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“The friendship bracelets? The way you two looked at each other at Thanksgiving? How he picked you up after the playoff clinching win and didn’t give a shit about anyone else? It’s not hard to put two and two together,” Maggie says, and I don’t hear any judgment in her voice.
“Does my dad know?Shit.DoesShawn?” I ask, panicked.
“No and no. Come on. Those two are oblivious as hell,” she says, and I relax marginally. “Your secret is safe with us.”
I take a deep breath and finish off my glass of alcohol, needing some courage.
I can trust Maggie and Lacey—I’ve always trusted them.
I’ve told them intimate details about my life no one else knows. They’ve answered my questions and I’ve never felt any shame in sharing my curiosities.
“What I say at this table cannot leave this table.” I look at both of them, and they nod in agreement. “Dallas and I are seeing each other. We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months.”
“Oh my god, Mae.” Maggie stands up and hurries to my side of the booth. She drapes her arm over my shoulder and hugs me. “That’s so exciting. Give us the details.”
“We, uh, are also kind of living together,” I say, and I laugh when Lacey’s mouth pops open. “It’s a long story that involves how much I was paying for rent and how little time I was spending at my apartment, and it just kind of happened. We started spending time together, one thing led to another, and here we are.”
“Is it serious?” Lacey asks. “I’ve never seen him with a woman before.”
“We’re not just sleeping together, if that’s what you’re asking. I mean, we’re definitely doingthat,but I’m falling in love with him.” My heart moves up to my throat as I say it out loud, and my fingers curl around the edges of the table. “Is that insane?”
“I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with your dad after only one night together,” Maggie says gently. “Sparing you the details, that night was about more than just sex. In less than twenty-four hours, he made me feel safe. He showed me how I deserved to be loved. You don’t need years to know you found the right person.”
“But we’re at such different points in our lives. I dropped out of college. He’s a professional athlete with a daughter. I’m still figuring out what I want to do going forward, and he’s settled in. It works now, but what about in five years? In ten or fifteen? I don’t want him to feel like he’s settling with me.”
“Settling? Maven, that man has smiled more this season than he has the last four years combined,” Lacey tells me. “And I think a lot of the time, people get caught up in theever afterpart of being happy. What’s wrong with just being happy right here, right now? None of us can control the future. If things are good, if things with Dallas are what you’ve dreamed about, then who cares what five years down the road will look like?”
She’s right.
I don’t have a lot of experience to go off of—the few guys I dated in college are boys compared to Dallas—but I know what we have is special. It’s full of hope and healing and encouragement and support. Communication and listening. It’s tender and soft but loud and vibrant.
It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.
“Yeah.” I nod and smile. “Things are good. When I’m with him and June, I really feel like I’m part of their family. Not as Mom, but as something… I don’t know. Just as special.”
“It’s hard to figure out how to define that role,” Maggie says. “That’s how it was for me with you and your dad. You have a mother who is wonderful and thoughtful and very present, and I’d never dream of taking that title from her. But June doesn’t have a mother. Not one that’s involved. Maybe in a couple of years you’ll slide into that role naturally. Maybe you’re starting to already.”
“This sentimental stuff is heartwarming, but tell us thereallygood details—how is he in bed?” Lacey asks with a wicked grin, and I blush. “That hickey on your neck speaks volumes.”
“Fantastic. Mind-blowing. He doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he’s so eager to learn. He reads my romance novels andresearches. I don’t know how he goes from sweet one minute to literally ripping my shirt off in the next, but it’s the best I’ve ever had. Not just because of our physical attraction, but because there’s an emotional connection, too. It’s like we canread each other’s minds and anticipate what we need. I’ve never felt such a deep affection toward someone before.”
“Protect that,” Maggie says and she squeezes my shoulder. “Fight for it. Take it from someone who spent years in a marriage where I never once had those feelings toward my partner; that kind of love is special.”
“When I’m with him, I feel like I can fly. Is that how it is for you all?”
“Yes,” they answer in unison, and I laugh.
“That’s what happens when you’re with a man who supports you,” Lacey continues. “It’s how it should be, but women get so used to making excuses for why we aren’t happy in a relationship. We blame ourselves and think those sorts of feelings are unobtainable, when, really, they’re the most natural thing in the world when you’re with the right person.”
Dallasisthe right person. He’s the right person for me right now, and he’s going to be the right person for me in thirty years.
Long after football and photography and any other passions we share, he’s going to be there, welcoming me home with open arms, because he is mine, and I’m hopelessly and completely his.
FORTY-SIX
MAVEN
I kickoff my boots and tiptoe down the hall when I get home just past ten. I turn the corner into the living room and wince when a floorboard creaks, only to find Dallas on the couch.
