25. Nessa

Nessa

I t was a beautiful day for a three-mile run. You know, assuming you were into that kind of thing.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy running. I had gone through a jogging phase in my twenties when I could barely afford a gym membership, let alone a Happy Meal. But like all phases, I’d grown out of it. I preferred not torturing my legs and lungs in the hope of tricking my brain to release chemicals that supposedly made me feel good.

“Exercise gives you endorphins; endorphins make you happy.”

Yeah, well, so did pie and The Real Housewives franchise. Take that, Elle Woods.

A glass clinked to my left. I turned just in time to see June chugging straight from the bottle. “June, the rosé is for runners.”

She swallowed her mouthful of pink liquid and dabbed her lips with one of the Rosé Run branded cocktail napkins. “Just checking to make sure it hasn’t gone bad.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You owe me this.” She pointed the bottle in my direction. “I got dumped this week and I still showed up at seven a.m. for you.”

Her brave smile did nothing to hide the hurt behind her eyes. I knew June better than anybody, so I knew that she was still reeling from her abrupt breakup this week. Clarke had already talked me out of egging the dickweed’s car, but I was still planning to send him a strongly worded email this weekend.

Or maybe a glitter bomb.

“Just . . . write your name on the bottle, okay?” Her bottom lip quivered. “Why don’t you go help Nero and Jo with the cinnamon buns?”

She nodded weakly and turned back toward the bar. Nero had volunteered—er, been peer pressured by his overachiever sister—to spearhead the after-party for today’s Rosé Run. Along with a participation medal, every race participant received a tasting flight of rosé—including Nero’s award-winning blend—and a caramel, pecan, cinnamon bun from Would Taste as Sweet.

“Hey,” I called after her. “You know you’re the best, right?” Her lips kicked up to one side. “And what did you say about the best?”

“They’re worth waiting for.” Her smile widened. “ I’m worth waiting for.”

“You bet your sweet ass you are. Now, get out of here.”

I laughed to myself when she scampered off, open bottle in hand. It was her emotional support rosé; we could let it slide.

A lot had changed in a week.

The festival had been our most successful one to date. Nearly fifty thousand people had turned out for the festivities, and that was only during the first week. We still had another week to go. I had already started scribbling notes to help with next year’s event.

In other news, the Roasters had taken their series three games to two, and in doing so, they’d advanced to the next stage of the playoffs.

The Championship Series.

I gave myself a mental pat on the back for finally learning the proper baseball lingo, or at least the parts that mattered. It helped that I had a great teacher, one who rode me hard when I mixed up things like “Division Series” and “Championship Series” and spanked me harder when I got them right.

Those hands of his should come with a warning.

And they were all mine.

It wasn’t a secret; I was deliriously in lust. In between Jared’s rigorous game schedule and workout routine, we had done some working out of our own. In his bathtub, on a bed of couch cushions by the fire, out back by the vegetables—we were insatiable.

But our relationship—and yes, we had graduated to using that term—was more than just sex. Jared and I had spent the past week getting to know each other. No rules, no walls, no games—just as he’d requested. We’d spent hours talking, sometimes on the phone, sometimes side by side while wearing exfoliating masks. The man’s skin care routine put mine to shame.

We’d covered a lot of ground during our talks—his strained relationship with his father, my deep-rooted fear of being the last single girl standing, our unique experiences with bisexuality—because queerness looked different for everybody and it didn’t poof disappear the second you started dating someone of the opposite sex.

I had learned more about Jared in the last month than I had in a year with past partners. And that wasn’t the only thing that set him apart from the rest.

Jared listened.

He gave me his full, undivided attention when I spoke and waited patiently if I fumbled my words—which happened all too frequently, especially when faced with his bare torso. He anticipated my every need better than I ever had. Just the other night, a very large and imposing security guard named Bruno had dropped by the bookstore with enough takeout to feed a family of five. All because Jared knew that I was staying late to do inventory.

He taught me new things and allowed me to do the same. We had traded our “to be read” lists over breakfast every morning this week, which might as well have been the bibliophile equivalent of giving somebody your Netflix password. I had also downloaded the first three episodes of his favorite podcast series on gardening tips.

The things I was willing to do for my plant daddy.

“Shouldn’t we have seen some runners by now?” Xan asked, rounding the table with another handful of bottles.

“Any minute now. They’re going on twenty-three minutes.”

“ Come on. ” They reached into their coat pocket, drawing out a pair of binoculars. Not the kind for birdwatching either. The brassy ones you might expect to see at the opera. “I didn’t pull my ass out of bed this early on a Saturday for nothing. I want to see some baseball boys.”

“Well,” Kaylani said. “You may be in luck. According to my tracking app, Ryan is about four minutes out.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

“Actually, Xan, would you mind grabbing the cash box from my car?” I tossed them my keys. “Just in case anybody wants to buy some swag.”

“Sure thing.”

I laid out the last of the straws and napkins and stepped back to admire the spread.

“It looks great, Nessie,” Kaylani said, resting a land on my shoulder. “Seriously, it’s been so fun doing the festival with you again. I couldn’t have asked for a better homecoming.”

“Good enough to entice you back next year, I hope.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “What if I told you that we might stick around town a little bit longer?”

That was news to me. Kaylani had never been known to stick around one place for longer than a candle’s burn time.

“How much longer?”

“Oh, I’d say at least nine months, give or take.”

My hand shot up to cover my mouth. “Are you serious?!” I screamed, nearly choking on my words.

She nodded, the tears already welling in her eyes. No wonder she had been sick so often the last couple of weeks and sipping on orange soda like she was thirteen again. Children had never been on my bucket list, but Kaylani had wanted to be a mom since before we’d known where babies came from. While some of us doodled and crafted cootie catchers, Kaylani had put together her list of future baby names.

In alphabetical order.

“I’m so happy for you, Kay,” I said when she finally backed away from my hug. “And Ryan. Is he excited?”

Her shoulders lifted nearly to her ears. “I haven’t told him yet.”

“Really?”

“I’m planning to after the race today. Actually, I was wondering if you might be able to help?”

I held my hand up, shielding the sun from my eyes. “What did you have in mind?”

It only took a few minutes for her to fill me in on her plan. Kaylani had just finished zipping up her hoodie to conceal the surprise when the first batch of runners came barreling down First Street.

With Dani leading the pack.

Such a badass. GG would have liked her.

She breezed down the street a good thirty yards ahead of the next runner. Her chunky green headphones and goth-chic ensemble made her look like she was running from Beetlejuice rather than toward the finish line.

She crashed through the pink ribbon and made a beeline toward the booze.

“Damn, Dani.” I handed her the flight of drinks. “You killed that.”

“I know.”

She drained the first glass in one gulp.

Sure enough, Jared was amongst the next batch of finishers to run up on my table.

“How did you beat me?” he demanded between breaths. “I had you at mile two.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t stopped to pet every dog you passed.”

I flat-out grinned. In our brief time together, I had quickly come to realize that Jared loved all furry creatures—me included. Earlier this morning, after he’d fucked me with my vibrator until I’d made a mess of his sheets, I’d caught him scolding the bunnies in his yard for nibbling on his lettuce. Scolding was too harsh; gentle parenting was more accurate.

“Hi, angel.”

“Hi.”

He leaned across the table, careful not to touch the trays of teetering cups, and planted a quick kiss on me. I licked my lips when he pulled away. “Mm, you taste salty.”

“And you taste like caramel.”

I nodded toward Jo and June, who were currently manning the table full of cinnamon buns. “I might have already eaten a cinnamon roll.”

Two-and-a-half of them to be precise.

“That’s my girl.”

My panties nearly spontaneously combusted when he lifted the bottom half of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face, exposing the deep, muscular V pointing straight toward my new favorite sucking candy. I wasn’t sure what Jared did to maintain his eight-pack, but he took the phrase “engage your core” to new heights during our bedroom activities.

“I can’t believe you stole him from me,” Xan jabbed playfully. “You know I called dibs.”

Jared interjected before I could respond. “It’s Xan, right?”

Their eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. “He knows my name.”

Jared flashed them a charming smile. “No offense to you, but my heart has been spoken for for nearly a year.” He kissed me again before jetting off to nab a cinnamon bun.

Within minutes, Bennett, Soren, and Matty had joined him, bypassing the rosé table in favor of the sweet, doughy treats. Based on how much food I knew Jared could put away, especially after his daily workout, I had asked June to set aside a few extra buns for each of them.

Just one of the perks that came with dating the festival director.

When Ryan finished the race, Kaylani was already there, waiting to leap into his arms. He caught her with ease, wrapping his arms around her waist and meeting her passionate embrace. Never mind his sweat-drenched T-shirt. That wasn’t going to stop her from delivering their happy news.

I snuck away from the table, leaving Xan and Nero to pass out drinks to the thirsty racers, and met them by the finishing line.

“Alright, lovebirds,” I said, loud enough to break their lips apart. “That’s enough of that. There are children watching.”

“Sorry about that.” Ryan reluctantly set his bride-to-be back on her feet.

I lifted my phone. “Can I get a picture of you two?”

“Sure.”

Kaylani held up a finger. “One second, Ness.”

While Ryan fiddled with his finishers’ medal, Kaylani unzipped her hoodie, revealing the white T-shirt underneath that was about to change their lives. The words “future racing buddy” were written in delicate script across her imperceivable baby bump. She tucked herself into Ryan’s side before he could see them.

“Okay, hold up the medal, Ryan. Just like that.”

A small crowd gathered behind me as I captured Kaylani’s announcement on camera. When a pair of bulky hands wrapped around my waist from behind, I relaxed into them. I knew it was Jared without looking—his spicy, sweaty scent was unmistakable.

“That’s one hell of a photo, angel.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling through my tears.

Ryan figured out that something was up after the first couple of photos. The next few captured the moment he turned to face Kaylani, the surprise and then elation that washed over his face, and finally the bear hug he wrapped her up in.

It was the last picture, though—the one where he dropped to his knees and sobbed against her flat stomach—that would hang over their fireplace for years to come.

“You okay?” Jared whispered against my neck.

I twisted in his arms, lacing my fingers behind his neck. “Never better.”