Page 27 of Sweeter Than Fiction

Instead, I’ve been burying myself in work and knitting while binging audiobooks.

Pretty much back to my normal routine.

Since I’ve been staying up later than normal—due to my obsession with just one more chapter, I am more tired than usual. I get cozy on the couch, and Whiskers even jumps up to cuddle. I turn on some boring show on Netflix that will put me straight to sleep. It’s almost worked when a soft knock on the door jolts me back awake.

I’m still so out of it that I don’t even bother to look through the peephole. Let’s hope it’s not a murderer.

When I open the door, there stands Don. He leans against one side of the doorframe with his hands shoved in his pockets. When he looks at me, I can see how exhausted he looks.

“Hi,” he says with a small smile.

“Hey. I think I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” I ask.

“For basically ghosting on you the last few days. I had to deal with a shit show at work and then, it was just a domino effect.” He stops himself. “It doesn’t matter. I should have let you know that I wasn’t just being a dick.”

Man, he really is just so nice.

“Don, it’s okay. I know you have a life.”

“Trust me when I say I’d much rather have been here hanging out with you.”

Something about his words makes me feel good. Better than I’ve felt in a long time.

Before I can say anything, he keeps going. “I was hoping you’d let me make it up to you.”

“Oh?”

“I know it’s late tonight, but maybe tomorrow, you’d like to hang out.”

Trying not to sound too eager, I reply, “Yeah, of course.”

“Will you let me make you dinner?”

“You want to cook for me?”

He nods. “How does spaghetti sound?”

I process for a moment, trying to run through the ingredients in my head to make sure I’m not allergic to any of them.

“Spaghetti sounds great.”

He shoots me a half smile. “Great. Can’t wait.”

Surprisingly, neither can I.

The following day, I once again do a deep dive into my work. It helps to pass the time a little faster.

When I finally finish up for the evening, I shower before heading over to Don’s. Usually, when I get done showering, I immediately put on my pajamas, but since I am technically leaving my apartment, I opt for leggings and an oversized sweater.

I will choose comfort over beauty almost a hundred percent of the time. Hell, the other night I dressed up, and look what happened there. If that wasn’t a bad omen, I don’t know what is. At least if I had been in my normal clothes, I could’ve been comfortable while on a terrible date.

After I’m all ready, I head next door. Before I can knock, the bathrobe guy on the other side of me peeks his head out and looks me up and down.

His disapproving look makes me roll my eyes.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take Don long to answer. When he does, I see that he’s also opted for comfortable clothing. He’s wearing a form-fitting black t-shirt, and…

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