Page 91 of Flirting with Forever

“Ma...”

Estrella waved a hand through the air, striking John’s disapproval from the record. “I won’t pressure you, but I just want you to know, Mary, that I love you. And that you are welcome in my house and in my heart, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Mary burst into tears herself.

On their way home, the train rocking them back and forth and into one another in a way that was soothing only to New Yorkers, Mary tipped her head up from John’s shoulder and squinted at him. “You’re really lucky to have a mom like the one you have.”

John nodded. “I’ve learned that over the years.” He cleared his throat and looked momentarily nervous. “Ah, I’m more than happy to share the wealth, Mary. Anytime you need a mom, you should hit up Estrella. Nothing would make her happier.” He kissed Mary’s palm. “Or me happier, for that matter.”

Mary settled her head back on his shoulder and sighed. It had been so long since she’d felt like this. Like she was part of a unit. She’d never once felt this way with her parents. She’d felt like this with Tiff and with Cora. And now with John and Estrella. And Ruth, of course.

She knew that the time was coming when John would have to meet her parents. The thought sat heavily in her gut. Her mother hadn’t reached out since the Carver Reinhardt debacle. It wasn’t altogether unusual to go a month without a check-in from her folks, but the silence felt particularly loud right now. Mary had made it clear that she wouldn’t be reaching out to them.

Whenever her mother called, whenever it was time for Mary to visit again, she’d have John. And it was important to remember that.

This time, she had John.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

TWOWEEKSLATER,the end of August was bearing down on them and the weather hadn’t let up one bit. Mary had gotten distracted in her cool storeroom that morning, sighing over the fall decorations she wouldn’t be able to put up in her shop window for another month at least. October couldn’t come soon enough for her. She was tired of underboob sweat. She was tired of her summer wardrobe. She was tired of having to eat her weight in fruit popsicles just to make sure she didn’t succumb to heatstroke.

She was also excited about weathering a new season with John. This summer had spanned on for years, it felt like. Though, so had her connection to John. They’d been together only a few weeks, not even a real month yet, but Mary felt like the strength and quality of their relationship was so much more substantial than that. She was anxious for time to catch up with her feelings.

She spent the day in her shop, relishing the air-conditioning and helping customers. Though the end of summer was usually a little slow retail-wise, she’d noticed a surge in customer interest since the break-in. Maybe the way she’d rearranged the shop was catching more eyes off the sidewalk, or maybe people who’d heard about the break-in were stopping by to see how things were going. Either way, Mary’s business was doing well enough that any second she wasn’t with John, she was busy in her shop.

Mary helped a customer choose between two sets of handblown glass tumblers and carefully wrapped and packaged them for him. She was dimly aware that he was an attractive man and that he was probably flirting with her, but her mind was elsewhere as she handed him his purchase and gave him a bright smile.

She noticed that his eyes had strayed to her left hand, a look of confusion on his face as she merrily sent him on his way. With a defeated shrug, he was gone.

When Mary looked over at the door, it was a double take. She was surprised to see John standing off to one side of her shop, just past the entrance, his eyes pinned to her.

Her insides turned to a slow-moving wildfire. She knew that look he was giving her. That was his I-know-what-Mary-looks-like-naked look.

Another customer with a question pulled her attention away, and it was ten more minutes before the shop was empty. Kylie was sorting through inventory in the back room, finally back on a regular work schedule post break-in.

John, hands in pockets, strolled quasi-casually over to her. She leaned across the counter to him, her elbows planted, and accepted a quick-hot sip of a kiss.

“What a lucky woman I am,” she told him easily, almost thoughtlessly. “To have such a broody, handsome boyfriend.”

She froze for a moment, shocked at herself.

She hadn’t meant to call John her boyfriend. They hadn’t quite discussed it yet, what they were to one another. Did John even have girlfriends? The word sounded so juvenile. Fun, exhilarating, but juvenile. She was positive they were monogamous simply due to the amount of sex they were having. The man would have to be addicted to sex, Red Bull and Viagra if he were going to somehow be having more sex with someone else on the side.

His brows pulled down in that V that she’d come to love so dearly, and his lips twitched in a smile so slight, a stranger wouldn’t notice it. But Mary did. “I was just thinking the same thing,” he said in his two-toned voice.

“You were just thinking how lucky I am?” she asked innocently, widening her smile and batting her eyelashes. “How sweet.”

He laughed. “I was thinking how luckyIam.” John slipped his hand across the counter and grabbed hers, doing that palm-kissing thing he always did with her. The man had a serious thing for her palms. “Remember that day Estrella and I came to your shop?”

“When she dragged you in by your ear?”

“I came willingly!” he insisted. “I told you that I knew I needed to apologize. And apologize I did.”

Mary squeezed his hand. “It was actually a very good apology, by the way.” She cocked her head to one side. “That apology was the first thing I truly liked about you. Not every person can apologize and mean it the way you did.”

“I already liked everything about you,” John admitted, those light eyes eating up her entire expression. “I felt like such an ass for what I’d said on our date, and then I felt like an ass for witnessing you ask that guy out when you obviously wanted to do it privately. Remember that guy?James.”

She laughed in surprise as a look of disdain crossed John’s face. “You remember his name?”

---