Page 26 of Izzy and Her Off-Limits Love

“Nooo. I thought this was a romance! Where’s the happy ending? Boo!”

“There couldstillbe a happy ending.”

“With a ghost?”

“Probably with the volunteer guy at the shelter. Didn’t you notice how he looks at her?”

The same way I’m always looking at you. I don’t say the words, but I swear, Izzy picks up on my meaning.

“You think he likes her?” she asks, and suddenly we’re having two conversations at once, the real message in the subtext.

I step a little closer. “Iknowhe does. There’s a happy ending coming. They’re just finding their way to each other right now.”

Izzy’s lips curve into a smile, and my heart starts to thump in my chest. “It’s moving a little slowly, don’t you think?”

“Would you want them to rush into it or make smart choices ensuring a long and happy future?”

“I think,” she says slowly, swaying just a little bit closer to me, “they could move a little faster without compromising the structural integrity of the relationship.”

I burst out laughing. “Did you really just say ‘structural integrity of the relationship’?”

“What of it?” Izzy says, hands on her hips. “It’s a perfectly fine metaphor. I’d personallylikea relationship with structural integrity—and a firm foundation.”

“Preferably with no fumigation tents?”

Izzy’s smile shifts and her expression softens. She reaches out and squeezes my hand, not letting go immediately. “Only if it means getting stuck with you.”

EIGHT

Izzy

“Are you still up there?”Liam calls from somewhere below me on the stairwell.

I giggle, adjusting my grip on the tree. It’s uncomfortable, with the bark digging into my palms, fir needles poking me, and sap sticky on my fingers.

“Yes. I think. Are you? I hear you but can only see branches. Are you sure we didn’t go overboard?”

After wearing Liam’s pajamas to Target, which I think made him slightly more uncomfortable than it did me, I picked up a few basic things to wear, changed in the bathroom, then found Liam standing in the middle of the Christmas section, scratching his head like he had no idea where to start. He thankfully let me take the lead, and we loaded his cart full to the top.

With all of his new decor loaded into his car, we headed to the Christmas tree lot. And that’s where we ran into trouble.

Theoretically, this treeshouldfit in Liam’s apartment—if we can get it up there.

And therein lies the rub.

“Oh, we went overboard. But I have no regrets. Pivot!” Liam says in a perfect Ross Geller impression as we turn the corner on the third-floor landing.

“Are you aFriendsfan?”

“My mom loves it,” Liam says. “It was the first, like, more adult show she let me watch with her. I related a lot to Ross.”

“Ah—the paleontology connection. I can see that. Ouch!” I grunt as my hip hits the railing.

“You okay?” Liam asks.

“Just … a little more this way.” The branches flap, one brushing my chin, as Liam adjusts down below. The people working the lot tied down the branches, but not well enough, and they’ve been popping out as we move. “That’s better. Were you also a Rachel fan?”

I’m not sure why I ask because I’m not really interested in thinking about Liam thinking about other women. Even fictional ones or the actresses who play them.

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