Not the Rebound Guy by Abby Knox (popular books of all time .txt) 📗

and he promises no more puns. Instead, we tell each other about our childhoods, and I learn that he and his brother were raised by their grandparents. Listening to him talk, it makes sense to me why he’s so good to my Grams. He misses the people who raised him. I fill him in on my strained relationship with my mom, or as much as I can until sleep overtakes me. I nod off on his chest and wake up to the sound of his stomach growling.

“Oh no. How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long enough,” he says, kissing my forehead. “You’re so pretty when you sleep. I could watch you all day.”

“Creepy,” I joke, sitting up and stretching.

He laughs. “One of these days, you’re going to take a compliment. For now, let’s go get something to eat.”

Chapter Fourteen

Garrett

Watching Eliza study the menu as if it’s changed at all since she was a child is cute.

When she looks as if she’s decided, I lean forward over the table. “I have a confession to make,” I say.

“What’s that?”

I want to shout it from the mountaintops, but Otto’s Diner will have to do. “I like you for more than a fling.”

Eliza tears off a corner of her paper napkin and gives me a wary smile as the server brings her soda. She murmurs a quiet thank you.

And then comes the tough conversation. “Garrett.”

“This makes sense, don’t you think?”

She looks down at the placemat and exclaims, “Oh look! Esther Smith had a yard sale today. Darn, we missed it.”

“Eliza.”

She puts the placemat down and looks up at me. “I have a life in New York.”

“It’s not that difficult. My grandparents stayed together while PawPaw served in Korea.”

“How long until one of us gets really tired of the flight between here and New York?”

I gather up all my courage. “Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Which will be soon. Because this is real, this thing between us, and no amount of distance or ex-boyfriend complications means anything to me. I don’t want to be away from you for a single second if I can help it.”

Her cheeks redden as she sips her soda. “You’re not going to be one of those cute small-town guys who tries to convince me to give up my big city life, like in those Hallmark movies, are you? Because three days is not enough time.”

“I’m not asking you to do that. I would never. But three days? Does it really feel like just three days to you?”

She bites her lip and doesn’t answer that. “I can’t ask you to leave your home. I just want to keep you in this cute little snow globe. I don’t want you to change for me, and I don’t want to change for you.”

“It doesn’t work like that. Do you want to be with me?”

“I have so much fun with you. I like you so much. I don’t want to hurt you, but…you were supposed to be the rebound guy. This is supposed to be a fun three-week vacation.”

I raise a finger in the air. “It was two weeks, and you voluntarily extended to three weeks, even though the house is totally overcrowded.”

“I changed it to three weeks because Grams is in over her head.”

I lean in closer and say, “You were over him the second the wheels were in the air. You never loved that guy. He set you free when he met the spiritual quest bimbo.”

Her eyes widen. She opens her mouth to speak, but just then, her phone rings. I watch her pick it up and look at the screen, and her face falls.

She sends it to voicemail and then sets the phone facedown on the table.

I don’t ask who it was, as it’s none of my business. Even though I am curious.

“My ex. He’s been texting. Wants to know when I’ll be back so we can arrange a time for me to get my stuff. His name’s on the lease, goddammit.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Shouldn’t you be taking his call? Seems like an important question.”

“It does not spark joy.”

To underline her point, she clicks her phone on silent. “There. Now nobody can disturb us. I’m free as a bird, and I don’t have to think about any of that unpleasantness for the rest of the night.”

I take my phone out and do the same. “Here we go. I’m setting my phone on silent.”

She arches an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you set it on vibrate? It’s more fun in your pants.”

I can’t help but laugh. I sip my milkshake then say, “If I want some vibrations in my pants I have better ways of getting that done.”

“Sir!” Eliza shouts with a laugh.

I keep my voice low, so only she can hear. “Yup. She’s got legs for days, cute little painted toenails with glitter. A body that doesn’t quit. Soft sexy lips that fit perfectly between mine, deep stormy hazel eyes that always keep me guessing, and a mass of brown curls I want to get lost in.”

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “As a poet and a songwriter, you have an unfair advantage.”

Chapter Fifteen

Eliza

On the way home, I let him thread his fingers through mine. The whole town can see we’re together. For now.

“Don’t be surprised if this ends up on the placemat first thing in the morning,” I say.

“I’ll be hopping mad if it doesn’t,” Garrett says.

I smile to myself, thinking about Garrett storming the diner in the middle of the Sunday brunch rush, picking up the nearest paper placemat and examining it for mention of us holding hands on Main Street.

“Let’s say we did pursue a relationship. How would that work? Would we try to visit each other on weekends? Would we spend holidays together? Which ones? What’s our Christmas obligation?” My professional planner is rearing its organized head.

“Baby, you gotta calm down and just let it flow.”

“Sorry, I’m not a sleepy small-town zen master like you.”

“Garth Buddha flies to