Page 132 of You've Got Hate Mail
I don’t want Cricket on the dating apps when I can give her what she wants from the apps.
But I also can’t tell her that.
So much I can’t say to Cricket even when I want to.
The door clicks at the bottom of the stairs, and Lav’s voice gets softer.
“I’ve got her, Heath,” Cricket calls up.
She’s different today.
Confident.
Put together.
Not trying so hard.
Like yesterday helped her shed the layers of expectations of the world. Like she found her bravery, and in finding her bravery, she found a path back to herself.
To who she wants to be.
Mabel was right.
Cricket wasn’t herself when she got here.
Mabel was also right that I’m attracted to her.
That the way she plays with my daughter is intoxicating in ways that wine will never be.
That the way she’s finding her courage and herself again is inspiring.
That she’s fucking gorgeous and she’s made my dick work again, and not just when I accidentally see her naked, which wasn’t a turn-on yesterday until she kept talking to me while she was naked, like it was no big deal, like she was comfortable enough with me to let me seeeverything.
That she brings me coffee beans and offers to walk Lav to the house so I can get right to my jobs in the mornings and offers to share wine with me in a gift shop instead of being terrified of me after listening to me howl like a wild animal.
And making me feel like it’s me doingherthe favor every time.
“Thank you,” I stammer back.
“I can get her breakfast and take her gardening if you want to get back to your projects. I could use a dragon slayer to keep me safe.”
And there she goes, doing it again. “Yeah. Thanks. I’ll leave the food on the—ah, I have eggs ready for her.”
“I hate eggs,” Lav calls. “I want pancakes.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and count to three while Cricket’s voice carries up the stairs.
“You don’t like eggs anymore? Oh, no. Did they help sneak more dragons into the yard?”
Lav giggles. “Eggs can’t sneak dragons.”
“Hmm. Why else would a dragon slayer not like eggs?”
“They’re The Cockinator’s cousins. I don’t eat family.”
“Did you know there are two kinds of eggs? There are eggs that grow family, and then there are eggs that are just for food.”
Lav’s quiet.
