Page 18 of Storm in a Teacup (Love in Edinburgh #3)

“No,” I say quickly, then sigh. “No, not only you. I mean, not really. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Ben, let’s talk about this.”

“In the toilet?”

“Yes, in the toilet,” he says. “Have you talked to anyone about this? I mean, what’s going on with you?”

“You mean me falling in love with my best mate and him rejecting me?”

Guilt flashes across his features. It’s not my intention to make him feel bad, but I have trouble keeping my mouth shut. “Yeah. But also you figuring out your sexuality. Normally, I’d be the person you spoke to about that. But I’m not.”

“Well, I sort of dumped it all on the first man I had sex with.”

David’s mouth drops open, but he recovers quickly. “Sure. And how did that go?”

“The sex? Great.” I clear my throat. “I have a therapist. I’ve been going for about three months now. ”

“That’s awesome,” he says, looking relieved that I haven’t exclusively been using my hookups as cheap and ineffective therapy. It was just the one time, I swear.

“Linny knows,” I add.

His eyebrows lift. “She does?”

I nod, throat tight. “She knows everything.”

His face softens. “You really like her, then?”

I can’t help the small smile that grows on my face. “She’s great.” I let out an exhale. “David, I…I’m still trying to move past this. With us. My…my feelings . I’m sorry I had them.” Have , I correct in my mind.

His lips purse, clearly agreeing with me but not wanting to say that. Instead, he asks, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

I huff humorlessly. “Get ugly? Become a horrible person? I don’t know.” I shake my head, offering a real answer. “Just keep being my friend. Keep pushing me. You know that’s what I need sometimes. To be pushed.”

“What you need is to be shoved.”

I snort in response.

“But okay,” he adds.

“Okay.”

Turns out David only came to the toilet to find me, so we return to the table together.

When we do, I place a hand on Linny’s shoulder for a moment, hoping my silent thank you is communicated.

She’s mid-conversation with Callum, but she grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly, her rings digging in.

I think she’s asking if I’m okay. I squeeze back, letting her know I am.

…

The two pairs of us head in separate directions after dinner. I say to Linny, “I’m walking you home.”

“Fine,” she agrees .

As soon as we’re out of sight from David and Callum, she drops my hand. I’m surprised by the chill that spreads over me when she does. We soon walk up on the door between my café and her shop.

“This is me,” she says unnecessarily.

“Can I come up?” I find myself asking.

She narrows her eyes. “Why?”

I propose, “To meet Oscar Wilde.”

She nods, shoving her key into the front door and escorting me up to her first-floor flat. She opens the door and leads me in, flipping on all the lights. “Oscar,” she calls, wandering down the hall as I stay in the entryway, taking in her flat.

The walls are a cream color, and the couch that centers her living room is a sage green.

Dark wooden furniture accents the room. Everything besides the couch looks like an antique.

Well, considering she runs an antique shop, I figure it is.

There are little ghosts set up in random spots around her flat, all the same shape but varying in color and size.

They’re two different sizes, one about nine centimeters tall and the other about five centimeters.

They’re shaped like a typical ghost under a sheet, with oblong eyes at the tops of their head.

I pinpoint one that is black with rainbow speckles, then a little lavender one with darker purple marbling.

She comes back, a gray cat flung over her shoulder, clinging to her around the neck. She sets him down. I crouch as the cat spots me and quickly approaches. I notice something I failed to notice in the picture she sent me.

“He only has three legs.” Oscar is sporting his front two legs and a back left leg, but appears to be missing the back right leg.

“Damn,” Linny says flatly. “Must have left that one behind. Be right back.” She rotates and pretends to walk back to what I assume is her bedroom, but twists around to me with a smirk.

“ Yeah. He broke his leg when he was a kitten. It was so bad, it had to be amputated. Second most traumatic day of my life.” She kneels with us.

I scratch Oscar Wilde’s head as he rubs up against me. “What was the first?”

She leans across and strokes him down the back. “He manages just fine with three. Right, handsome?”

I duly note the obvious avoidance of my question as the cat moves to lend his attention to her before quickly coming back to me.

“He loves strangers,” she says.

“Well, I love him too,” I say, gazing down at the cat like he truly is the only source of light in the world. Well, maybe one of two. I peek back up at Linny, who is watching us interact. “So, when shall we break up?”

She chews her lip. “I was planning to talk to you about that. Would you mind, maybe, keeping this going until the wedding?”

I raise my eyebrows, surprised. “Sure. Of course. Why’d you change your mind?”

She sighs. “Mel texted and told me she’d given me a plus one for you. To both the wedding and the rehearsal dinner. I think she had to do some rearranging to fit you in, so I’ll feel bad if I have to tell her you’re not coming.” She then adds with a grumble, “And it’ll be nice to have you there.”

I cup my hand around my ear. “What was that?”

More clearly, she says, “It’ll be nice having you there. If you can go, that is.”

“Of course. Happy to. Maybe I can break out the ol’ kilt.”

“You own a kilt?”

“I’m Scottish, of course I own a kilt. Though I haven’t worn it since I was wee. Baws may be swinging below the hem if I tried it on.”

“That’s quite the picture you’ve just painted.”

“You’re welcome.” Oscar Wilde has moved on, leaving us to go sit on his cat tree in the corner and stare out the dark window.

Yet, we remain where we are on the floor.

“If we’re going to continue this charade until the wedding, we’ll need to spend some time with Isla and Rachel.

They’ll get suspicious if I keep you all to myself. ”

“Are you sure you’re okay lying to them?”

“I don’t love it, but I wouldn’t mind them thinking I’m in a happy relationship for a bit longer.

” Isla was insulted when I told her Linny and I were getting dinner with David and Callum, asking if she and Rachel could tag along.

I told her no, and that made her angry. “Maybe we could have them over to my place sometime and I could make supper? Something casual.”

“I mean, is dinner your only idea of fun?”

“Dinner is great! Especially if I make it.”

“Fine, we’ll continue to make the dinner rounds with everyone in our lives.”

“Just need to go to Saratoga for your mum.”

“Syracuse, and no, we don’t. She’ll be in town for the wedding. You can meet her then. What about your parents?”

“We can FaceTime them.”

“Sure.”

I reach out a hand, saying, “Shall we shake on it?”

She finds my hand with her eyes, then her hand. “Fine. We’ll keep this going for another month or so?”

“Then we can have a very dramatic and tragic break-up. It’ll be great.”

“Deal.”