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Kora already set out the food, and a sweet and syrupy smell lingers in the air.
My stomach growls, and I lean against the counter to see what she brought.
“I got extras because I was planning to butter you up for story details, so thankfully I have enough for all of us.”
“Thank you, but I’ll leave you two to it,” Hayden says politely.
“At least take a croissant,” Kora protests, shoving a pastry bag toward him.
He chuckles. “I won’t say no to that.” Then he steps next to me and cups my face with both hands.
I startle, not expecting him to touch me like this in front of Kora.
But he leans down and gives me a long kiss. When he pulls back, his eyes are full of warmth. “I’ll text you later.”
I just nod, my heart pounding in my chest. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to him kissing me like that.
He grabs the pastry bag from the counter and turns to Kora, who’s grinning. “Thanks for the croissant. Have fun, you guys.” He winks at me and gives us a wave before he exits the room.
Kora looks at me and quietly mouths, “Oh my God.” But she waits until the front door closes before she shrieks. “Girl, if you don’t tell me in two seconds everything that happened from the moment you left my car last night to when I showed up at your door this morning, I am going to combust.”
“Can we eat first?” I say, grabbing a mug and pouring myself a cup of coffee.
“You can eat and talk at the same time,” she claps back, and I roll my eyes at her.
She lets me plate our food, and then we head out to my front porch to eat, where I fill her in on everything that happened.
Kora gasps and shrieks at every turn as if it’s the best story she’s ever heard. When I tell her about all the awful things Hayden’s father said to him, her eyes grow as big as saucers. “Damn, I knew they didn’t get along, but I had no idea his dad was such an ass.”
“Yeah, it was pretty awful to witness. I guess that’s why I snapped at him.”
“You were defending your man,” she says, looking smug.
“He’s not my man.”
“It sure looked like it when he stared at you with puppy eyes and kissed you.”
“Whatever.” I take another big bite of the burrito Kora brought.
But I can’t deny how full my heart feels, and that I don’t remember the last time someone made me this giddy. But then the evil voice in my mind reminds me that Hayden is only here for another few weeks before he goes back to New Mexico. He hates this town, and now that I know that he has his own little family with his half-sister there, I understand his reasoning even better. It’s naive to think he’ll want to continue this once he leaves. I don’t even know what “this” is. It for sure feels like more than a hookup, more intimate than something casual. But just because it feels real and deep doesn’t mean it’s meant to be.
“What’s going on? You look sad all of a sudden,” Kora says, giving me a worried look.
“I like him, but he’s only here for the summer,” I say, and understanding floods her eyes. “That’s why I try to be all casual about it. If I let myself feel this too deeply, then it will be much worse when he leaves.”
“It doesn’t have to end when he leaves. Plenty of people do long distance.”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know if this is more than something casual to him. And even if it is, I’m not sure I want to date someone who lives elsewhere. Usually, people only do long distance for a little while until they end up in the same place. That won’t happen with us. I love it here and I don’t want to leave, and he hates it here and doesn’t want to stay.”
Kora leans back in her chair and sighs.
“Yeah,” I say, dropping the rest of my burrito on my plate. “Why does it have to be him? For the first time in years, I like someone, and it’s someone I can’t have.”
“The universe is a bitch,” Kora murmurs.
We sit in silence for a bit, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
I take in my little patio and my garden with the plants I planted last year that are now in full bloom. The sun is already blaring down with its midday heat; even the temperature in the shade is becoming too hot.
