Page 76 of Flirty Fall Fling

Fair warning: Kendall thinks you moved to Colorado to join a cult.

Jamie

Not a cult. But I have been hanging out with a witch.

Patterson

Please tell me this is a seasonal joke.

Jamie

This is a seasonal joke.

Patterson

Really?

Jamie

No.

Patterson

What does “hanging out” mean? Sex?

Jamie

Just a flirty fall fling.

Patterson

Be on your best behavior, Jamie. Don’t fuck up your position with the foundation. Wait until your contract is signed before you start playing games.

Jamie

I’ve got it under control. Trust me.

Patterson

Yeah, I’ve heard that before.

The email from the board has been sitting in my inbox since last week with an important flag next to it. I’ve left it unopened because I’m actually taking my vacation. I finally open it at the kitchen counter. The attachment has all the key talking points about renewing my contract as the face of the organization.

Right now, I’m only concerned that November is one month from today. That means Blaire and I only have thirty days left to be together, and then we’ll walk away from one another, just as we promised.

I’m a skeptic, but I’ve also found myself reading articles about The Fool, Nine of Cups, and The Tower card this week. Every one of them has confirmed what she said.

I lock my phone and drive down the mountain because staying up here in this big-ass house alone doesn’t help.

Roasted Bean at two in the afternoon smells like icing.

“The usual?” the barista asks because I’m basically a regular now.

I nod, pay, then wait at the end of the counter.

“… called her a circus act,” a woman by the window tells her friend, “in front of the whole square.”

“No.” The other lady gasps.