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moon, when he’d had a rough day or an even rougher week, he let himself splurge. A caramel-filled brownie, one of the huge, sinful chocolate chip cookies, a little tray of four perfectly decorated petit fours, or if it had been a particularly long week, one of the thick sourdough baguettes with the house-made jalapeño artichoke dip. It had been a particularly long week. Perhaps he’d get all three.
    Evan took his time picking out the perfect loaf, nicely browned, symmetrical, and pretty. He plucked it from the basket and enjoyed the illicit crinkle of the paper when it hit the bottom of his cart. Then he slipped his hand out and snatched a container of petit fours. Sue him. He was stressed. He made a beeline out of the bakery after that and into the salad section where he’d be sure to make better choices.
    The ceilings were high, and the racks were piled with perfect piles of organic produce, artisanal cheeses and meats, pizza, fresh chickens, and roast beef. Evan decompressed from his week as he wandered through the fresh section of the store and grabbed what he needed. He did pick up a container of his favorite jalapeño artichoke dip, but he also loaded his cart with the fixings to make a large salad to go with his creamy dip-laden french bread.
    Evan was in the middle of picking out a tomato for his salad when he nearly knocked someone over. He looked up to say sorry and—
    Shit . It was dog-groomer guy. Literally the very last person Evan needed to run into when he was tired and run-down and just wanted to get home. Or ever, really. After their last encounter, it probably would’ve been better if they had never seen each other again. He hoped they’d do the awkward thing where they pretended not to know each other and just move the hell on.
    “Sorry,” he mumbled. He felt… awkward. Yeah, that was really the only word for it. He was sorry that his relaxing Friday evening grocery run was ruined. Evan nearly dropped his tomato back on the pile and made a break for the checkout lines.
    “It’s oka— oh .” That’s when dog-groomer guy realized who he was. Yeah. Oh . The awkwardness that had already been thick raised about five million on the tension scale. And to think Evan had been pleased with himself for dodging pleasant professor chitchat after class. If he’d been stopped to talk, he might have managed to miss the run-in with his angry dog groomer. He supposed that was his karma for avoiding his colleagues.
    Evan gave him a terse nod and turned to leave. I seriously need to get out of here.
    “Hey, wait up. Um, Evan. Please.”
    Fantastic. Evan wanted nothing more than to stand in the grocery store and talk to the guy who’d basically accused him of abusing his dog while he, what? Held flowers for his girlfriend and was probably picking out some cutesy romantic gift? Jesus.
    The guy’s arms were full of dark pink peonies, and he had a bag of bright-colored flower-shaped cookies. His hair fell into his eyes and made him look like he was barely older than one of Evan’s students. He was pretty and fair and freckly. Healthy looking, with that Pacific Northwest glow that Evan had noticed on people when he’d first moved to town. Evan hated that he noticed anything about—what was his name again? Evan couldn’t remember for the life of him. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever gotten an introduction. Definitely better that way. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to smile. After all, if they ran into each other in the store once, well… it could easily happen again.
    “I wanted to apologize,” dog-groomer guy said. “I was horribly rude to you when you were in the shop, and you didn’t do anything to deserve that.”
    “It’s no problem….”
    “Austin. My name’s Austin, and yes, it really was.” He looked flustered, but maybe like he’d been practicing what he wanted to say to Evan but had his entire speech surprised right out of him. It might have been a little endearing, which annoyed