“Really? I didn’t get that impression when you offered to get butt naked to save his job.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“To everybody but yourself.” She really was the sister I could have had. I couldn’t imagine Evie calling me out on my crap. Amanda wouldn’t let it stand. She’d push, poke, and prod until I caved.
“Yeah. I like him.”
“It’s been almost a month, and that’s all you’ve got?”
It was hard to roll my eyes. In a month, Amanda could have met a woman, fallen in love, had a bitter breakup, and considered reconciliation. It had been a month of patching up my relationship with Evie. A month of cleaning out my grandmother’s house. Time might move at a brisk pace for her, but it didn’t seem like nearly enough time to process all the things going on in my head.
“Look, I’m not going to push you?—”
I scoffed.
Amanda glared—a look that turned the blood in my veins into ice water. She plopped down on her stool, eyes narrowing. “Has it been a month, or has it been twenty years?” I knew this tone. She posed the question, a guaranteed trap. Just when I thought it’d end, she’d go in for the kill.
“I—”
“Rhetorical question.” Why were we friends? “Are you having fun with him?”
“Yeah. I just?—”
Her finger shot up and pushed against my lips. “Shh.” Sister I never had? More like sister I never wanted. It made me thankful that Evie and I continued having a comfortable but cautious relationship.
“You’re hung up on what happens tomorrow. Feelings don’t care about tomorrow. They exist in the here and now.”
She raised an eyebrow, waiting for the statement to sink in. She might drive me crazy, but she had a point. The more time I spent with him, the more I asked the proverbial ‘what if.’ I laid in bed wondering what life…ourlife would look like if I gave up my attachment to the city. Yes, it even had a dog… breed yet to be determined.
“For a man who loves love, you’re certainly stubborn with getting it for yourself.”
I wanted to shoot back a sarcastic remark. This wasn’t like the movies on the Romance Channel. There wasn’t… no… therewasa struggling storefront. That would mean… the small town had rallied. I spent so much time watching movies with a box of tissues within reach that I didn’t realize I had been cast as the leading man. That would make Tyler…
“Oh my God. Am I living a second-chance romance?”
“Maybe if you stop resisting.”
I grabbed my sketchbook and headed back to the couch.There was no way I’d let Amanda see the smile on my face. Night after night, I watched movies, crying as the couple found one another. It seemed surreal to be starring in my own romcom. I plopped down on the couch, flipping to a sketch of Mimi. I could swear my grandmother’s eye had a twinkle I hadn’t seen before. Had I been on an adventure all this time and not realized it?
This changed things.
“It’s here!”
Amanda and I had gone back to working. She didn’t stop inking while Jason’s voice filled the comic shop downstairs. When neither of us moved, making the floorboards of the loft creek, I heard him growl.
“There are naked men involved.”
No movement.
“I can see Jon’s penis,” he shouted.
Amanda dropped her ink brush into a cup and ran toward the stairs. I wasn’t nearly as thrilled. I knew the moment I recommended the calendar I’d have to deal with the consequences. It was one thing to sit in the park with Amanda and guess who wore briefs versus boxers. Now, I’d have to sit through the giggles of the little old ladies with intimate knowledge of my naughty bits.
I set aside my sketchbook and headed downstairs. By the time I descended the stairs to the comic shop, Amandacouldn’t suppress the laughter. I walked down the aisle of comics and action figures until I could see the redness in Jason’s cheeks. This meant she was gawking at him or Simon. If Firefly didn’t have boundaries before, it was about to reach a whole new level.
“Jason, consider me impressed,” she said.
As soon as I reached the counter, she turned it around, pushing a naked Simon inches from my nose. “Great. I’m never going to look your boyfriend in the eye again.”
