Page 126 of Lease to Love

I couldn't speak. My throat tightened.

"You're serious."

"I wouldn't have invited you here if I wasn't."

I looked down at our hands.

For possibly the first time in my life, I had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Thank you."

She waved me off. "Don't thank me yet."

I looked up.

"I need you to promise me two things."

I sat up straighter. "Name them."

"Neither one can go into a contract. Just an old woman with more time behind her than ahead of her, asking for your word."

I nodded. "You have it."

She held my gaze. Smiled.

"I know."

Chapter Sixteen

Summer

I had spent the better part of twenty minutes straightening the dress on the mannequin.

It had been straight twenty minutes ago.

The hem was even. The waist was centered. The sleeves were sitting exactly where they were supposed to sit. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the damn dress, but I adjusted it anyway, smoothing my palm over the fabric before stepping back to inspect it like I was about to enter it into some kind of mannequin pageant. The mannequin had been patient about it for the first ten minutes. After that, I was pretty sure she was judging me.

I needed a distraction.

Desperately.

Because I missed Roman.

And I hated that I missed him.

It had been a week since I'd asked the question neither of us had been brave enough to answer.

What are we?

Apparently, three words were all it took to turn something that had felt easy into the emotional equivalent of standing on the edge of a cliff and waiting to see whether the ground was going to hold.

I hated ignoring his calls. Hated cutting our FaceTime conversations short before they could turn into something that made me forget I was supposed to be protecting myself. Hated the way my stomach dropped every time his name appeared on my screen and the way I still had to force myself not to answer immediately.

Most of all, I hated that I had rocked the boat at all.

Things had been good.

More than good.