Page 30 of Smoke and Fire
No.
Yes, Inner Me whispered.
I rolled my eyes.
I just wanted the interest to be there to prove that it could be again. My five-year relationship with Jakob left a big gap between the last time I’d ventured into this dating world.
Had I fallen so far away from the dating world there was no retrieval for me? No. At least, I hoped not. Bastian having a return crush on me could confirm that. It was like . . . the security of a bookend. Pretty to look at, functional in its purpose, but not reallynecessary.
In other words, I wanted Bastian to like me but not necessarily do anything with it. Except kiss me. Maybe play with my hair. Tell me things he’d never tell anyone else.
The usual.
So ridiculous, Inner me muttered.No wonder women have a bad reputation.
I groaned.
“I like him so much,” I replied. Inner Me didn’t respond—she smugly felt no need to point out that she was correct. With concerted effort, I turned back to my phone.
Dahlia:Is that a good thing to be close to Pineville?
Bastian:I hope so.
Dahlia:Will you have service?
Bastian:Hard to tell. I’ll let you know.
Dahlia:I’ll be here.
Just to punctuate the point, I sent three appropriately placed GIFs of firefighters, mountain landscapes, and a woman typing on her computer. A minute later, my phone buzzed against my leg again. I glanced down to see another text message.
Bastian:Sorry, last thing. If you need them, the passwords are saved in a document on the computer.
Dahlia:Got it. Thanks!
I waited another minute, but nothing more came.
With only the quiet swish of the wind in the forest outside the RV, I clicked through his computer and brought up the emails.
He hadn’t told me a legitimate frame of reference for how many emails to expect per day, but fifty more emails already popped up in the past two days. Some of them were easily spam, so I spun through the inbox and deleted all those, eliminating over a hundred.
Curious about how Bastian interacted with his readers, I navigated to the Sent folder and riffled through a few.
One stopped me in my tracks.
Jess,
You don’t know me, but I wanted to thank you for your books.
They were just what I needed today to get away for a minute. My child was hospitalized last week and I’ve needed a bright spot. Looks like we might be here several weeks, so I’m grateful for twenty books to get me through.
Not sure you’ll even get this, but wanted to put it out there anyway.
Keesha
I blinked.
“Goodness,” I whispered, then scrolled further down. His response made my heart twitch.
