Can I pretend to be engaged to the man I’m falling for and not lose my heart and soul in the process?
FOURTEEN
Georgie
“How long are you going to stay online?”
Duncan’s standing in front of me with his hands on his hips, looking a little perturbed. Can’t lie, the stern expression he’s wearing is really cute. Like adorable and precious cute.
“Can you give me one more minute?” Glancing down at the open webpage, I hold up a finger. Only two more steps and then I’ll have completed my very first online bridal registry. I mean, kind of. Not that I should be, but still.
The registry I’m doing is with our local store, Altman’s, and it’sonlyfor fun. I won’t make it live, ever, I’ll just save it as a draft. Something I can laugh about with Riley and Bex later this week. After yesterday’s conversation, I feel like messing with them.
“One more minute,” he repeats, nodding his head and narrowing his eyes. “I’ll time you.”
“Wow, you’re a drill sergeant.” He’s pushy but he’s excited. He’s been working for me all day, and Mondays are busy because of all the deliveries we get in, so our deal is that he gets to pick out three books to take home tonight.
“I have to be. It’s almost closing time and you still need to reconcile your sales so we can get out to the farm in time for dinner.” Duncan crosses his arms, and I wonder where oh where has Duncan no-talk gone from just a few days ago?
“The fact that you know I reconcile my daily sales is impressive,” I say with a grin, tapping away on my keyboard.
He comes over to the counter and begins to rhythmically tap his little fingers on it. Kids.
“What are those?” Duncan points to a stack of autobiographies next to me.
“These,” I say, laying my hand on the top of the stack, “are for Mr. Altman. He loves autobiographies, so I always put some aside for him every month.”
“What are they?”
“Stories written by people that are about them. About their life.” And I wish they were currency, because I would use them as trade to refurbish my whole apartment if I could. This morning’s trip down registry lane has taught me how expensive things still are. But, man, Levi’s place is really making me want the nice things in life.
Just a few more clicks and I’ll be able to close down my computer. I look back over my list, laughing at the ridiculous giant metal ostrich I picked out. Toto would flip out if that thing showed up at my place. The list is full of things I really would love to have, but mostly really weird things that a very particular person would be after. I’m not saying these things are hideous or that they’re stupid, they’re items that are just not me. But that’s the point, I just want to freak out my friends.
“People like reading about other people’s lives?” Duncan asks, pulling my attention back to him.
“They do. Celebrities have some good autobiographies. There’s one written by Prince Harry that was really popular last year.”
“Do you have to be popular to write one?”
“No,” I respond, my eyes still on the screen. Babysitter of the year right here. Or would I be a stepmother? “You don’t have to be popular nor well known to write your autobiography.”
“Just have a cool life, right?”
“In my mind, all of us have a cool life. We all have a story.”
“Do you have one?” Dark eyes bore holes into me.
“I do.” I stop what I’m doing momentarily to focus on Duncan. “Not a lot of people know I was in the foster system in New York when I was little.”
“What does that mean?”
“I never knew my parents, and I was placed in different homes all the time with strangers who would take care of me. I used to pray that I’d be adopted into a perfect family, like the Porters seem to be, but it never happened.”
Duncan nods his head, biting his lower lip. “So you didn’t have your parents around, like me?”
“Kind of,” I say with a smile, reaching out to squeeze his forearm. “I had other adults who contributed to taking care of me, but not my blood parents. I didn’t know them at all, but that’s okay.” I hold my hands up as if I’m showing him the room for the first time. “All of that made me stronger, so I could work really hard and make this happen. Have something like the bookstore that’s all mine.”
I can tell he’s hanging on to my words, realizing the roots of our kinship at the same time I do. There’s a little bond happening here, and I never want to betray this guy. As he goes quiet, I leave him with his thoughts and go back to chuckling at my registry, but also making sure I’ve not ticked off any boxes, accidentally making the page live for anyone to be able to see.
