Page 101 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet

He taps his chin. “But what I want to know is, which one is correct inyourfavorite book? That is, the dick-tionary?”

That’s my Jude, giving it good in the word-play department. “If you must know, the Merriam-Webster dictionary says both spellings are correct,” I say, enjoying the hell out of this answer. “And frankly, I like the way c-o-m-e looks written down better. But, let’s be honest, they both feel the same on the tongue.”

He murmurs his approval. “Mmm. They do. Though I might want to verify that before I leave for the theater.”

“You want me to give you a good luck BJ before curtain? I’ll allow it.”

“Or maybe I want to give you one. Seeing as another name you could have considered is... Sweetcox.”

Fuck, he’s good. But so am I. “And if I ever need to launch a new name I could bePhil... Accio.”

Jude slow claps. “You win.”

From my seat at the table, I take a small bow.

The sound of wheels racing by on the sidewalk snags my attention. “Dude! Team TJ! Rock on!”

Jude jerks his gaze to the surfer guy already down the block on his skateboard. Then he levels me with an amused stare. “Does that happen a lot?”

I roll my eyes. “Less than before. But zero times would be my preference.”

“Well, I’vealwaysbeen on Team TJ,” he says.

“Thanks,” I say, and that’s as good an entrée as any to a secret I want to share. Something I wasn’t sure I’d tell him but he was honest with me today, even though he was pissed. Still, he told me something that was clearly tough, something that revealed some insecurities. It’s hard to make yourself vulnerable, so he deserves this intel.

“Do you remember the first night we went out?” I ask.

“The night you fell asleep at the table, you mean?”

“I did not fall asleep,” I huff.

“You yawned your face off. And it slowed down our time to shag. We were going to fuck that night, and instead, I had to wait fifteen long and hard days.”

“And was it worth it, Jude? All those long and hard days?”

He grumbles out a yes.

I cup my ear. “I can’t hear you.”

“Yes, fine, it was good. Fine, it was great. Okay, it was fucking amazing. So, what should I remember about the night we met?”

“At the bar, I wrote a note in my phone.”

His eyes light up from the memory. “That’s right! You did. I asked if you were taking notes on our conversation.”

“Because you gave me an idea.”

His eyes brighten. The memory must snap into place for him. “I saidI enjoy a hard man. Are you fucking kidding me? That’s where your pen name came from? That was the note you wrote down?”

“Yes,” I say, and wow, did I just tell him something this big? I did, and it’s a little scary being this open, but a little awesome too.

“I love that,” he says, then sighs happily. “Did you happen to notice my handle on Instagram?”

I sure as shit did. “It’s JustJude,” I say.

He says nothing more. There’s no need to since we both just said enough. That we matter to each other. That we’ve mattered for a long time.

Even though we might have had a minor argument, we can make it through.