AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What was I thinking?
I was thinking, I’m a hugger. I hug women all the time. And it doesn’t usually make me need to go home and bang my right hand like it’s going out of style.
“Sonya and Quinn know her,” I say because I definitely need a change of topic. “Her dad took Quinn’s drug.”
“You’re talking about Eva. Ivy,” Quinn says.
“Yeah.”
His eyes probe mine, and I have to look away because it’s like he can see straight through me. I have the strangest thought.
He’s going to out me.
But I don’t mean he’s going to tell them—and Weggers—that none of my avowed feelings for Ivy are real.
I mean he’s going to tell them that I actually like her.
Which, let’s be straight about this, I do.
She’s brave, for one thing, because you have to have guts to take this on. And she’s big hearted, going to these lengths to help a bunch of struggling theater kids.
She’s incredibly game and quick witted. When we were brainstorming our story together, it was the best kind of collaboration, when you feel like you’re right in someone else’s head. Like your ideas and their ideas get wrapped up together.
And I like that she knows what she wants. A job she loves, a house, a garden, and people she trusts.
For a split second, I wanted to volunteer. Me! Me! Pick me!
Obviously I can’t actually volunteer to be a person Ivy can trust. My reputation speaks for itself. I’m more likely to be the talk of the town in the worst possible way than the guy you call because you need someone you can depend on.
Still, for just a second, I wanted it.
When I look back at Quinn and company, all of my siblings—and Easton and Sonya—are staring at me. I realize I lost my focus there for a second. Who knows what my face did while I wasn’t paying attention?
Quinn’s staring hardest. He opens his mouth.
Before he can say anything else, though, Sonya lets out a cry of dismay.
“Gus!”
Her dog has been busy while we were all otherwise engaged. He nosed into Eloise’s diaper bag and managed to root out three of her pacifiers, and now he’s sitting on the floor with the pacis between his front paws, licking them affectionately.
Sonya snatches all three pacifiers away from Gus and, nose wrinkled, hands them to Easton for washing. Gus barks in protest, then gets up and settles at Hanna’s feet, panting up at Eloise in her arms.
In the flurry, Quinn seems to have forgotten about my romantic life, but Hanna hasn’t. “So, tell us. Where, when, how—all the deets.”
“I want us to get married right away,” I say.
I mean, we could dispense with the theatrics here, but might as well go through the ritual.
“We’ve known each other a long time, and once we realized how compatible we are, you know?—”
“Sexually?” Preston supplies, and Hanna scrunches her face like she smells something bad.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Once we figured that out, it was like that When Harry Met Sally thing. When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. So I’m going to ask her to marry me, and if you still have that Tobuary wedding date available, we’ll take that.”
“Of course you will,” Tucker mutters.
“Dude,” Rhys says. “Show a little respect here. You’re in the presence of True Love.” He flicks me a glance, as if to say, Isn’t this the most absurd thing you and I have ever heard?
