Page 77 of Paint Our Song

Whatever. He’s totally gone for Calvin, and he realizes he doesn’t actually care if his friends will tease him about it. How can he not be, with how good he looks in those adorable glasses?

“Calvin,” Megan gestures at Calvin to come over. “Look at these photos of some of the hiking trails… You think you can post some of them in your stories today? I’ll clear them with Chase and Gil, too. Ooooh, we should create a group chat together. That might make it easier.”

“Sure,” Calvin says, approaching her. He hovers behind her until she pulls out a chair, inviting him to sit.

“Matt, Meg,” Gabby says, voice loud enough for both of them to hear even if they’re on opposite sides of the small cafe. “You two are going to be here for tomorrow’s wedding, right?”

“Yeah, I’m going to take videos for social media,” Megan says.

Matthew shrugs. “Yeah. They ordered the cake from my shop.”

“You need to stay longer than that.” Gabby says, rather-of-factly. “We need all hands on deck. I’m not sure the temps can pull their weight.”

“Am I going to get paid?”

“I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Matthew makes a face. While Matthew and Gabby talk a bit more about the logistics of the wedding and how they need more wait staff, Miles’s gaze drifts over to Calvin, who’s nodding along as Megan shows him her laptop. Calvin catches his stare and hisexpression softens.

Done with setting up the pastry displays, Miles approaches Calvin. He stands behind him to get a look at what Megan’s showing him, which is a gallery of hiking spots in the small lake-town.

Gabby and Matthew continue to argue.

“You should pay me an hourly rate like the temps,” Matthew says, though his tone is light and unserious.

Gabby puts a hand on her hip. “Dahlia practically treats you like a son. You should do this as a favor to her!”

Chuckling, Megan quips, “Ex son-in-law, rather.”

Miles freezes. His friends don’t hear her comment and continue to bicker. Calvin, though, heard it. He asks, “Ex son-in-law?”

“Miles and Matthew dated for a very long time,” she says. “Honestly, Miles is practically another annoying older brother to me. Everyone thought we were all siblings with how all our names started with M, but also because these two dorks were joined by the hip.”

“Meg,” Miles says, too weakly for her to hear. Suddenly, he wishes she had heard the earlier testing, if it would have avoided this.

Frowning, Gabby turns to Miles and waves toward the door. “Miles! Go downtown.”

“Geez, you’re bossy.”

“Someone has to be!”

After Megan sends the photos to Calvin, the two of them head for the door. Calvin’s looking at him oddly, most likely because of Megan’s innocent slip-up. Miles doesn’t blame her. His past relationship with Matthew has never been a secret; he’s simply never thought to bring it up with Calvin.

Before Calvin can ask about it, Miles asks, “Where are Gil and Chase?”

“I think they went hiking,” Calvin says. “I never know with those two.”

The entire drive downtown, he deflects and talks about anything other than Matthew. He’s not even sure why he doesn’t want to have the conversation with Calvin. It happened a long time ago and both he and Matthew have moved past it.

Maybe it’s because he’s not proud of how he had shut down years ago, which was why he and Matthew fell apart.

He parks in front of the table rental store, and Calvin goes inside with him. It’s a small business, and the owner is an elderly woman who appears confused by Miles’s presence. The elderly woman says Hannah’s Inn isn’t on the schedule, and Miles almost faints, because what the fuck?

“Sorry,” a much younger woman says, walking over to them. She’s got a tablet in her hand. “Let me take over. How can I help you?”

“Hi,” Miles says. He vaguely recognizes her. In a small-town like this, everyone’s familiar. “I’m from Hannah’s Inn. We’re supposed to rent table sets from you for tomorrow. We’ve been trying to reach you to make sure everything’s good, but your phone’s out of service.”

She blanches and rummages through the counter near the door, taking a cellphone from it and peering at the screen. “Gram, did you turn this off?”