Page 47 of So This Is Love

“Is there any food that you don’t like?”

“Tomatoes,” I reply, crinkling my nose.

“Tomatoes,” Bryce repeats. “Got it.”

Bryce finishes making us breakfast and places a fully assembled plate in front of me before he joins me at the island with a plate of his own. When it comes to types of foods, breakfast foods rank amongst my least favorites. I would happily eat a burrito or a bowl of pasta at the crack of dawn without a care in the world that I wasn’t eating ‘breakfast’ food. But the breakfast Bryce makes, while simple, is exactly how I would want it to be made. The pancakes have the slight crunchy edge that I love and the bacon is at the exact right cook and my scrambled eggs aren’t too hard or too runny, because sometimes runny eggs make my stomach turn, and then I can’t eat them. Bryce didn’t know any of this; he just made me breakfast, yet somehow I wouldn’t change a thing. As he promised, after we eat, we put our dishes in the sink and Bryce takes me back home.

15

Laila

“This space is amazing,”Cass says, spinning in a slow circle in the empty warehouse.

This is the fourth space we’ve seen today and I couldn’t agree more. It’s in a great location, still close to downtown Rosewood, and most of the updates that we would have wanted are already done. The only thing we would have to do is some small customizations to make it exactly what we need. Cass already wanted to expand and then this past launch went so well that she really started to put everything in motion to findLovely Daya bigger location.

“This location just came up for lease this week so it hasn’t been seen by very many people yet. So if you want it I would suggest we put in a contract sooner rather than later, so no one else gets it,” says Rose, the realtor.

“What do you think?” Cass asks, looking at me.

“I think it’s beautiful and everything we were looking for. You should do it.”

Rose’s phone rings. “I’m going to step out to take this call.”

Her heels echo across the hardwood floors as she walks to the exit until it’s just me and Cass left inside.

“This place has room for over double the inventory of what we usually hold, so hopefully we can keep things in stock better,” Cass says.

I hum in agreement, already having a suspicion that this conversation was going in a direction that I didn’t want it to.

“Once we fulfill all the preorders, I’m thinking we should have way more stock for the next launch. You know, since the last one did so well.”

I cut my eyes to her and see the fake innocent smile on her face.

“What are you thinking for paint colors? Cream maybe?” I ask, deflecting.

“You really aren’t going to give me any details about you and him?”

“Maybe darker, like a beige could be nice,” I say, walking over to one of the large oversized windows. “The lighting is fantastic, and beige could be a great neutral for photos.”

Cass doesn’t respond. When I turn to face her, her arms are crossed over her chest.

“Please,” she says, dragging out the word. “Just give me something.”

“What do you want to know?” I ask.

“Anything. Everything! You dropped the bomb about knowing him on release day and then never said anything else. You must be close because you wouldn’t have brought just anyone to the office.”

“There isn’t much to tell.”

“Fine, how about how you even met him?”

I tell her the story, from meeting each other years ago to literally accidentally running into each other again a few months ago.

“Wow that’s a real life meet cute!” Cass says.

“But we’re just friends.”

“Is this where I’m supposed to just add in the ‘with benefits’ part or?”

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