Page 1 of Love Around the Corner

Chapter One

“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.”

So true, Alfie thought, as he stared up at the underside of Mrs. Kohli’s ancient Nissan. Poor old thing should have been put out of her misery years ago. The car, that was, not Mrs. Kohli. Alfie adjusted the position of the wrench and tried again, wincing as the metal dug into his hand. The damned nut still refused to budge.

The narration continued, a clear melodious voice in his ear. “Mr. Knightley could not impute to Emma a more relenting heart than she possessed, or a heart more disposed to accept of his. He had, in fact, been wholly unsuspicious of his own influence...”

He smiled as the happy ending unfurled. Good old Knightley. He was, maybe, Alfie’s second favorite Austen hero. But LLB was a big fan, he said Knightley was the sort of guy who’d worship you in bed and always remember to take out the trash in the morning. Alfie preferred Wentworth, though. All that resentful passion bottled up for eight long years at sea? Bring iton.

Someone kicked his foot.

He glanced down the length of his body, stretched out under the car, to where a pair of familiar sneaker-clad feet stood next to his own. Dani kicked him again. “Hey, boss,” she said, breaking into Emma and Knightley’s happy reunion. “Mail call.”

Sighing, he paused the book and rolled out from under the rusting Nissan, sitting up to squint at his assistant. Well, ‘assistant’ was being generous. Danita Da Silva was a good kid; she came in every day after school to work for a couple hours in exchange for his help fixing up the junker her folks had bought her for her sixteenth birthday. If she was lucky, she’d get it on the road by the time she turned eighteen. One of Dani’s jobs was sorting the mail, a task she usually managed without his input. “What you got that can’t wait?” he said, setting down the wrench and tugging out his earbuds.

Dani grinned, holding out a thick cream envelope. “An invitation to the ball, Cinderella.”

Curious, Alfie wiped his greasy fingers on his overalls and stood up. Sure enough, his name was printed in elegant handwriting on the front of the envelope: Mr. Alfie Carter.

His heart sank when he realized what it was. “It’s from Sean and Tejana Callaghan,” he guessed, tearing open the envelope and reading the invitation inside. “Yup. They’re having another Christmas party. On Christmas Eve, this year.”

Dani’s eyes shone. “Oooh, are Finn and Josh going to be there?”

“Well, it’s not going to say on the invite,” Alfie said. “But I guess they might visit his brother for the holidays.”

Finn Callaghan—actor—was New Milton’s only claim to fame. Beloved of teenage girls, and a few boys since he’d come out as bi last year, he spent most of his time in LA with his cute new boyfriend. But Finn’s brother lived in New Milton, and he and his wife were genial, generous neighbors who loved hosting community events like this.

“But you’re going, right?” Dani said. “So you could get Finn to sign myHigh Stakesshirt!”

“Nah, sorry.” He dumped the invitation on the counter. “You-Know-Who will be there, and I don’t wanna risk another run-in.”

Dani rolled her eyes like only a sixteen year old can when dealing with her dimwitted elders. “Really? You’re still not over that? It was, like, a year ago.”

“And Novak’s still—like—an asshole. What’s your point?”

“My point,” she began, but Alfie didn’t listen to the rest because a text alert pinged, bringing with it a hot buzz of anticipation. Slipping his phone out of his pocket, he swiped the screen open.

LLB: Boooooored

He grinned and replied:This day is lasting forever

“Hey!” Dani elbowed him. “Nobody ever tell you it’s rude to check your phone when someone’s talking to you?”

He looked up, blinking. “Sorry, what?”

“I said— Oh never mind.” She lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “You’ve gone all ‘heart eyes’. It must be Secret Boyfriend.”

“He’s not secret,” Alfie said, smiling. He couldn’t help smiling when it came to LLB. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

At least, not yet.

He and LLB had been messaging for months, and their friendship was real as fuck. Alfie would fight anyone who said otherwise. What he felt for LLB was important, as important as anything he’d ever felt for anyone. More so, really, because they were soulmates. That’s what LLB called it: two halves of the same soul.

LLB was crazy romantic. Alfie had never known another guy like him.

His phone pinged again.

LLB: You got time to chat?

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