Page 52 of Paws & Order

I stop pretending I'm here strictly because of the investigation.

Somewhere in the middle, we become something that feels suspiciously like a couple.

The town notices immediately.

Of course it does.

Zadok spots us leaving the coffee shop together and nearly walks into a parking meter.

Clover takes one look at us and says, "Finally."

Enoch doesn't comment.

Which somehow feels worse.

Alaric calls three separate times.

I ignore him all three.

Liza laughs every single time.

The haunting continues.

Only now it feels less like stalking and more like having an extremely considerate roommate.

The squeaky bathroom hinge gets fixed.

A loose shelf stops wobbling.

The dead battery in Liza's wall clock mysteriously gets replaced.

I spend twenty minutes trying to figure out how.

Liza spends twenty minutes laughing at me.

"It's sweet," she says.

"It's evidence."

"It's sweet evidence."

I hate that she's winning this argument.

Again.

Three days after the kiss, I find myself standing in her kitchen making dinner.

Or attempting to.

Liza sits on the counter swinging one foot while offering entirely unhelpful commentary.

"You're overcooking it."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not."