Page 108 of Almost Love

Clementine’s chin wobbled. “What if his feelings are real.”

She swallowed and closed her eyes, fending off tears. Her mind wandered to the day before, when they were sitting on her couch, doing their own thing. Sure, the morning had started with fantastic loud sex that had the headboard slamming into her bedroom wall. After a shower and breakfast they’d grabbed their notebooks and sat quietly to work. Not even at two ends of the couch, right beside each other. She got to watch him sketch a tattoo for a client, a very life-like octopus, while she played around with flavors, adding little drawings of cakes as she went.

“Allow yourself to enjoy the moments with him, Clementine. And if saying the words are difficult, why don’t you keep showing him how he makes you feel? Take those small steps and it might all work out.”

Nodding, she sat up and tucked her hair behind her ears as the alarm rang.

“And do me a favor, if everything works out for you two, bring him to a session? I want to meet the person that is unknowingly encouraging you to make all these changes in your life.”

“I’ll think about it,” she told Rhiannon, hugging her quickly before leaving.

After her session, she drove to meet Mack and the realtor. Jesse Dao, the woman she’d spoken to on the phone a few days ago, promised to have a variety of spaces for her to see. As was the case with everything, Clementine did a lot of research. She’d done some before she opened Pretty Baked, but this time around she was far more thorough. She knew what size she needed the shop to be, how many tables she wanted to fit, the length of the display case and she also knew the colors and tiles she wanted to use. Whatever she settled on would be the forever home of Pretty Baked and it needed to be absolutely perfect.

The first two places were beautiful, but they lacked what she needed. The third place had potential, but looked like it would require a lot of work to polish up. Clementine wasn’t afraid of a little work and getting the place to look likehers, but she also didn’t want to spend the next six months struggling to get the shop up and running. The fourth place was a dud because there were only two windows in a space that was entirely wall.

Through it all, she noticed Mack and Jesse flirting. Given that he hadn’t shown interest in anybody in a really long time, she didn’t disturb them. Instead, she wandered through the spaces on her own and made notes, took pictures to review later, and tried to imagine what they would look like with Pretty Baked vibes.

Even though they’d spent most of the afternoon looking at shops, Clementine believed that her expectations were too high. Until the second last place, where the minute she set foot inside, it felt like she was home. The last time she’d felt like that was when she first kissed Oakley. It met every single one of herrequirements and most of all, it had large windows stretching across three of the four walls, letting in natural light.

This is it, I foundtheplace.

Despite knowing that it was the one, she went with Jesse to the final space and did her usual walking around, taking notes. Then thanked the realtor before hopping into her truck with Mack.

“You found the one, didn’t you?” he asked, taking over driving so she could scribble in her notebook.

“You first,” she teased, bent over her notebook. “Is my realtor the one?”

“She’s beautiful, but I think I scare her.”

“You’re a mountain of a man with a deep voice and she’stiny, of course you scare her.”

Mack flipped her off as he drove and said, “Seriously, I saw the way your eyes lit up.”

“Everyone told me not to commit, so I’m not saying anything.” Instead, she pulled out her phone to check on all the buzzing from earlier and found a series of texts from Oakley.

Oakley

You know what I’ve been thinking about all day?

The way your pussy milked me so hard last night

I want to do that again.

It continues to be the best feeling in the world.

Up for sexscape? That’s a sex escape.

I’ll make it worth your while.

“Tiny, you with me?” Her head snapped up and Mack frowned. “I’m assuming that was Oakley.”

Nodding, she put her phone away and leaned back. “What were you saying?”

“You never said why he couldn’t go with you.”

“It’s a charity week at the tattoo shop. They open up the space to kids from a nearby school to learn and practice art, see how a business is run.”

She knew how excited Oakley was to be part of something like that. Especially since she remembered what he said about kids drawing all over him back in California. He’d offered to go see shops with her, but Clementine knew how important that week was for him.

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