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Yesterday, I’d been sitting on this man’s lap while he made me come, thinking I’d just agreed to a fun summer fling. Less than twenty-four hours later and I was realizing how wrong I was. There was nothing fun or casual about what he was setting me up to be able to do. Nobody in my life had ever poured into me just because. But Sincere and Lorenzo weren’t like anybody I’d ever met either.

It’d barely been a week and I knew without a doubt that by the end of this summer, my life as I knew it would be different inevery way. And I didn’t know whether to be excited or terrified by that.

But as I settled against the soft leather of his seats on the drive home, I had to remind myself this wasexactlywhat I spent months hoping for. I just didn’t know it would play out like this. And maybe that was the point. Maybe I needed to be open to things working out in ways I hadn’t expected.

JULY

“We’re gonna be neighbors!”

I looked up to see Goldyn damn near galloping through my door with a grin on her face. If she was fazed by the blank look I gave her, she hid it and kept skipping until she reached the service counter.

She paused and waited for me to acknowledge her, the sunny smile on her lips never wavering. Why was she like this? And why did it feel like my soul was thawing by proximity to her warmth?

“What?” I deadpanned.

“I just met with my realtor. We have to get one more signature and I’ll be the owner of the shop on the corner.”

Goldyn watched me with an expectant tilt of her head, eyes brimming with excitement.

“Aren’t you gonna congratulate me?”

I blinked at her. “Does it mean anything when you have to ask for it?”

“Of course it does.” Her long lashes fluttered against her cheeks. “I can excuse you for not having manners.”

“Congratulations, Goldyn.”

She leaned against the counter, her arms folded in front of her as she looked up at me with her mouth twisted wryly.

“You know, one day, you’re gonna miss me and I’m not gonna be anywhere to be found.”

“I doubt that,” I replied dryly. Even after she left in September, she’d be down the block from me for good now. A few steps away. Too damn close for comfort.

Goldyn’s next question was enough to pull me out my thoughts before I could think too long about what having her around all the time meant.

“Do you want to have lunch with me?”

“No.”

“Why not?” A small frown formed on her face.

I wasn’t used to people asking me follow-up questions. And she clearly wasn’t used to people telling her no.

She propped a hand against her cheek, drawing my attention to the tiny freckles dotting her scrunched face.

Twenty-four on her right cheek. Twenty-two on the left. And ten across the bridge of her button nose. Fifty-six total. I didn’t knowwhyI knew that, but I did and it made me question everything about myself. This woman I wasn’t supposed to be paying attention to took up too much space in my head.

“Lottie’s gone. I need to stay here and?—”

“I’m back!” My cashier’s sing-songy announcement broke my sentence in half and brightened the smile on Goldyn’s face.

Her eyes traced Lottie’s path around the counter. “Perfect timing. Romeo was trying to get out of lunch with me. And now you’re here.”

Questions burned in Lottie’s eyes, but she only smiled. “You’re goingoutfor lunch?”

Ten times out of ten, I ate in the back, hunched over my notebook trying to brainstorm new ideas. Even on the daysSincere brought me lunch, we ate together in the back until he got bored and dipped.

“Yes, we’re going to celebrate good news. We’ll be back in an hour,” Goldyn shared, the gold flecks in her eyes sparkling extra bright.