I’d always had an idea of what being in love looked like—characters in books and movies who were willing to take a bullet for the person they loved and all that dramatic shit. But looking at Cal and Ash now, I realized I’d missed the pointcompletely.
Love wasthis.Love was connection.Love was when your rough corners and missing pieces weren’t imperfections you needed to correct, they were the tabs and blanks on a jigsaw puzzle piece that perfectly aligned with someone else’s and locked you togetherseamlessly.
I was pretty sure this was the first time I’d ever seen it, and I was positive I’d never experienced it. Ingrid was a decent person, but she’d never beenmyperson. We’d sure as hell never exchanged a look like that. The closest I could imaginewas…
Julian.
I looked up and saw that he was blushing again—assuming he’d ever stopped—and I wondered what was going through his mind as he watched thepair.
Flustered and a little uncomfortable, I took a sip of mycoffee.
“Holy shit!” I said way tooloudly.
Cal and Ash startled and broke apart, like they’d almost forgotten I was there, but they turned to look at me in amusement, clearly not ashamed of anything I’dwitnessed.
“Sorry. Just… this is the best coffee I’ve evertasted.”
“You think?” Ash said. “Cool. People around here seem to likethem.”
“Listen,” I said. “When I lived down in the city, my wi—Uh. Everyone I knew was addicted to flavored stuff like this. Every weekend we’d have to make a pilgrimage to different coffee places and rate them. Total coffee snobs. I never cared one way or another. This is better than anything I’ve ever had. By alot.”
Cal laughed and elbowed Ash. “See? I told you. You’regood.”
Julian watched me with a soft little smile on hislips.
“What?” Idemanded.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“No, tell me.What?”
Julian pursed his lips like he was trying to repress a grin. “Just the idea of you as a coffee snob. It’s hard toreconcile.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded, but inside I was grinning. I hadn’t ever given a shit about coffee—I legitimately couldn’t taste the difference between the stuff at a fast food restaurant and the stuff at a high-endcafe.
“True or false, you currently don’t even own an electric coffee maker, let alone some latte machine thing.” He waved a hand. “You have a stovetop coffee pot like JuneCleaver.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Like June Cleaver? I thought it was more…BearGrylls.”
Julian laughed. “Imean…”
“No, Julian, this is important. When you look at me, do you see high heels and pearls? Or do you see a rugged outdoorsman who could brew you coffee in the middle of the outback with only a teaspoon and some fishingline?”
“A spoon andfishing—?”
“Don’t distract me with trivialities, answer the question!” I poked him in theribs.
He laughed again. “I um… Did you say pumpkin tartlets?” He pointed at thebox.
I shook my head slowly and grabbed the box off the table. “Not foryou.”
“Okay, okay. You are Bear Grylls,” he said. “Never in the history of the outdoors has anyone been as rugged and… what was the otherthing?”
“An outdoorsman,” I supplied. “A ruggedoutdoorsman.”
He nodded. “That’s you. A hundred percent.” He batted his eyelashes. “Now can I have apastry?”
I pretended to think about it, then shook my head sadly. “Nope. I’m not convinced you’resincere.”
