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“What?” I barked. “You like El.”
“Love her. Winner. Totally not a cunt-a-saurus. But you just lost me twenty bucks.”
“What?” I startled, choking on my saliva.
“When she moved out of state and Sarah moved in, I thought you wrote the whole thing off. Last summer, your dad swore up, down, and sideways you were ‘looking after Miss McShane,’” the air quotes in her voice were irrefutable, “in order to make a move on Elly. I told him the ship had sailed, but he insisted you two would finally get together this year.”
“Woah, woah, woah, who said anything about getting together?”
“Because grown men regularly fly four-thousand miles away to see a platonic friend? I don’t think so,” Dad supplied, voice high like he was still laughing to himself.
“I fly to see Rhyett all the time,” I argued.
“And is that what this is, son?” Dad pressed. “Flying to see a friend?”
Throat thick, I admitted, “Not this time.”
A smacking sound amputated dad’s victorious laugh, followed by harder laughter.
“Mom, did you just five-star Dad?”
“That’s neither here nor there?—”
“Right on the ass,” Dad protested through his rumbling humor, but my mother carried on like he hadn’t said a word.
“I’m happy for you, baby.”
“Well, don’t run off getting too excited. We’re just…feeling this out, seeing where it can go.” Understatement of the year award goes to… “I haven’t gotten to talk to the guys about it yet.”
“Don’t wait too long on that front, son. Jameson especially won’t take well to you hiding this from him. Rhy… he’ll get on board as soon as he processes it.”
“Very astute,” I said flatly, heart heavy, knowing I’d already let it go on too long. “We’re going to tell them together at Christmas.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Dad said sagely.
“As much as I want the whole scoop, sweetie, we’ve got to run. We were just in port for a quick stop and hunted down some internet with our food to give you a buzz. We have to head back toward the ship.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll fill you guys in when you’re back.”
“Sounds good, sweetie. Give Elly our love.”
“Will do. Love you guys.”
“Love you too,” they said in unison, smiles dripping from their tones. Albeit Dad’s was a little more obvious. The line clicked off, and I was still shaking my head when I came back into the room, feet stuttering to a halt when I spotted El bracing her head in her hands.
She rubbed tight little circles into her temples and didn’t look up as I closed the gap. Cautiously, I crouched beside her chair and asked, “What’s up, baby girl?”
She took a very long, unhurried breath before softly telling the tabletop, “Decision fatigue, I think. I’m just… very overwhelmed.”
“With the show?”
“With… life. I think? Too many choices needing to be made and time is of the essence.”
“Well, I do evaluate human nature for a living. Maybe I can help.”
“You’re one of the decisions,” she mumbled into her palms, voice cracking as my stomach dropped.
“Okay. Well. Especially then, I’d like to be a sounding board.”
