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Summer:Hello, Cole Allemand. Please put Smaug on the phone. We have an important matter to discuss.
Tossing the contract to the side, I recline on my bed and text her back.
Cole:He doesn’t have thumbs. I’ll act as go-between.
Summer:Fine. Kindly tell him that while I adore his fluffiness, I insist he no longer takes naps on my favorite cardigan. I am awash in cat hair.
That has me grinning, and I reach over to where Smaug lounges in a sunbeam and scratch behind the animal’s ears.
Cole:He says it’s a compliment.
Summer:It’s an act of war. If he does it again, I’m stitching him up in a throw pillow.
I chuckle and text her more dismissive messages from my unrepentant pet, all the while enjoying the happy glow in my chest.
When our banter trails off after a while, I pull the contract back into my lap and reach for a pen.
Three thousand eight hundred twenty-five.
It’s what I have. I’ll make it work.
Anything I can do to keep my librarian.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
SUMMER
“Do you have one for every holiday?” I can’t stop staring at Cole. And not for the normal, distractingly handsome face reason. Today, I’m transfixed because, in addition to his normal black pants and plethora of facial piercings, Cole has a naked baby on his chest.
More accurately, a cupid.
A giant flying cupid, holding a bow and arrow, hovering on a romantically red background.
Cole’s Valentine’s Day sweater.
In response to my question, the man just shrugs, but I’m sure he almost smiled.
“President’s Day? Easter? Fourth of July? You can’t tell me you wear a sweater in the middle of the summer in New Orleans. That’s madness.” But a delightful kind of madness I hope exists.
“Wait and see.” Cole turns our shopping cart down another aisle.
He’s probably just teasing, but I can’t help thinking about the underlying meaning of his words. For me to wait and see, that means I’d still be with Cole in the spring and then into the summer.
Was that what he meant?
This whole day is throwing me off. Making me ask questions I’ve been avoiding.
Cole hadn’t asked me about doing anything special today, and I hadn’t figured out what my response would be if he did. For the most part, I don’t think too much on what exactly our label is. The only word that’s been thrown around is dating.
No one has even said exclusive.
Of course, I’m not going out with anyone else. I don’t want to. Another reason I try not to dwell on these thoughts. Because then I would have to admit why I don’t want to. And then I’d have to talk to Cole about being exclusive.
Or about ending things.
But this weird undefined dating we have right now is working. We see each other when we want to. Sometimes we’re wearing clothes, sometimes we aren’t.
There’re no complications or expectations. Just day by day.
