“Yes!” I all but yelled, then tried to play it all cool. “I mean, sure. I think I can squeeze that in. I have questions too.” Yeah right, because my plans to do absolutely fucking nothing all day needed scheduling.

“Awesome. So, Alberto’s at two?” He asked. I nodded; he grinned and, still facing me, took a step backwards to the door. Now some people were trying to get on the bus and he was kind of in their way, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He was too busy smiling at me. “Oh, Alberto’s is just around the corner.”

I nodded. “Yep. Alberto’s at two.”

He bounced down the steps and onto the footpath. He pulled his headphones back on. Still smiling, he peered back up at me. The wind tousled his hair under his headphones and he bit on his bottom lip, like he was trying not to smile, and for one split second, for one perfect moment, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

If this was a movie, this shot right here would be deemed a goddamned cinematic masterpiece.

I all but collapsed into a seat, sighing with relief that I’d spoken to him and he’d asked me his question, which I would no doubt overthink later. But yes, I was so relieved and even more excited because I had a motherfucking coffee date with him tomorrow.

I fished my phone out and hit Merry’s number. She answered on the third ring with, “So help me Jordan, if he was a no-show and there was no resolution to this freakin’ life-altering question, I’ll be changing my name to River Blossom and moving to Nimbin where I can make hemp-infused soaps, and I’ll grow carrots and smoke purple weed, and you’ll never find me.”

“Well, it won’t be hard to find you because you just told me where you’d move to and your new name,” I replied. “And you’d be so high from the weed and vegan pot brownies, I’d only have to follow the pizza delivery guy and he’d lead me straight to you. You’d also probably be glowing orange from all the beta-carotene from living on carrots too. You really need to work on your witness protection schemes, Merry. If this was in the Bourne Supremacy universe, you would have died in the first book.”

She laughed and made a contented sound and I pictured her plonking herself on her couch.

“Are you home?” I asked.

“Yes, thank God. And I have no intention of moving from in front of Netflix all night.” Then she groaned. “I should have got myself a drink before I sat down. Jordan, be a darling and come over and bring me a glass of wine so I don’t have to move. And pizza.”