Page 39 of Love, Morgan

She breathed a laugh. “Of course. Do you think I spend time with every guest like this?”

I considered that, finally looking back up at her. I hadn’t thought about it that way but, now that she brought it up, I hadn’t seen her like this with other guests. She was friendly and polite, sure, but she didn’t sit with them or chat with them every day.

Maybe I had made a friend, and maybe I was just too insecure to admit it or realize it.

“And, in a few days, when I leave…” I hated myself. I was being unbelievably needy. It was embarrassing.

She laughed gently. “Well, I don’t think we’ll be the kind of friends who grab a coffee on a Sunday morning together, but the internet is a thing, you know? Kind of available globally, good at keeping people in touch, all across the world.”

“You want to stay in touch.” The words felt hollow as I said them only because I couldn’t believe they were true.

“Well, we don’t have to if you don’t want to…” She shifted in her seat and it was the first time I’d seen her uncomfortable.

“No, no, I do,” I said quickly. “I just…”

She smiled, obviously relieved, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether we were all secretly a little insecure about making friends as adults.

“Okay,” she finally said, reaching over to take a piece of pineapple from my plate. “Great. So. Spill. What’s going on with Ms. Franklin?”

I groaned, the sound dissolving into a laugh at my own ridiculousness. “I told you, we ran into each other.”

“God. It’s like pulling teeth.” She huffed but still looked delightedly amused. “Fine. Where?”

I winced. “My… balcony.”

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “You ran into Ms. Franklin on your private balcony that hangs out over the water?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s pretty much what happened.”

“Oh, like she just wandered in from the sea?” She rolled her eyes.

I breathed a laugh. “Okay. Fine. No, she didn’t just wander in from the sea. She, uh, climbed. From her deck to mine.”

Thalia leaned further over the table towards me. “Oh my god. Are you serious? That’s amazing. The woman you’re pining after Romeo and Julieted you?”

I shifted, chewing my lip. “You do know they both died at the end, right?”

“As if that’s important.” She waved her hand as if batting my comment away. “I trust you’re not foolish enough to get yourselves killed. What matters is that sheclimbed onto your balcony.”

“I mean, is it really even a balcony? Sure, it hangs out over the water, but it’s also like a deck.” I knew I was babbling, but it was the only setting my brain seemed to know. In the space of five minutes, I’d learned I had a friend,andThalia was reminding me way too hard of Morgan implying climbing onto my balcony had been a romantic thing. I didn’t think my system or my heart could handle all of this.

Thalia stared at me. “I don’t know the dictionary definition of a balcony, but I’m pretty sure it’s both. It is a deck, it’s made of decking, but it also hangs out over a drop, as balconies are wont to do.”

My lungs felt tight as I attempted to force air into them. Of course Morgan was interesting and beautiful and intriguing, but that didn’t matter. And, because it didn’t matter, I didn’t need people—Morgan included—implying her climbing onto my deck was romantic.

Thalia chuckled to herself, shaking her head, and leaning in to take another piece of pineapple. “She Romeo and Julieted you.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing…”

“I can’t believe it. I’m a genius.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” she said, grinning widely as she held the pineapple near her mouth. “Just that I’m a genius.”

“Coming for my title, I see,” said an all too familiar voice right as Thalia popped the piece of fruit into her mouth.

“Morgan,” I squeaked, far too loud and frantic for anyone to believe I wasn’t pining after her. Thalia shot me a look I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of.

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