Julian shrugged. “I guess. They got in Theo’s car and drove off this morning, but Theo finally texted me back to say Sam had been grounded and there was amix-upwith her dad.” He snorted. “Pretty sure the mix-up was that she was grounded and snuckout.”
“And you never got your pancakes,” I saidsadly.
Julian looked up at me in shock and his cheeks turned red, like he was remembering I’d promised them as areward.
“I could make you some here,” Ioffered.
“Aaaandthat’s my cue to getgoing.”
I frowned at Sabrina. “You don’t have toleave.”
“To be honest,” she said, “I’m dying to get back to your book. Besides, you guys have a lot to talk about.” Her mouth scrunched up in a sympathetic grimace. “I’ll be staying at the bed and breakfast in town. The, uh, big Victorian one across from the drugstore.”
It was cute that she assumed there was more than one hotel in O’Leary. As far as I knew, there was the Crabapple Bed and Breakfast and the campground out near the Camden Road, and Sabrina didn’t strike me as the type tocamp.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Iasked.
She gave me a sly grin. “You will if you want your laptop back. You have no internet and the signal’s too shitty for me to email it to myself.” Her smile softened when she looked at Julian. “It was nice to meetyou.”
“Same,” Julian said. “Oh, and if you’re looking for something different for dinner, the bar across the street and a block down from the Crabapple is great. It’s calledHoff’s.”
Sabrina nodded. “Alright. I’ll give it a whirl.” She knocked her knuckles against the kitchen doorframe as she left the room, rustled around for a second collecting her stuff, then the front door slammed behindher.
“I’m sorry for interrupting,” Julian said. “I didn’t mean to make her feel unwelcome. Honestly, I should have just stayed intown.”
“You should be exactly right here where you are.” I pulled him against me more fully so we were chest to chest. “How much did youhear?”
“The part about your father.” Julian still sounded faintlyapologetic.
“I would have told you all about it anyway,” I said. “We don’t do secrets now,right?”
He laughed shortly. “Right.”
“Speaking of which. Ingrid. I swear that wasn’t something I consciously held back, Julian. It just never came up and I… I know it sounds like a cop out, but I don’t think of her anymore. Ever,really.”
“I know you didn’t mean it intentionally. I don’t care. I mean,much. I’ll need a minute to work through my mortal jealousy over the fact that you weremarriedto the woman, because I’m petty like that. But logically speaking, I don’tcare.”
I rested my lips against the top of his hair, hiding my grin. “I was married to her for a year. And we were together for a year before that. And you know how often I thought about her after the divorce was finalized? Only when someone else brought herup.”
He snorted. “Yeah,right.”
“Yeah,” I repeated. “Right. And we’ve been dating howlong?”
Julian shrugged, his face still buried in my chest. “Jesus, who the hell knows? Do we count it from the day we started being fake boyfriends? Or the day we started, you know, hooking up? Or from almost two weeks ago, when we made itofficial?”
“Hmm. Or from the lake last summer, since it’s basically all been foreplay for me since then,” I mused. “I see what youmean.”
Julian’s head came up. “All foreplay since then,huh?”
“Yep.”
“All the deep, meaningful conversations.Foreplay?”
“So much foreplay. But anyway, mypointwas, even after however long it’s been, I miss you afterhours. I don’tstopthinking about you anymore. All the different Julians you are… are perfect. Perfect forme.”
Julian snorted. Then he sighed. “Tell me everything I missed from Sabrina. She has an offer foryou?”
“Yeah. It’s a good offer. I mean, it’s a great offer. I’d be a fool to turn itdown.”
