Page 57 of Never Forever

“Well, I wouldn’t call him good,” Matt said. “But he wasn’t as bad as Avena thought.”

“I practically swooned,” Alex said.

“I, ah…did not,” Matt said.

“The second book is a love story,” Alex said.

“Kirsh and Avena?” Matt asked, like he loved a love story.

“No. Between the crones. Alslip and Magda. Queer, old age representation.” Alex snapped his fingers in approval.

As fascinating as this conversation was, there was no way I could stay hiding in the tea nook forever.

I wiped under my eyes, hoping I got the worst of the mascara. My hair was hopeless, as was the shirt. Though it did give me a little wet tee shirt vibe. I could work with that. I stood and gathered my things from the floor where I’d dropped them in a sweaty mess.

When I turned, my eyes met Matt’s in an electric sizzle. He wore his olive green park ranger uniform which should make him look stupid. But it didn’t. The green polyester blend fit him like a glove. He was lean, but strong. His shoulders were wide. His hips were narrow. He didn’t even have the decency to get fat and paunchy over the years.

His hair was too long. Like he needed someone in his life to tell him it was time to get it cut.

“Carrie,” Matt said. It was sort of bliss the way he said my name this summer. Resigned. Like I was ruining his day every time he saw me. Every. Single. Time.

“Matt.”

“You look…overheated.”

“Ooh. A compliment,” I said, smiling past the dent his words left in me.

“Honestly. Your face is all red. Are you all right?”

I touched my cheeks. The AC should have been cooling me down, but seeing him didn’t help the red cheeks.

“Fine. You’re into romantasy these days?” I asked, trying to distract him from my red cheeks.

He liftedMidnight and Madness, a YA romantic fantasy novel that was all over TikTok. It had been a bestseller for about seven years, so it was weirdly endearing that he was the biggest reader I’d ever met, but knew nothing about what was going on in the book world.

“It’s good.”

Of course it was good. Everyone already knew that.

“You know there are like seven sequels to that book,” I quipped.

“Really?” he asked, genuinely surprised and delighted.

“This is the Twilight series all over again,” I said, and then wished I could suck the words back in my mouth. I didn’t want to think about those sweet times between us. I could feel him looking at me while I got very serious about winding one of my scarves around my neck.

“Totes! They’re making a movie,” Alex said, walking by with a stack of books in his arms to shelve.

“Huh. How about that?”

“Oh my God, Matt,” I said, taking lazy swipes because I was exhausted and dehydrated. “Get a clue.”

“I’m not the one walking around in ninety degree weather with winter gear on,” he said, pointing at my coat.

“It’s called a costume,” I explained like he was an idiot.

“It’s called heatstroke,” he volleyed.

“Oh yeah,-”