Page 78 of Let's Talk About Love

“You’re going to get me sick.” Her voice trembled more than she wanted it to.

“I’ll always take care of you.”

“You’re under the influence of cough syrup. You don’t know what you’re saying,” she joked. “Always is an awfully long time and I might hold you to that.”

“Promise?”

“Wow.” She laughed. “How strong was that stuff?”

“It’s not the medicine.” He smiled and bit down on his thumbnail—the way he always did to keep from laughing. She had stared at his face long enough to read him with little to no struggle. Takumi was thoughtful but not animated. His expressions were subtle but not mysterious. “It’s you.”

Her gaze drifted to the pictures.

Oh.

Oh.

CHAPTER

26

This was it. The morning Alice decided the tiptoeing stalemate she and Feenie had entered almost two months ago would end. They would sit down, talk about what happened, and officially move past it.

(… and then she’d go to work and deal with Takumi.)

(All she needed was an opening.)

(Where in tarnation was she going to get one of those? It’s not like she could say, “We should date. By the way, I’m ace.”)

(… or could she?)

(No, no, no. That was a bad idea. Terrible.)

(The deepest of sighs.)

“Relax, Buttons,” Ryan said.

“I’m not scared,” she said, pacing back and forth in the kitchen. “It’s just she yells. I don’t like it when she yells.”

“I know. It’ll be fine.”

“Why won’t you just tell me?”

“I told you I can’t. Please don’t ask. I don’t like being stuck between you two.”

Oh, how Alice knew that feeling. “Thanks for agreeing to mediate and make a fancy brunch to butter her up.”

“You’re welcome.” He passed her the basket of croissants.

Alice tore into one, shoving more into her mouth between each bite. She leaned on the counter while watching Ryan finish cooking.

Feenie arrived a handful of moments later. “I would have been here sooner, but Don is a sack of shit in human skin who would be late for his own funeral, the bastard.” She kissed Ryan on the cheek, who frowned at her.

“Is it really necessary to talk like that?”

“I do what I want.” She shrugged out of her jacket, tossing it across the room onto the couch. Glory wound her way around Feenie’s legs, meeping to be picked up, which Feenie did for almost exactly two minutes—the time it took to kick off her shoes and plug her phone into the charger. She handed the cat off to Alice.

“Hold her, will you?”