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I dropped my head into my hands, conflicted.
After a few minutes, I dashed off a quick text:
D: I’m still thinking. I need to know more about the terms.
H: They’ll be favorable. Promise
I rolled my eyes at my phone, annoyed. How dumb did he think I was? As if I’d take his word for anything given our past.
Grabbing my phone, I padded to the kitchen for coffee. Quinn had already made a fresh pot and it was warming for me. A note sat beside the pot:
Miss you already. Have a great day. Talk later. Love, Q
Love. My heart pounded hard, seeing it in writing. So it wasn’t a dream. Quinn had definitely said the “L” word, too. That was a good thing, right? So why was my stomach knotted and my chest tight?
I chalked it up to the texts from Holden, poured myself a cup of coffee, and headed to the shower. I needed to get ready for the day.
Mars was waiting for me in the bakery kitchen when I walked down the stairs from my apartment thirty minutes later.
“So, how was it?” he asked, leaning against the counter and waggling his dark eyebrows up and down.
“How was what?” I said, shoving my hands into my gray hoodie, playing coy.
“Cut it out, Lanie, spill right now! I could barely sleep last night, wondering how it all went down with you. God, I really need to get a life.” Mars blew his breath out, his dark hair flying up, then falling back down over his eye.
I threw my head back, laughing. He always knew how to lighten the mood.
“Date went great. Quinn’s family is fantastic, love them. I think they liked me, too.”
“Cool, cool. We knew that would happen. How was Ryder? The parents?” He tapped his fingers against his cheek, intrigued.
“All good. Something pretty importantdidhappen...” I chewed my lip, thinking back to last night, in bed with Quinn.
“What?” Mars gripped my arms, his brown eyes wide.
“I might have dropped the L bomb.”
“What? For real?”
I nodded. “Yeah. For real.”
“Oh, Lanie. So what happened?” His brow creased with worry.
“He said it back.”
“Really? You guys have been on like four dates. This is some kind of world record for you. Let’s mark this down,” he teased.
“I know. It just slipped out, I didn’t plan it or anything. But he was so great, the whole day was so great, and it just fell out of my mouth. I couldn’t take it back, he definitely heard it. Then he said it back.” I took a deep breath.
“That’s fantastic, I’m so happy for you.” Mars hugged me, pulling me in tight.
“And Holden texted me again,” I mumbled into the shoulder of his sweatshirt.
Mars drew back. “And? What did he say? What did you say? And tell me you’ve talked to Quinn by now…”
“Um…” I said, biting my lip, anxiety creeping back in, my stomach knotting up again.
“Ohmygawd, Lanie! Tell the man already! It’s obvious you’re at least thinking about it. So discuss it with him! You just got into a relationship with Quinn, the man of our dreams—I mean, your dreams, haha. Is opening a bakery in Midtown with Holden right now wise?”
