Truman felt like a balloon had inflated in his heart and he was being pulled upward by the string. Since their kiss in the cave, they had sat close and hugged, and Truman had touched Ash’s hair a lot. But they hadn’t kissed again. In fact, Truman had started angsting about whether maybe Ash had only been moved in that moment to kiss him but wasn’t actually into it.

But Ash’s face was not the face of a man who wasn’t into it.

Aware his mouth was hanging open, Truman closed it with an audible snap. He slid an arm through Ash’s and squeezed.

“Whaddaya say we get some of this eggnog?”

“I hate eggnog, but yeah.” Ash smiled and squeezed Truman’s arm back.

The dinner was served buffet style, with guests filling their plates and mingling in Don and Maisey’s living and dining rooms. As the night went on and the eggnog and wine flowed, Truman found himself hearing snatches of gossip about everyone in town. He also heard no fewer than five people exclaim about how surprised they were to see Ash.

Truman found himself drawn into a discussion about business tax itemization and left with several requests to do people’s taxes. Then Ash subtly gestured him over to the corner. Assuming Ash was looking for a rescue, he squared his shoulders and approached.

“Ginny, this is my friend Truman. Truman, Ginny does that journaling thing you do.”

“You do bullet journaling?” he exclaimed and was delighted when she nodded. His delight grew when she pulled her journal out of her bag.

“I need a cover for it,” she said idly, smoothing a bent corner as she opened it to show him.

Truman mentally added protective covers to the list of things he could potentially sell.

Ginny’s style was completely different than Truman’s. She used a lot of stickers and washi tape, which made for a riotously colorful journal. She also tried different media throughout the year—watercolors one month, colored pencils the next. Truman admired her flexibility.

They got to discussing the spreads they were most recently using, and Truman found himself confiding in her.

“I’ve been thinking of starting up a little side business, actually. Designing stickers and page borders but also printable spreads kind of based on my style of hand lettering.”

He showed her a few pictures he’d taken of his bullet journal spreads.

“God, these are gorgeous,” she said. “Totally not my style, but I have a friend who does BuJo, and she’s always looking for bold, minimalist stuff like this. So much of the stuff that’s out there is a little more flourishy, you know?”

Truman nodded. “Yeah, I feel like it could be something people might be into,” he ventured.