“You are the worst liar, Maeve Rosaline O’Martin.” Arabella shakes her head.
“Well, now they’ve gotten in touch I might tell them.”
“Oh,nowyou might?”
“Don’t tease me.” I push her shoulder and she moves her wine glass to make sure it doesn’t spill.
“I’m not teasing.” Arabella sets the glass down. “I just want you to admit what’s going on here. You have feelings for Loncey. Big feelings. And that’s okay, Maeve. In fact, it’s a fucking good thing.”
“Then why does it feel so…not good?” I bring my hands to my stomach which honesty hasn’t felt settled in weeks.
“Ahh, now we’re getting to the heart of the matter. You’re lovesick.”
“That sounds ridiculous,” I say with a roll of my eyes. It also sounds very accurate.
“You love them but you don’t know if they love you. You love them but you can’t see a way for you to be together. You love them but you miss them so much it hurts.”
I blink at my best friend and all my walls come crashing down. “Something like that,” I admit.
Much to my relief, Arabella doesn’t jump on my confession but instead levels me with a kind look that is full of love. “Oh, Maeve. I’m so sorry, but I’m also so happy for you.”
“That I’m in pain?”
“No, that you’re in love and that there’s a strong chance they feel exactly the same.”
“Where do you get that idea?”
“From everything you told me about Vegas. From the way they kissed you for hours without even discussing doing more. From the way they just sent you a superfluous message about your star sign. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that they likely have big feelings for you too.”
“And yet they haven’t been in touch,” I point out.
“But you didn’t contact them!”
I pout at Bella. “Because they live on the other side of the world!”
“Yeah.” Arabella sucks in a breath through her teeth. “That part is a bit annoying, but you could live anywhere, Maeve. Fuck, I would hate to see you leave, but you know that you can do your work from anywhere and you already travel so much, it’s not like much would change.”
“But Marty and Jenna are about to have a baby…”
“True,” Arabella nods. Then she leans a little closer to me. “And I say this with all the love in the world, for you and for them. But that is their life. That’s their little family they’re creating. Don’t you deserve a chance to have your own little unit of love?”
“Unit of love? Jesus Christ,” I mutter in a scathing tone.
“Look me in the eye and tell me that’s not what you want,” Bella tells me, and while I do hold her eye contact, I don’t say anything.
“Thought as much. So go on.” She nods at my phone on the table between us.
“Go on, what?”
“Message them and ask to see them in LA and promise me, for the love of all that is holy, when you do see them, you will tell them how you feel.”
“I don’t like to make promises I can’t keep,” I say as I lift my phone.
“Then make it andkeepit.”
“I promise you I will see if Loncey can make it to LA. And I promise I will talk to them,” I say carefully.
“About you two being together, one way or another, yes?”
