I sit on the bench seat under my window and stare down at the twinkling city lights below. It’s early on


    Saturday  evening  and  Brielle  is  due  here  soon.  The  two  of  us  are  taking  Hank  on  a  woman-finding


    mission tonight. Operation Hump Hank is well underway. We went shopping today and made him buy new


    clothes. We got his haircut and his beard trimmed. Damn, I even bought the guy hair gel. I am preupied


    as my mind keeps reying my conversation with starst night. I hold out my hand and look down at


    my beautiful ring.


    “Maybe the ring belongs with you,” I said.


    “I have no doubt that it does,” he replied.


    For some reason that sentence is on repeat in my brain. What did he mean by that? He has no doubt


    that ring belonged with him, yet he rejected it when I offered it to him. My mind goes to the olddy back


    in Heirloom. “Trust yourself,” she told me.


    I gaze down to the people walking below on the street.


    “Listen to your voice,” she said.


    I frown as an uneasy déjà vu feeling sweeps over me. I’ve had it all day.


    If I trust my instincts, then I know for certain that he wanted to kiss mest night. I could feel it in the


    way he wrapped his arms around me and I could see it in his face. I haven’t had this feeling from another


    man before, this undercurrent of affection masked as strong physical attraction.


    Maybe it is just a physical attraction? Maybe I just never had one before? Last night, when I got home,


    I paced back and forth in my bedroom for an hour as the olddy’s voice invaded my head again. I trusted


    my instincts and I text him goodnight.


    I  pick  up  my  phone  now  and  swipe  it  on  to  go  through  to  my  messages.  Yep,  it’s  still  there,  even


    though I have read and re-read his reply at least one hundred times today.


    Goodnight, Em.


    X


    I stare back out the window, lost in thought. Who are you? Where do you live and why can’t I stopMaterial ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    thinking about you?


    Why do two words in a text from you mean so much to me?


    I hear a wolf whistlee from the lounge room and I smile broadly.


    “Are you freaking kidding me?” Vanessa yells. “Emerson. Get out here.”


    Iugh and jump up.


    Sure enough Hank is standing in the lounge room looking down at himself. He is wearing tight jeans


    and a V-neck ck t-shirt. His blonde hair is cut and his beard has been trimmed to look like a three-day


    growth. “I look like a fucking knob,” he sighs.


    “Woo hoo. Oh, Hank, you are looking the business tonight.” Iugh.


    Vanessa stands with her mouth open as she inspects mine and Brielle’s handiwork. She circles him


    and her eyes flicker over to me. “He’s actually frigging hot under all that hair.”


    Iugh and nod in agreement. “I know.”


    She grabs Hank into a headlock and swings him around. “You are getting your dick sucked tonight, big


    boy.”


    Hanks face falls in fear. “T-tonight,” he stammers.


    I cover my mouth with my hand to hide myugh. Poor thing is petrified.


    “Not tonight, Hank,” I reassure him. “We are just going cocktail tasting and maybe run through some


    pick up lines.” I look at Vanessa. “Are you sure you can’te? It’s going to be fun.”


    “I wish.” She throws her head back in disgust. “I have the stupid twenty-first birthday for my twat of a


    cousin. I have to stay the weekend with my parents. Ugh, I’m going to have the worst weekend ever.” She


    stands back with her hands on her hips and smiles proudly at Hank. “But we have the music festival next


    weekend, don’t forget.”


    “Yes, we do,” Hank replies as he looks down at himself.


    I raise my brows. “Where are you two off to?” I ask.


    “A music festival. We bought tickets before we knew that we liked you.”


    Vanessa’s honesty is endearing. “That’s okay. I have my first auction with work next Friday night. I


    couldn’t go, anyway.”