Page 220 of Just for the Plot

“Lunch?” I ask.

He nods. “Nothing fuels the body more than some protein and coffee.” He smirks and then unwraps his protein bar. “How’s it going?” He takes in my disheveled notebooks and papers.

“Oh, you know, busy.”

“Like always. How’s the book truck coming along?”

I smile and say, “Just about done in the wrap shop.”

“Yeah?” he asks, looking surprised.

“Yeah, they just sent me a picture of what one side looks like with the logo.”

“Really? Well, fucking show me.” He gestures to my phone, making me chuckle.

“You really want to see?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,” he answers.

Grateful for the reprieve from work, I pull up the picture on my phone and flip the screen toward him.

“Shit,” he says, taking my phone and looking at it carefully. “Bower, that looks really fucking good.”

“I know, right? I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”

“And look at the shelves. I like the wood feature. Gives that old-timey feel.”

“That’s what I thought too. And I know it’s taken a little extra time to add the wood and stain it properly, but I think it was worth it.”

“Agreed.” He zooms in. “The logo is fire.” Then he looks up at me with a wink. “The truck being the mascot was the right choice.”

“Yeah, some guy told me to do it.”

He hands me back my phone and says, “You can say it was me. It’s okay.”

“I don’t need to when you know it was you.”

“But validation is nice.”

“Do you really need to be validated?”

“I don’t know.” He twists his cup on the table. “After you ditched me on our date, might be nice to have a little validation from you.”

I know he’s teasing, but it doesn’t make me feel any less guilty. “I’m sorry about that,” I say, even though I know I already apologized. “It was bad timing on my end and I didn’t want to lead you on.”

“You don’t need to apologize, sweetheart,” he says. “I get it, and I don’t think it was until I met you that I actually got it.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

He nervously looks to the side before leaning forward, growing closer. Looking me in the eyes, he says, “I didn’t really know what I wanted in life, was just kind of floating around, fucking whoever, and not necessarily getting to know anyone. But, uh, you sort of changed all of that.” He cutely ruffles his hair. “You made me realize that I could actually have feelings for someone.”

Oh God.

“Cougar—”

He places his hand on mine and says, “I’m not trying to get you to change your mind. I get it. You’re into someone else, and that’s something I’m cool with, because if that means you’re happy, then I’m happy. But you changed my perspective, Bower. Made me realize that there’s more to this dating world than one-night stands and that sounds so fucking dickish, but it’s true. You made me want to try for more.”

I don’t even know what to say to that.