Page 12 of Last Fall

How’s Erik?It was on the tip of my tongue. “You should go shower and get some rest. We can call Taco Taxi fordinner.”

“Oh yes!” She rubbed her belly. “Roman’s flight gets in late so we don’t have to worryabouthim.”

And once again I was glad I moved downstairs. Living across the hall from newlyweds was too much, even for me, the writer of hot romances. I wasn’t squeamish about sex (as long as it wasn’tmysex life) but hearing two people I saw every day in their most vulnerable moments was crossing a line. I offered to move out so they could have the house to themselves but they both insisted I stay. They traveled so much that it worked out really well most of the time. Sometimes I was alone, sometimes I kept June company, sometimes we were all here together. It wasn’t weird. We were just this big happy family that also happened to include CarrieandWes.

So now I lived downstairs next to my favorite room in the house: the library. It was win-win for everyone,really.

“Erik askedaboutyou.”

That pulled me right out of my thoughts. “What didheask?”

She sat up and smiled. “Oh, you know. How you were, if you were doing okay...nosy things that guys ask when they’re really interested in a girl but can’t come right out and ask the things they really wanttoask.”

When he said he was going to give me space, he meant it. Aside from a couple of funny Facebook messages and a big congratulations post when my movie deal was announced, he hadn’t pushed his way into my lifeatall.

Well, other than to reiterate that our lunch had been the highlight of his year and he hoped to see meagainsoon.

Ohmygod.

“What did you tell him?” Darn it. That sounded way too much like Icared.

Which of course only confirmed what June already suspected. She grinned from ear to ear. “Has something happened between you two that I don’t knowabout?”

I blushedcrimson.

“Zoe! This is wonderful! Tell me everything.” She scooted right to the edge of the bed and sank her chin into herhands.

Wonderful?I had a hard time believing that. While I had gotten an intimate life lesson from Jake, Greg, Wes, and Roman that there were actually guys out there that were both sexy and sweet, it was much easier for me to believe they came in limited supply. As in, so limited that they were it. All the rest of the male dating pool was made up ofturds.

Which of course meant that I could go on believing there was no good man out thereforme.

Which of course meant I never had to worry about the complications ofdating.

“It’s not that big of a deal, June. We ran into each other at lunch one day.That’sall.”

Yeah, she didn’t believe me. Her eyebrow cocked up and her eyes narrowed. “And yet, you’re blushing. So either nothing happened except you have the hots for him, or something happened and you’re nottellingme.”

“Why do you care?” Wrong thingtosay.

She sat straight up. “I love you, Zoe. After everything that’s happened in the last couple of years you’re basically my third sister. I care awholelot.”

Surviving catastrophic hurricanes and raising children bonded people together. I knew that. And I knew that my relationship with June was special, but instead of acknowledging it, I tended to barely think about it. As if it were temporary and at any moment they’d move on with their lives without me. “I’msorry.”

“I know you and I had a deal. We only spoke in hypotheticals. We never told anyone the real truth about the guys we loved. And then Roman came back and I had to tellsomeone.”

She told me. “And I appreciated that you trusted mesomuch.”

She lifted her shoulders a little. “At some point you have to stop running and face the fact that you can’t live your life alone. You need friends and family.We’reyour family, Zoe, and we’re not going anywhere. You know everythingaboutme.”

Sometimes I knew too much about her, thus the movingdownstairs.

“I kissed him.” I could barely meet her eyes after admitting that. It was like unzipping my skin and letting someone with a baseball bat have a whack at my insides. “I kissed him totally out of the blue. And I liked it. And I think he liked it because he kissed me back...alot.”

She grinned. No actually, she beamed. “He’s liked you for alongtime.”

I really wasn’t sure what I thought of that. Part of me was thrilled that he was so patient with his interest, but part of me was totally confused. Why wait around unless he had a thing for the unattainable? The very last thing I wanted was to be another man’sprize.

“It was just a kiss,” I said, sounding about as lame aspossible.