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I cut my eyes at Maisy. “Because I want to make it on my own. I don’t want to be obligated to a man. The whole thing feels like a sugar daddy situation if I’m paying rent to my boyfriend.”
Maisy chuckles as she switches her roly-poly baby from one breast to the other. “Sister, let me assure you that that is not how sugar daddies work.”
“Okay. It just feels wrong and weird.”
“Because you don’t understand the intention. Intention is everything.”
I rest my chin in my hand and look out the window, finally making eye contact with Jesse since our interaction this morning.
“And what intention is that?”
Maisy is full-on exasperated with me now. “He did it because he loves you. Pure and simple.”
“How do you know that?”
“Girl, he’s been standing out there all day watching you.”
He has? How did I not notice that?
“How do you know Jesse’s not swooping in with money because it makes him feel good to be a hero?”
“Hmm,” Maisy says, considering this. “Is it so bad if both are true?”
I don’t know. Crossing my arms over my chest, I watch Jesse through the window. His denim-blue eyes beg me to come out to talk. He looks like a lost puppy.
I stand and move to the window, biting my lip. If I go outside, I’ll start kissing him and forget about everything rational.
He presses his palm to the glass.
“Why did you do it?”
Jesse knits his eyebrows together. “Because I care about you.” His words are slightly muted through the glass between us.
I speak up. “Maisy says you love me.”
He blinks.
My stomach tightens. Oh shit. I blew it.
But then he takes his eyes off me, leans forward, and fogs up the glass with his breath.
“What is that lovesick fool doing now?” Maisy asks.
“I have no idea,” I reply, not taking my eyes off him.
With his index finger, Jesse writes in the glass:
I LOVE YOU.
He writes it in all capital letters.
Behind me, Maisy remains quiet. If anyone is going to sit and stare, I’m glad it’s her and not the entire town this time.
Jesse presses his palm against the glass again, and this time, I press mine over the same spot.
He looks so serious, so sad, and frustrated.
I watch his mouth say the words out loud, muffled by the glass that separates us.
