“Istilllike him.”
“Damn, you’re fucked, man.” Stefano winces as he recoils. “If only you could see the cute little smile you have…”
“Ugh, I know I’m screwed.”
Mom sticks her head around the corner. “Luke, what’s wrong? Why are you screwed?”
I’m about to reply, but Stefano beats me to it. “Boy problems. It’s an emergency.”
“Boy problems” and “emergency” don’t belong in the same sentence. What am I, fifteen?
“Same guy?” she asks.
“Bro, you told your parents about him?” Stefano backhands my chest.
Sighing, I prepare myself for an onslaught of well-meaning but unnecessary questions. “I did. Erik isn’t coming back, and nothing is gonna happen between us.” Hopefully that shuts the topic down.
It doesn’t. Mom fixes me with a sympathetic expression. “Oh no, you’re still not over him?”
“Trust me, I’d get over him if he had the personality of a rock. The problem is that he doesn’t. He’s being all cute without even trying.”
Stefano cocks an eyebrow. “How so?”
“I don’t know, it’s probably nothing, but he went on a hike one day and then texted me about it, saying it reminded him of one time we went to a forest together.”
Yeah.Thattime we went to a forest together. I'm glad Erik revealed that random thought to me over a voice call because there's no way I could have hidden my searing blush.
“Hey, that doesn’t sound likenothing, Luke,” Mom says. “It sounds like Erik is thinking of you.”
“I don’t need encouragement! He’s probably moved on, as he should.”
She completely ignores me and continues. “Maybe heisn’tover you. Why else would he be like this?”
“Come on, why do you guys have to feed into my delusions? Now I’ll never get over him! Thirty seconds ago, I said that I’m screwed, and now you’re making me evenmorescrewed.”
Mom clears her throat. “You’ll get over him if it’s right for you. If not…”
“I should, but I don’t want to,” I mutter, trying for another sip of my drink but getting ice to the teeth instead. “Even if he likes me back, he deserves a whole lot more than some uncertain long distance thing.”
Mom and Stefano are still deep in thought, and their attention goes to my phone when it rings.
Incoming Video Call from Erik Norberg
I decline it, Stefano punches me, and Mom gasps.
“What?” I throw up my hands. “I came here to hang out with you guys, not spend the whole time on my phone.”
“That’s fair,” Stefano says before Mom shoots him a stern look.
“That would be fair if… we didn’t have a tradition of letting our cottage guests pick out dinner in town!” She shoos Stefano out of the living room. “Luke, you sit back, relax, enjoy yourself, and maybe call your lover back.”
“He’s not?—”
It doesn’t matter. She’s gone. I sit for a second, still processing what just happened, but I snap out of it and call Erik back once the front door shuts. His handsome face fills my screen when he picks up, and I have to walk away from the fireplace to avoid overheating.
“Hey, Luke!” he says, flashing me a calm smile that stops my mental functioning dead in its tracks. “Did I call at a bad time?”
My brain takes a second to catch up, deciding what to take in first: Erik’s effortless, cute face or the sexy, tired rumble of his voice.
