Page 101 of Tony

No. That’s not right. I could’ve had that if I hadn’t been kicked out by forces beyond my control.

“Belinda!” Vann yells up the stairs. “Come on, I need coffee.”

“I’m coming,” I say.

He walks up the steps when he realizes I’m right above him. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at your family photos.”

He grins. “We’re a good-looking bunch.”

I nod. Smile.

Because they really are. A very good-looking bunch.

And I’m about to become one of them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - TONY

I touch her all over in the shower. I lather up with soap that smells like the color pink looks and touch her all over. We wash each other’s hair and we smile while the other takes their turn rinsing under the water. It’s a calm beginning. An experience that might normally lead to sex. But we both know this shower isn’t about sex.

There are big things to decide and they will need to be decided soon.

But not now. Not today. Today we wash each other, then dry each other, then get dressed. She brought my suitcase down before she went to bed last night.

I find that both bold and adorable.

I’ll say this about Soshee Ameci—she is a girl who goes after what she wants.

And then, once we’re dressed, we leave her apartment and walk with casual ease down the four flights of stairs to the Fort Collins Theater coffee shop.

“So what do you want to do about the little dog?” she asks.

“Shit. I forgot all about that. I don’t know. Do you think I’m just overreacting and there’s nothing going on?”

Sosh shoots me a sideways glance. “Do you think there’s nothing going on?”

I draw in a deep breath. “No clue, actually.”

“Really?”

“I mean I get it. I’m all wrapped up in something weird. But maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing? Maybe they just have a coffee shop dog? Couldn’t it be something simple like that?”

“A dog that they walk at four-thirty in the morning?”

“Don’t coffee shops open early?”

“Conveniently past Vann’s house?”

“It’s only a few blocks off College Avenue.”

“OK, stop.” She stops on the landing between the first and second floor. “Are you really trying to talk yourself into the idea that everything’s fine?”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying I dunno, Soshee. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

“Conclusions? Ha! That’s a good one.”

“What’s that mean?”