Half an hour and several mind-numbingly boring displays later, I finally yanked myself out of my Jules-induced trance, only to wish I hadn’t. I couldn’t have told you the color of the building if you put a gun to my head. My gaze lingered on her as we walked toward the entrance. “Behold, the world-famous Betty Jones Crochet Museum.” Anyway, enough about my hair.” Jules swept her arm at the building before us. It didn’t matter if it killed me, because in a world where I was surrounded by death, she was the only thing that made me feel alive. Now, she was beautiful in a way that made me want to drown in her, to let her fill every inch of my soul until she fucking consumed me. It was a fact of life, but not something that particularly touched me. Her looks hadn’t changed drastically over the years, but something had changed.īefore, Jules was beautiful in the way grass was green and oceans were deep. “Hmm, I think you’d look good with bangs.” Jules would look good with anything.Įven now, with purple shadows smudged beneath her eyes and lines of tension bracketing her mouth, she was so fucking beautiful I couldn’t stop looking at her. “I’m pretty sure I can find the first three in guidebooks.” I tugged on a lock of her hair. You can’t find that anywhere in guidebooks.” “During which I pointed out the town’s best restaurant, the bowling alley, the shop that had a ten-second cameo in a Bruce Willis movie, and the hair salon where I got bangs for a brief, horrifying time in high school,” she said. “I don’t appreciate the snark, especially considering the free, in-depth tour I just gave you.” Jules cast a sidelong glance in my direction. “Yeah, and how old is the amazing Stanley?” “For your information, Stanley Tucci’s character uses it in The Devil Wears Prada, and both Stanley and the movie are amazing.” “Did you just use the phrase gird your loins? What are you, eighty?” Perhaps I should’ve chosen a more interesting excuse than a crochet museum, but I read about it on my bus ride from Columbus and it was listed as the town’s top attraction.

“You’re about to get your mind blown.”Īfter I dropped off my bag, I’d convinced her to join me on my museum outing. “Gird your loins,” Jules said as we made a left onto a quiet, tree-lined street.

I was truly fucked in the head, and I couldn’t even bring myself to be mad about it. So, instead of flying to my number two bucket list destination (after Antarctica), I’d headed straight to the ticket counter and bought the next flight to Columbus. The hikes and activities I’d spent months planning held as much interest to me as watching paint dry. What she was doing, how she was doing, whether she’d landed safely. I made it all the way to the airport for my New Zealand flight, but when boarding started, all I could think about was Jules.

The twisted hate