“It’s Sunday; there’s usually a ton of people on Saturday,” I tell her. We walk up the stairs and into the library where most of the tables are vacant. “What’s your favorite book?”

“Kama Sutra,” she says, smiling, and I laugh out loud. Heads turn to me and someone shushes me.

“I mean with words in it.”

“The Kama Sutra has words in it.” She winks at me and laughs quietly, and I know at that moment with her looking at me like that, I’m not in this alone. I just have to show her. And I’m going to love every single moment of it.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Vivienne

“I’ve never been friends with a man before,” I say, taking a drink of my wine as we eat dinner. We spent the day walking through the library slowly, almost like snails. He would reach for the same book as me just so our hands could touch. Or he would touch me ever so gently that by the time I look at where I felt the touch, he was gone. It was driving me insane.

When he didn’t call me for a week, it was almost like I knew he was moving on in a way. I would wonder if he was with his girlfriend, or if he had a date, and no matter how many times it made me sick to think about, I knew I didn’t have a right to.

“Like ever?” he asks me, grabbing a french fry and eating it. “You are friends with Matthew and Max?”

“Well, yes, but …” I try to gather up my words and not think about his mouth and the ways he used to make me scream with it. “Matthew is like my brother, and Max is a brother-in-law of sorts.”

He nods, grabbing his glass of water and drinking some of it. “Apparently, there are a lot of people who stay friends with their exes,” I tell him, and then he looks at me and laughs.

“How do you know that?” he asks, and I almost let it slip that I posted about it.

“I googled it,” I tell him. “Although I have to say it did say no.”

He laughs now, and I want to keep that smile on his face for the rest of the night if I can. “What? It’s not funny. Look,” I say, taking out my phone and typing it in. “Most men do not view friendships the same way as women do.” I put the phone down and put up my hands. “I didn’t say it. Google did.”

“Well, I’m friends with many women,” he says, and I try not to let it bother me because who cares. You do, my inner voice almost yells it. “So I know it can happen.”