Page 107 of Last Fall

I shot her a look. “Don’tjudge.”

“I’m not judging. I’m happy for you, but I also don’t want you to trip over your owntwofeet.”

* * *

Ikept hearing a noise.It was steady and consistent, but also coming and going without any pattern. Like an annoying mosquito. “What’s thatnoise?”

Zoe blushed. “I have a feeling it’s my phone. I’m sorry. It’s on vibrate but that only helpssomuch.”

We were sitting on the new patio of Rusty’s Bistro eating brunch. “That’s a lot of vibrating. Are you getting phonecalls?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s probably my writing group. We use an app to send messages and sometimes when all of us get going ...” her voice trailed off as she looked away and bit her lip. She was nervous about this. Interesting. “Anyway,” she continued, “if you don’t mind I’ll put the app on snooze. It will only take asecond.”

Oh. She was cute. Nervous about pulling her phone out on our date. So polite and sweet. It made me want her a little more than I already did. “No problem.” I watched the way she fidgeted and fumbled, grabbing her purse and digging out herphone.

She blushed again when she found it. “Fifty-two notifications.Sheesh.”

“Fifty-two? Since I pickedyouup?”

She nodded, swiping her finger across the screen andtapping.

“What are the girls talkingabout?”

She blinked several times but didn’t look at me. “All kinds of stuff.” She turned the phone so I could see the screen. It looked a lot like a menu with different categories.Writing. Marketing. Retreat.I liked getting this look into Zoe’s world so I leaned closer and pointed at the top one. “What’sPublishing?”

I swear she breathed a little sigh of relief. Her shoulders definitely relaxed a little. “Oh, Mary found a book cover she thought was beautiful and shared it.” She clicked on it and the book cover appeared, along with what appeared to be a lot of otherstuff.

“What else do you guys talk about inPublishing?”

“Anything and everything related to the industry. Book covers, trends, software, issues or tricks for dealing with vendors. Agents. Stufflikethat.”

Interesting. “AndSocialMedia?”

Without hesitation she clicked on that one. A link to a Tweet about “Things Writers Say” appeared with three comments underneath. Alexandra posted a laughing emoji, Julia posted “Scarily accurate,” and Alexis posted five goldstars.

I was starting to understand. There were three more highlighted sections. One in particular caughtmyeye.

“AndGossip?”

She blushed again, fidgeting in her seat.Bingo.That was why her phone was blowing up. “Just silliness. It’s kind of our free spacetovent.”

I didn’t buy it. “Would today’s silliness have something to do withme,Zo?”

She nodded real slowly. “That would be my guess. I haven’t openedityet.”

Her hand almost shook. She wasn’t just a little nervous or thrown off by this. She wasverynervous and I needed to put an end to whatever silliness was bringingthaton.

She always responded well to my touch so I started there, cupping her cheek and running my thumb along the skin. “Darlin’?” I finally got her eyes. “Why does this make you uncomfortable? I like your friends. I think it’s cute they’re talkingaboutus.”

“You do?” she asked like I’d just said I love to eat beets forbreakfast.

“Let’s send them a picture. That’ll really make them lose theirminds.”

When all she did was stare at me I nodded toward her phone. “Selfie. You and me.Friends.Fun.”

With a blink and nod she finally started moving again. “Here, your arms are longer.” She handed me her phone and leaned in so that our heads were sidebyside.

I waited until I was sure I had the shot I wanted, then turned and kissed her cheek just as I hit thebutton.