes the food from me and heads into the kitchen while I drop her things in my bedroom. My head starts spinning when I emerge and see her opening my cupboards to pull out plates. My girlfriend is here, in my apartment, and it’s like she belongs here.

“Are you okay?” Ashley asks. I must have been woolgathering for a moment, because I realize I’m frozen in the doorway.

I take her hand. “More than okay. I’m so happy you’re here. I was panicking before, just a little.”

She looks me in the eye and grins. “Of course you were. I get it. It’s a lot to wrap your head around, being in a relationship, and being in love, but I’ve got you. You’re stuck with me, Bash.”

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Hurry up and get dressed!”

I drag myself out of bed, groaning. “Do we have to? I can think of better ways to spend a Saturday morning.”

“Yes,” Ashley replies, not pausing as she pulls on running tights. She doesn’t turn to look at me, likely because she knows I’d shoot puppy dog eyes at her. “You aren’t going to quit running now because you got the girl, are you? Plus, you signed up for that race and you don’t want to come in dead last.”