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“I miss you, too,” I told her, meaning it. “It’s not my intention to be out of commission. The shop is taking up a huge chunk of my time—the time I used to have for long lunches and to stop work early for happy hour.” I’d known it would. Investing in my dream was hard work, but extremely fulfilling. “I’ve had to rearrange my schedule and slim down my client list, which has been a little stressful. Some of my accounting clients aren’t too happy with me, but it was necessary, as I was starting to fall behind. I’ve just had a ton going on lately.”
“Have you met Marco’s parents?” she asked.
“No. He keeps saying soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Yasmine says her parents have taken their split pretty well, as far as she’s shared. It hasn’t been completely smooth, but they’re working through it. She and Matt are not fully back together, but they’re talking a lot. She seems to be in a really good place.”
“That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to catch up.” I’d seen Yasmine only twice since the trip, once when we’d gone out for coffee after she’d arrived back in town from Montecito. She’d wanted to thank me for going with her and to tell me what was happening with Matt. When she’d stayed down there for a few more days, they’d had some long talks, but they hadn’t gotten intimate. She’d wanted to wait until they’d worked through all of the emotional stuff between them so the physical stuff wouldn’t override everything else. It was smart, but I knew it was hard for her to wait. Then I’d seen her when she’d moved out of Marco’s apartment. She’d been sweet, gracious, and seemed genuinely happy for us.
She was quickly becoming a fast friend to all of us. She and Poppy had developed an especially close bond, which didn’t surprise me. They really complemented each other nicely.
“You are busy, and I promise not to hound you too much in the future. Have fun on your mystery date,” Poppy said. “Oh, and try not to have too much sex.”
“You can never have too much sex,” I told her.
She raised an eyebrow. “You’d be surprised. After a while, the chafing gets to you.”
I giggled. “I’ll be sure to stock up on lube.”
“Take it from a girl who knows.” She made kissy lips along with a loud smack. “See you tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait.”
________
“Not even a teensy clue?” I asked Marco for the second time. We were in his car. It looked like we were headed into downtown, but I wasn’t sure. “Why did I have to bring a raincoat when, miraculously, it doesn’t look like rain?”
“Because one can never be too sure,” he replied cagily.
“Too sure about what? Bungee jumping? Rock climbing?”
He laughed. It was a wonderful sound, throaty and deep. I loved hearing it each and every time. “None of those, but if you’re into that kind of stuff, I’ll make a note of it in here.” He tapped the side of his head.
“Maybe the rock climbing, but definitely not the bungee jumping. The thought of leaping off a cliff makes me queasy.”
“Good. Me, too. I couldn’t do a jump either. I can’t imagine I’d be good at climbing, but that said, I’m certainly willing to give it a try.”
“Honestly, heading up to Rainier on a trail is about as close as I want to get to rock climbing,” I said. “The skyline loop is my favorite.”
“You can’t beat those views.”
“You really can’t. We’ll have to go as soon as it warms up a little bit. I’m kind of a baby about the cold.”
“I knew that.” He grinned. “You actually shared your distaste of the cold at a football game once, the same game where I wore my new sweatshirt. You found me in the stands and came over to say hello. You were bundled up in not one, but two sweatshirts, gloves, and a pair of really cute pink earmuffs. I’ve never forgotten it. Your lips were a little blue, and I had a desperate urge to kiss them. I wanted to keep you warm, being the Good Samaritan I was. But instead, I ran off to sit with my single friend Justin. We were still playing video games together in our dorm rooms. I was quite the Romeo.”
“I remember seeing you there, wishing we were sitting side by side, holding hands. I was relieved you didn’t go sit by another girl.”
“Not a chance. As I told you, it took me another year until I had my first actual girl encounter,” he said.
Just thinking about kissing him made me tingly all over.
I laughed. “You were late to the kissing game, but I’m glad you discovered it.”
“I kept imagining she was you.” He glanced at me shyly as he took an off-ramp toward downtown.
“I wish it would’ve been,” I mused. “But maybe if we’d dated back then, we wouldn’t have connected like we have now. We were both younger and inexperienced. I could imagine it not working out back then.”
“I don’t know about that.” He was contemplative. “You’re so easy to be with. You’re kind, you’re funny, you’re sexy as hell. Pretty much everything I’ve ever been looking for.”
