Page 86 of Best Friends, Tennessee

If Thomas put his hands on Ori again I was going to lean over the counter and make out with Ori right here, right now—I didn’t give a fuck what it might mean.

“You said you had good news, too,” Ori asked Dani.

“The good news is good for Mary Ellen, too,” Dani said. “Mom and Dad got in contact with a contractor today to see about fixing and replacing some of the booths.”

Ori raised his hands in the air. “Hallelujah.”

“Damn right,” Dani said.

“I was just telling Ori earlier today about a friend of mine in Miami who is a painter,” Thomas told Danielle. “He has a beautiful oil painting of a red fox he’s willing to display here.”

“Amazing,” Dani said, clapping her hands.

“I’m telling you, you’d love it there,” Thomas told Ori.

Ori was pouring freshly ground coffee into the top of one of the machines, and I saw him slide a glance my way for a moment.

“Oh, right,” Ori said.

“Miami seems like it would be the perfect fit for you,” Thomas continued. “Urban, beautiful, modern, but not completely cutthroat like LA or New York. I’ll add you to our group text tonight. Marco’s a painter and he has connections to all of the art galleries.”

I clenched my jaw.

“Sounds interesting,” I said before I had time to think. Thomas looked back at me like he was surprised I was still listening.

“You ever been to Miami, Finn?”

“Can’t say I have,” I said.

And Ori is allowed to spend more time here in Bestens before he even thinks about moving away again.

“Oh, Gosh, isn’t itwarmin here,” an elderly woman’s voice came with a rush of air from the front doors behind me. “And, wow, that cinnamon smell!”

“Welcome in, Mary Ellen,” Ori said, giving her a big wave.

“Ori,” she said warmly. “Don’t you just look like a little peach. Is the good booth available? Oh, it is. Is that a little bit of sugar on top of the table? Does it need to be wiped away?”

“I’ll take care of you today, Mary Ellen,” Dani said. “That’s just a scratch on the table. But you’ll never believe it—we’re actually getting new tables, soon.”

Danielle fielded Mary Ellen with ease, and soon, three other old women filed in, joining her at the “good” booth. Dani was preoccupied with them for at least an hour, and every time she walked off, they flagged her back down for some small request.

I stayed put at the front counter. I was going to wait until Ori’s shift was over, the way I used to back in high school. By early evening, he was free to go.

I’d been turning over the idea of Miami in my head ever since Thomas had brought it up, thumbing at it like an irritated scab.

“Hard Spot?” I asked Ori after he’d clocked out for the evening.

He nodded. “Let’s do it.”

The air smelled like beer and barbecue as we stepped out onto Laurel Ave. The night was already bustling. The fountain on the corner was surrounded by a group of teenagers, one of them playing an acoustic guitar. The twinkle lights wrapped around each tree were already illuminated, and Ori and I ambled across the corner slowly. We both stopped to look in the window of a clothing boutique that Iknewneither of us cared about.

I liked being aimless with him.

But I also had a big, burning question in the back of my mind, with no idea how to bring it up.

“What’s up with you?” Ori finally asked, stopping a few paces away from Hard Spot under a lamp post.

“With me?”

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