Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Stace

Holy shit she agreed to come to my place. It was a spur of the moment decision, but I was happy I'd asked. She'd said yes.

Hunter was also wearing my sweatshirt and I'd definitely caught her giving it a sniff. She didn't make a face or say that I smelled gross or rip it off, so I took that as a good sign.

We each took our own cars to my place and I got a nice spot close to the entrance of my building.

I got out and saw Hunter up the street parking. I waited for her and watched as she walked toward me, still wearing my sweatshirt.

She reached me and smiled, and my heart did a slow somersault in my chest before settling again.

I held the lobby door open for her and then unlocked the front door.

"This is a nice building," she said.

The place was over a hundred years old but had been renovated a few years ago and they'd kept a lot of the charm. It wasn't the fanciest place, but it had felt like home when I'd walked in with Buck.

Hunter and I took the stairs to my apartment on the second floor. Barking greeted us as I put my key in the door and went in first to say hello to Buck.

"Okay, it's okay," I told him. It didn't matter how long I was gone, he always acted like I'd just returned from the war.

Buck settled down and then he realized that there was a new person here and he lost his mind again. It was only my commands and his training that got him to calm the hell down.

"Buck, sit," I said, and he did, but was vibrating and desperate to lick Hunter all over.

I set the bag of books down and wished that I had thought about inviting her over after I'd made sure my apartment was company clean. I kept the place pretty tidy normally but having Hunter here the first time would have been better if I'd done a deep clean. Having a dog meant that no matter how many times I vacuumed, there were always little tumbleweeds of dog hair everywhere.

After she said hello to Buck, Hunter looked around. The kitchen and living room were connected on the left side with a row of doors to the right with the bathroom, bedroom, and a closet for the washer and dryer. I knew how lucky I was to have that in an older building but there was no way I was hauling my laundry somewhere else to do it.

I tried to be objective about my place. I didn't know how Hunter lived, but I could imagine that her apartment was sleek and new and expensive.

She hadn't told me she came from money, but she hadn't had to. It was easy to tell in the way she moved in the world and some of the things she'd said.

It didn't matter to me, but I could tell it mattered to her. That she didn't want me to know. As if I'd judge her for it.

I truly didn't care. It was such an irrelevant piece of information compared to everything else about her. I cared far more if she was kind. If I liked being around her. If I felt like I could be myself around her.

"I could make some tea," I said. I only had one or two kinds of herbal tea in my cabinets. If she came over again, I'd get some more so I could have her favorites on hand.

Hunter crossed the living room and looked out the window. My place got great light and had good views of the residential street. It looked absolutely stunning in the winter with the homes all coated with snow and twinkly lights in the windows.

Buck put his paws up on the windowsill and made growling noises at the birds.

"Buuuuuck," I warned him.

He looked back at me and gave me the dog equivalent of a pout that I was spoiling his fun.

"Tea would be great," Hunter said, drifting from the window to my bookshelves. I had two of them and they didn't match. They were also crammed full. I'd been wanting to get something new but hadn't gotten around to it with everything else I had going on.

I set the kettle on the stove and grabbed two mugs and the two boxes of tea I had.

I wish I had something fancier. Loose-leaf tea and delicate cups and a tray to carry it on. Things I'd never thought about owning for myself which suddenly seemed essential.

"Feel free to judge my book collection," I called out to her. Buck had gotten bored at the window so he'd gone to lay in his bed and rest his head on his paws until something more interesting happened.

"I'm not judging," she said, her head tilted to the side to read the spines of my books.

"Yeah, somehow I don't believe you," I said, rooting around in my cabinets for something to have with the tea. We'd just consumed incredible pastries, but you couldn't just give someone tea when they came over. I found some crackers and had two different kinds of cheese in my fridge, along with some apples that my mom had given me when she took my little brothers to the orchard.

Getting out a plate, I started assembling a rudimentary snack situation. It wasn't social media worthy, but hopefully Hunter wouldn't care.

I sliced up the apples as the kettle went off.

"I've only got two kinds of tea, sorry. You can pick." Hunter joined me in the kitchen. She poured water over the teabag and watched as I tried to arrange the snack plate so it didn't look like trash.

"You didn't need to make that," Hunter said.

"I know. But my mom raised me to be a good host."

Hunter still wore my sweatshirt. Seeing her hands peeking out from the too-long sleeves was really fucking cute.

It distracted me for a second and I almost chopped off one of my fingers. How embarrassing that would have been if I ended up in the ER with a silly injury. I knew all the local nurses and doctors so I'd never hear the end of it.

With utmost care, I sliced the rest of the apple and set it on the plate. Hunter carried our tea and I had the food.

Buck came over to investigate, but I shooed him away and sent him back to his bed so he wouldn't bother us.

"Your place is so cozy," she said, pulling her feet up on the couch and tucking them under herself.

Shit, I liked seeing her sitting on my couch. I'd thought about her in my space so many times and now she was here.

"Cozy usually means small in real estate terms," I said, knowing she was literally a real estate agent.

Hunter shook her head and rested her tea on her legs. "Sometimes it does. Maybe that wasn't the right word. Comfortable, maybe. That doesn't mean small. Warm. Your place is warm too. I could write a whole listing on how this place makes you feel."

Oh. That definitely sounded like a compliment. I was no decorator and so much of my furniture had come from my parents and old roommates and garage sales that nothing had a unified theme, but I did like everything I owned, even if it didn't go together.

"Anything haunted?" I asked, remembering her room of cursed items.

"Hmmm," Hunter said, looking around. "I'd have to look closer, but I think you're pretty un-haunted. Sorry."

I let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, you can't have everything I guess."

"Next time I go with Cade, I'll pick you up a little something."

Oh, she would? She'd be looking for something for me while she was with her friend? Why did that make me want to jump up and whoop for joy?

"Okay," I said, trying to hold back a huge smile.

"I don't see Cade as much anymore." She'd told me that before.

"I'm sorry. It's hard when your friends get into relationships like that. My college roommate and I were almost inseparable and then she met this guy and I barely ever saw her again." I had also kind of sort of been in love with her, but that was a separate issue.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled for her. I am. Still a little skeptical, but supportive. But I miss her."

She frowned into her tea.

"The book tour is coming up, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's in a few weeks. Cade goes between excited and terrified. It's going to be the experience of a lifetime, that's for sure."

I couldn't imagine dating someone famous like that.

"My mom loves Eloise Roth books. I haven't told her that I might actually meet her at some point or else she would make me bring all her books and get them signed." I'd come honestly by my love of books. When I'd been young and my parents hadn't had a ton of money, they'd always taken me and Tor to the library and let us get whatever we wanted. It had been so exciting, being able to grab a book off the shelf and take it home to keep for a few weeks. Almost like you were getting away with something.

I still went to the library when I could and borrowed ebooks like it was going out of style.

"Your mom and everyone else's mom. Well, except mine. She doesn't really read anything that isn't a legal brief or court documents." Hunter made a face.

"Sounds riveting," I said in a deadpan voice.

"There are many reasons that I didn't want to go to law school and having to read pages of legalese was one of them. I do have to read a lot of loan documents, but those aren't as bad for some reason."

I couldn't imagine. I wouldn't last a week in law school. I'd been lucky that so much of my animal science degree hadn't been in a classroom. My school had a working farm on campus, and I'd gotten pretty good at milking cows when I was half-asleep and tending to chickens and goats.

"Yeah, give me a romance any day of the week. I think I've read Eloise Roth, but I gravitate more toward queer books. Wonder if she'll write any of those now."

Hunter snorted. "My friend Jo asked her about that and Cade got mad, but I think it's an interesting question. I'm not saying that she has to or anything, but I wonder if someone like her, with her huge name and brand, decided to write queer books, if her readers would stick with her. Probably not."

"Some would. But yeah, I think a lot would bail. And she'd definitely get backlash. I wish it wasn't that way, but…"

Hunter nodded. "I gave Eloise a hard time about bringing Cade on tour and if she was going to pretend that Cade was her assistant or if she'd publicly claim the relationship. I was worried for Cade, but I was kind of an asshole about it." I was surprised that she was admitting this to me.

"Wait, are you telling me that you're not perfect? This is news to me, Hunter. I think I need a minute to sit with that."

Her eyes narrowed to slits and I thought she was going to throw her tea at me, but she just kept glaring.

"Oh, come on," I said, gently hitting her arm. "You were looking out for your friend. I get it. What did Eloise say?" Talking about Eloise Roth as a regular person was a weird adjustment.

"She said that she loved Cade and wasn't going to hide her. And that she'd protect her. But can she?"

The look Hunter gave me was anguished and I wanted to give her a big hug and tell her it was going to be okay. Hunter probably wouldn't like that, though.

"She can't. She can do her best, but there are people in this world who hate us. Who hate the way we live and love. What has Cade said about it?"

Hunter sighed and picked up an apple slice only to stare at it instead of eating it. "She's anxious, but I don't really think she's prepared herself for what could happen. At least she listened to me when I told her to lock down her social media accounts."

That seemed wise.

"I just wish she'd thought everything through before getting into the relationship."

Something other than her friend being hurt was behind this and I didn't quite know what it was yet.

"You don't really sit down and make a pro and con list before falling in love. At least in my experience." Hunter met my eyes.

"Do you fall in love a lot?" she asked, and this conversation had veered in a completely personal direction.

"Not as a general rule, no," I said. I had been in love before, a few times. Nothing like my parents kind of love though. That was something on a different level.

"Well, I don't," she said.

"Don't fall in love? You mean you haven't."

She shook her head. "I mean I don't."

That didn't make sense. "That's not really something you decide, I feel like. It can happen to you anyway."

Hunter let out a frustrated sound and finally ate the apple slice. "I don't want to talk about this. The point is, I just want Cade to be okay."

She pulled her knees up and set her chin on them.

"Have you told Cade any of this?"

"A little bit," she said. That meant not really.

"I'm not saying that you should tell her everything, but I think telling her how much you care about her and that you're there to support her would be something she'd want to hear."

Hunter stared off into space. She was thinking hard about something.

Buck chose that moment to get up off his bed and come over. As if he knew that his presence was needed.

He whined and then jumped up on the couch, squishing between us.

"Is he allowed on the couch?" Hunter asked, squishing as far away from Buck as she could get until he settled with his head facing Hunter.

"You try telling him he's not allowed." I knew without being able to see his eyes that he was giving Hunter his most soulful and pathetic expression.

Hunter snorted and stroked his head. Buck sighed. "I see your point."

We were both quiet for a few minutes.

"Sorry I brought the mood down. I have a tendency to do that." Her voice was quiet.

"You didn't. Promise. I know I seem like I can't handle heavy, but I can. If you ever want to talk to someone about anything, let me know."

I expected her to refuse.

"Thanks." Her fingers continued to stroke Buck's head and I knew from his deep breaths that he was asleep. Lucky dog.

"I should go," Hunter said, carefully getting to her feet so she didn't wake up Buck. He flinched in his sleep but went right back to snoozing.

"Yeah, of course. Thanks for coming over. And for hanging out with me today." I followed her to the door.

Hunter put her shoes on and grabbed her bag, along with the books she'd picked out.

"Stace. You don't have to thank me for spending time with you. I told you. I like you."

Hearing those words made me so damn happy.

"I like you, too."

It wasn't my imagination that she smiled when I said it. Fuck. I could live for a thousand years off her smiles.

"I'll see you at yoga," she said, stepping into the hallway. "And I'll be planning our next outing."

"I'll be there. Let me know that you got home safe." I needed to get those messages from her. I knew they were probably a little neurotic, but I saw too many car accidents as a firefighter. I never wanted to leave anything unsaid or have any regrets when someone got in a car to go somewhere. My job had really put a lot of things into perspective for me.

But Hunter didn't need to know about that. She didn't need to know how many times I'd get a call and for half a second wonder if it was someone I loved. She'd joined the ranks of my friends and my family as people I had those moments about.

"I'll let you know when I get home," she said before heading down the stairs.