Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“I can’t fathom investing my energy into hating someone like that.”
“Right? It takes energy to hate. I’m not giving my energy to someone who doesn’t deserve it.” We walk a few more paces and just having Mason next to me has calmed me in a way I didn’t realize another person could. “I want to know about your last ex.”
“It’s not that interesting,” he chuckles. “I was based down south, dated a woman named Ashley for a couple months and then broke things off when I got relocated. I haven’t had anything you’d consider a relationship since.”
“Because you don’t want one?” I ask, telling myself I’m just curious, not that I’m testing the waters. One of the biggest things I tell my clients is that if a man says he’s not looking for a relationship, believe him.
“No, I do. But it’s difficult when I’m moving around. I can’t expect someone to up and leave if they have a job, ya know? And, uh, no one has really felt right.”
“That’s good not to settle,” I say snd talk myself down. I’m not so special that I’ll believe I’m the right one for him. We talk a little bit more about our lives as we walk and he says that his two brothers, Sam and Jacob, are coming into town next week to take Jacob’s stepdaughter Everly, shopping. I like that they’re close and that they still talk and hang out even though they each live in different states. I try to see my parents and my sister a few times a month, and I love taking my nieces out.
We get lunch at a little cafe that allows dogs on the patio and it’s not until Mason is walking me back to my apartment building that I realize we haven’t even brought up Enzo…and I’m more than okay with that.
Mason: I have something for you
Me: Oh, really? Is it kinky?
Mason: Totally lol. I can bring it by. I’m in the neighborhood.
Me: Okay :-) I’m home.
“Who are you feverishly texting?” Kat asks, adding more sugar to her tea.
“That sexy FBI agent,” Zara tells her, looking over my shoulder. “She has him saved as Sexy Agent instead of Special Agent.”
“Hah. I do not. But yeah, it’s him” I tell the group. We’re at my house just hanging out talking and drinking tea.
“You two have been spending a lot of time together,” Elsie adds, trying too hard to sound casual.
“Yeah. We’re working together,” I say back.
“You said that Enzo guy is out of town,” Kat counters. “And your podcast yesterday was surprisingly upbeat.”
“Ohh, I need to listen to the episode.” Elsie smiles. “I haven’t had a chance yet.”
It’s true, Mason and I have gotten lunch twice in the last week and had a dinner date last night that wasn’t really a dinner date. It was just us getting together to compare my favorite pizza place in the city to his.
“I like him as a friend,” I press. “He’s a good guy but we’re working together on a case. Once it’s over, that’ll be it.”
“Or maybe it won’t be.” Elsie sits up straighter, smile on her face. “Maybe once it’s over he’ll be able to actually make a move because he knows he shouldn’t right now and he’ll tell you that he’s fallen for you and waiting for this case to be over has been so awful.”
“We’ve known each other for like three weeks. You can’t fall in love that fast,” I sigh.
“You know I disagree. People can fall in love really fast and I know you’ll say but you don’t really know a person if you fall fast, which is true, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t fallen for them. And maybe someday we’ll all find someone who makes us fall fast but doesn’t rush things and we can fall deeper in love as we go to know them.”
I want to counter her so bad but I have nothing. Because she’s right. You can fall into love really fast. You can close your eyes and leap off the cliff and plummet into love, though from what I’ve seen, that kind of love isn’t real. You’re falling for a fake version of someone or for the potential of what a relationship could be.
But I really do believe once you know, you know. You know if the person you went out on a first date with is someone you want to pursue things with or not. I’ve seen it be especially true with men and a lot of men I’ve talked to about this have reported that they knew they wanted their girlfriend to be their girlfriend within minutes or hours after meeting her.
It doesn’t mean those kinds of couple should rush off and get engaged the next week because they “just know”, no, but you know enough to make the decision to choose to work toward something together.