The screen door creaks behind us, and Maggie steps outside, thankfully chasing away that cringe-worthy thought.
“Grayson down?” Bear asks over his shoulder.
She nods. “It took a while.” Then she shoots daggers at me. “He didn’t want to go to bed, knowing Uncle Lark is here.”
My sister-in-law always speaks her mind. And gets her way. The fact that she’s one of few people who can stand up to Mom is one of the things I love most about her.
“Sorry,” I say, meaning it. “I should’ve called.”
“You’re welcome here any time,” Bear says, giving his wife a quelling look before grinning back at me. “You’re family.”
Maggietsks.“Of course you are.” She reaches for my beer, and I hand it over. Before the bottle meets her lips, she says, “Just give us a heads up if you’re coming right at bedtime.”
When she hands the bottle back to me, I offer her a rueful smile. “Believe me, Mags, I wasn’t planning on imposing on y’all like this.” I look down at the floorboards beneath us. “Zoe had other ideas.”
Maggie crosses her arms over her chest. “Well, you know the price of crashing on the couch.”
I play dumb and nod toward my two-month-old neice. “Taking diaper detail at three a.m.?”
“That too,” Maggie says without missing a beat. “But first, you have to spill.”
Behind her Bear wears a shit-eating grin and that ridiculous look of adoration in his eyes. I sigh. I guess there’s no way of getting out of this. Despite the lectures that might come my way.
“We want different things. That’s all.”
It’s the truth, if not the detailed truth. The fact is, I want to stay single, and Zoe wants, to quote her verbatim, “the last three years of my life back.”
Maggie frowns. “I don’t understand. Y’all are always so great together. What does she want that you don’t?”
I stifle a groan. “C’mon, Mags. It’s not like I’ve ever kept it a secret.”
“Oh, yourI’m never getting marriedB.S?”
My chuckle is half-bitter, half-amused. “It’s not B.S. if I mean it.”
Maggie rolls her eyes. “Sure. Whatever. So, what? Zoe got tired of hearing you say it?”
I pull in a deep inhale. Actually, I think my girlfriend—ex-girlfriend now—may have finally heard what I’ve been saying since we first met.
“Something like that.” I blow out my breath. “Wish she would have done it sooner.”
“Well, moving in with her probably wasn’t the best way to convince her you’re destined for a life of solitude,” Bear quips.
“Now you sound like Mom. I don’t wantsolitude.Can’t two people live together and just…be… without a societally imposed contractual obligation or church sanctioning?”
“No,” Bear and Maggie answer at the same time.
Smirking, I shake my head at them. “You know, not everyone finds their soulmate in ninth grade.”
As if this is their cue, Maggie lowers herself onto the arm of Bear’s rocker and he lays a hand over her knee. Both of them are grinning like fools.
“So, what you’re saying is Zoe isn’t your soulmate,” Maggie says.
I groan. I don’t actually believe in soulmates. Mates, yes. Partners, sure. But if I admit that to Bear and Maggie, I may have to sleep out here on the porch, and the mosquitos are starting to come out.
“I take that as a yes.” Sourness drips from Maggie’s words.
I shake my head. “Look, for most people, it’s just not that simple.” I drag my fingers through my hair, marking my frustration. “Things haven’t really been the same since I got back from Summer Field Camp.”
