Page 25 of Love Notes

I had a lot of readers who shipped my two main characters, but I wondered how many I’d antagonize if my odd couple main characters became an actual couple.And then I asked myself why I cared what those readers thought.It wouldn’t be a big deal if I gave either of the characters girlfriends, so why not boyfriends?

I felt a thrill at the idea of it, of how it would change their relationship, and of how it would raise the stakes going forward if they both continued to put themselves in danger.Which they would, of course, because that was always part of solving the mystery.

My fingers flew over the keyboard of my laptop.

It was great.When was the last time I’d beenexcitedby a story idea?I didn’t even realize how long I’d been working until I heard the creak of footsteps on the front porch, and the door opened.

“Hey,” I said, my back popping as I straightened up.Ryan stepped into the living room.“Shit.I haven’t started dinner.”

Holy hell.That was sodomestic.

Ryan smiled.“I’ll put something on.Am I disturbing you?”

“Nope.I should probably get up and stretch before my skeleton fuses in this position, actually.”

His smile grew as I levered myself off the couch.

“Hey,” I said softly as I followed him into the kitchen, “is this weird?Like, how comfortable we are?It’s like we did a speedrun through that whole part where you’re supposed to date and jumped straight to living together.”

“It’s weird,” Ryan agreed.He wrinkled his nose.“But it doesn’t feel wrong.”

His gaze held mine, and I saw my own questions reflected back in it.Like, what the hell were we doing?And why didn’t it feel wrong?

“Almost makes me believe that whole two parts of a single soul philosophy,” I said.“I think it was Plato that came up with it.Like, before you’re born, you and another person are one complete being.But after birth, you get broken apart and your soul gets split in two, and when you find each other again, you just fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.He probably didn’t say the last part though, because I don’t think they had jigsaw puzzles in Ancient Greece.”I shrugged.“I think I got a lot of that wrong.I’m pretty sure I’m right about the jigsaw thing though.”

“The eighteenth century,” Ryan said.“They used to cut around the countries on a wooden map to teach kids geography.They named them dissections.They only started calling them jigsaws in the next century, because that’s when they started to use fretsaws and jigsaws, the actual saw, to make them.”

“Oh, wow.YouTube?”

“Yeah.”He flushed and rubbed the back of his neck.“I’ve made a couple before and was looking into where they came from.”

“In my head, I’m trying to figure out if this is just a vacation thing,” I said, my stomach knotting.“Because I really like you, but are you like this all the time?AmIlike this all the time?Because sometimes when you’re in a different place, you act differently, right?Suddenly on vacation you’re all about trying new things and going on adventures and eating stuff you normally wouldn’t.Is that what this is?Is it us having a vacation from our usual lives?”

“I don’t know,” he said quietly.“I like you, and you like me, and I think we fit well together, like you said.I also know you’re not here forever, so maybe that takes the pressure off?”

“Right,” I agreed.“Anyone can make a good impression for a short period of time, but what if I’m really awful?”

He tilted his head.“I’ve seen you in the mornings before coffee.You think you’re hiding anything?”

I snorted out a laugh.“Maybe not.”

He closed the distance between us and took my hands.He smelled like fresh sawdust.“I like you, Adam, and I feel as though maybe we’re heading for more than just liking each other, but I don’t want to mess it up by thinking about the future yet, because the future is you going back to Ohio and leaving me here.So maybe we can just enjoy this for what it is right now—”

“A vacation marriage,” I said.

His eyebrows shot up.“Uh, I guess.Is that a thing?”

“I have no idea.”

“Okay, so maybe we just enjoy it in the moment, and see where it goes?”

I wasn’t a patient person.Like, if I had a problem that was stressing me out, I had to keep mentally poking it until I killed it or it killed me.Whereas Ryan, I remembered, carved out wooden bowls and then put them away for a year so they matured, or dried, or did whatever the hell they were supposed to do.Ryan worked with wood that had rings that showed every slow-passing year in increments of inches.He was a guy who understood how to wait and see, whereas I had burned the roof of my mouth more than once because of my inability to let a microwave meal sit for two minutes after it was cooked.

I squeezed his hands.“I can try that, yes.Because this feels too good to mess up, you know?”

He nodded, his expression suddenly serious.“Yeah.”

A rush of warmth flowed through me as understanding spread between us.Whatever this was, and I probably shouldn’t call it a vacation marriage again, it was good.We liked each other, and we liked being together, so why the hell shouldn’t we enjoy our relationship even if we couldn’t out a label on it?And if it was the start of something bigger, and it seemed like we both thought it could be, then why not nurture it?

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