The Other Kimmy Brown: A Thanksgiving Rom-Com by Kristin Durfee

Author:Kristin Durfee [Durfee, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen: Maybe This Can Turn into Something if You Don’t Steal from Me

The buzzing and vibrating wrenched Kimmy from a groggy half-sleep. She slapped her left arm around, but instead of hitting the side table, she hit flesh. Which grunted in response.

She sat up and noted the light seemed all wrong as it poured in through the sheer curtains. Her phone was on the small nightstand to the right, not left, and Josh stirred beside her.

She looked down and realized she was still in her interim outfit from yesterday and Josh still wore his jeans and polo from Thanksgiving. The evening was a blur, but not from alcohol. They’d only had part of one bottle. Yet she felt drunk, probably from lack of sleep and talking until they both dozed off.

When was the last time she stayed up late into the night talking with a guy? College?

She and Chuck chatted, of course—they lived together—but rarely ever talked well past midnight.

Each time there was a lull in the conversation last night, she got nervous that Josh would leave, but the pauses were temporary, and they continued to find things to cover. She told him about her job and how awful Arthur was.

“What do you do again?” she asked him.

“I work for a nonprofit. We provide showers for the homeless.”

Of course he did, she thought. Could her life be any more like a sappy romance novel at this point?

“Does my contribution to humanity intimidate you?”

She gave a short laugh. “Ha, I’m over here saving the world, one piece of dating advice at a time.”

He talked about how he felt like he was doing meaningful work by helping people with their problems only to turn around the next day and let someone down.

“You have to know you’re doing good,” she slurred, tongue thick with drowsiness.

“I wish it were that simple,” he muttered with his eyes closed. He had the longest lashes. “But it’s complicated when so many people need help and you have limited resources.”

She couldn’t remember if she got the last word in the evening or if he did, but his words filled her mind and wove through her dreams.

Now, she reached for her phone to silence the alarm and realized with a shock she was dangerously close to running late for her lunch meeting. She leapt out of bed, and Josh nearly fell out as well as he struggled to disentangle himself from the mountain of sheets and covers.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Earthquake?”

“Late,” she called back to him and sprinted into the bathroom.

She only had time for dry shampoo and splashed water on her face then pulled on random clothes from her duffel she’d transferred into the bathroom the previous night in an effort to tidy up before Josh’s arrival.

After putting herself together as much as she could in under ten minutes, she went into the kitchen and popped a dinner roll into her mouth. Josh used the bathroom while she threw a few things into her satchel and waited for him to come out.

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