Page 137 of You've Got Hate Mail
“Dori wants to stay too?” Dammit.
I will never stop crying at this rate.
“She does,” Ginny sobs. “Our family is growing and I love it and we need more space.”
“I’m selling my beaver.”
“No. We’ll sell Pip’s beaver first.”
That finally makes me laugh.
Ginny laughs too, then hiccups as another sob racks her body, then laughs again. “Oh my stars, I’m a mess.”
“We’re all a mess, and it’s beautiful.”
She pulls back again, wiping the tears off of her whole face as something drops on the floor overhead, the noise carrying through down here.
She shoots a look at the ceiling. “Oh, god, he can’t hear us, can he?”
“No. The insulation’s really good. Lav probably dropped something.”
“Good. He doesn’t need this too.”
I bite my lip and look up at the ceiling while I scrub the tears off of my face too.
When I look back at Ginny, she’s blinking like she’s still working off the crying, but she’s also staring at me intently.
“Yes, I have a crush on him, and no, I’m not going to do anything about it because he doesn’t date and I don’t need to complicate his life,” I whisper.
“Cricket—”
“No, for real, I don’t need to cause drama and mix things up there. I need—I think I need to go into town.”
“Into town?”
“For the dating scene. I assume you date sometimes? Or have an occasional hookup? I’ve heard Mabel might too?”
The deep tones of Heath’s voice come through the ceiling as footsteps patter overhead.
Ginny shoots another look upward.
Then looks back at me.
“I amnotgoing to act onthat,” I insist. “We both live here, and even if he did date, if things didn’t work out, it would bemessy and uncomfortable. And if—if we all have to move one day, then—anyway. I’m not going there.”
She grabs a tissue off my nightstand and dabs at the lingering tears in the corners of her eyes. “The dating scene isn’t bad. It’s not fantastic, but it’s not bad.”
I wince. “That’s a ringing endorsement.”
“It’s a small town. You should learn to spot the tourists if you just want a hookup. It’s less messy than accidentally sleeping with a local that you might run into again and again when you don’t want to.” She tilts her head at me. “Orwe can talk about all of the fun you’ve introduced into Heath’s life since you got here. The way he looks at you when you’re playing with Lav. The way he looks at you when you’re gardening and he thinks no one’s watching. The way he looks at you when he leaves the house after dropping Lav off every morning.”
The way he almost choked when I told him I was getting on the dating apps… “And he doesn’t date, and I’ll respect that boundary.”
“He’s been through a lot the past few years. If you ask me, it’s less about him never wanting to date again and more about him needing some recovery time for his own life.”
Given everything I’ve learned about him since I got here, that makes sense. “And again, I’m honoring his boundaries.”
“Has he specifically told you that he doesn’t want to go out with you?”
