Page 24 of The Fate Of Us

“I have to say, I’m kinda glad about that too.”

She rounds the cash desk and gallops over to me, the strong scent of mint and cinnamonfollowing her as she does. “Find anything you fancy?” she asks, tipping the glass of rosè in her hand that I’ve only just noticed up to her mouth.

I tilt my head to the left a little and catch the time on the big grandfather clock behind herregister, before looking down at her now empty glass. “It’s half past ten in the morning.”

“I just told you this was a safe space, young lady.” She hisses with a smile on her face,before peaking at the book in my hands. “You know those are the filthiest, right?”

“Why do you think they're in my hands?”

I hear her hoo as she walks away, rounding the corner and into the back, emerging not tenseconds later with a refill of wine. “Not a word from you,” she glares at me, eyes squinted, but a big, cheesy smile still perfectly positioned on her face.

The room falls quiet after that, I wander around some more shelves, pick up a book thatlooks like it’s been banned in thirty countries purely from the front cover and put it straight into the wicker basket JoJo handed me a few seconds ago, and sip away on my now watery latte.

But if there was one thing I’d discovered about JoJo… it was that there was only so much time she could let slip by without the prying grandma side of her taking over.

“How’s the boy?” She asks, peering over the top of her glass.

I knew this was coming. Too much silence has made her remember that the last time Iwas here, I may have gotten tipsy and blabbed about mine and Nate’s history.

“I think he’s fine.” I lift my head away from the blurb I’m reading and meet her stare. “Seemed fine when I saw him at filming last week.” A lie. I have no idea what NatePatricks is ever feeling anymore. Apart from when he’s anxious, I could always spot that in him; it turns out I still can.

“Liar,” she shouts after a few beats, her nose fully in the air.

I turn on my heels to face her knowing stare. “I am not a liar, JoJo. I really haven’t seenhim that much, nor spoken to him enough to know how he’s really doing.”

She stares down into her wine as she twiddles the stem between her fingers. “From whatyou’ve told me, it sounds like he’s trying to… I don’t know… patch things up?”

I assume from the half of the blurb I read that the book will be amazing and sling it in mybasket, my eyes staying on JoJo. “He signed a contract for a movie where he’ll earn millions of dollars, I’d hardly say he’s doing it for me, or for us. We’ve barely spoken, which doesn’t convince me that suddenly means he’s ready to have the big talk about why he never showed up—”

My heart falls to my toes when I hear the bell above the door chime, so much so that Inearly drop the basket of forbidden novels I was clinging to. And as my eyes dart towards the one person whom I’d never expected to see in an erotic bookstore, I dream up the idea of JoJo installing a trap door to swallow me up for situations like this.

“Jacob?”

“Oh, Addy, hey…” Jacob’s wide eyes flick between me and JoJo, a sidelong glance ofdisbelief that I was here. I was sure I was giving him the same look.I watched as his handsome smile faltered. “What are you doing here?”

I felt my cheeks colour the same shade of pink that was painted on Jacob’s sweater,before a casual shrug rolled through my shoulders. “I’d love to know the same thing; why are you in a smutty bookstore?” I ask, barely containing the smile on my face. “Is this something I should tell Flo about?”

He drops his head, his eyes squeezing shut and giggling like he always does, before ourheads speed around towards JoJo as she shouts, “Hold the phone, you two ducks know each other?” Her eyes are just as wide as Jacob's, although there’s still a big smile stretched across her face.

I tackled her questions for us. “I’ve known Jacob for years. He was in the Defendersmovies with me. His girlfriend is my best friend.” I turn to Jacob. “How do you know JoJo?”

He shuts the door behind him, the floorboards creaking under his strides as he headstowards the cash desk with a white envelope in his hands. “Oh, I’ve known this one for years. When I was twenty-one, and my auditions were drying up, she gave me part-time hours here to help me get by.” he smiles over to JoJo. “Been stuck with me ever since, haven’t ya?”

A sweet chuckle comes from JoJo, a matching one leaving Jacob before his head flicksback to me. “What about you?”

Before I can say anything, JoJo pipes up, after taking a big gulp of her wine. “This onestumbled into the store around three months ago, I recognised that head of hair and bright smile straight away. She’s now my favourite customer… and actress.”

“Ha, go figure.” Jacobs laughs out, his staggering body effortlessly leaning against thebookshelf behind him.

I can tell why Flo is head over heels for him. I thinkIwas the first time I met him. But Inever felt a spark with him, not in the way that I know Flo does, and I’m positive that he feels the same way. I can’t help but smile at that thought, beyond glad about our friendship, knowing that I couldn’t picture him as anything else.

“Anyway, I just came to drop this off for you,” he says to JoJo, handing her the envelopein his hands. “And while you’re here, Addy, I have a question for you.”

I make my way over to the cash desk and place the basket down by my feet, the room lighting up as I turn to face Jacob's knowing smile. “Yeah?”

“Me and Flo were kind of thinking about throwing a dinner party for Nate on Saturday. Itwould be at our place, you know, Nate and celebrating his birthday in public. So I was thinking—”

My ears didn’t pick up on anything else that left Jacob’s mouth, my mind was too busyrepeating the words that made my stomach drop six feet under, and the sudden pain in my chest got tighter, like it had been wrapped in itchy silk and knotted in a bow.

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