I put my hand over hers. “You were protecting me.”
She nods, silent.
I squeeze her fingers. “You’re my family. Even if we get boyfriends. Even if we move to different coasts.”
She laughs, but there’s water in her eyes. “We’re so predictable.”
I grin. “Maybe. But we’re alive.”
A silence, companionable. I sense she wants to confide something, so I wait.
She leans forward, voice dropping. “So, I have to tell you something, but you can’t freak out.”
“Uh-oh.”
“It’s not a bad thing. It’s just… I think I have a crush.”
I let out a dramatic gasp. “On whom?”
She hushes me. “Not so loud! Jesus.”
I giggle, but I’m burning to know. “Is it someone I know?”
She nods, lip caught between her teeth. “Not a student. Not a professor. I swear. But older. Like,wayolder.”
“How much older?” I demand, already running through a mental Rolodex of possible suspects.
She giggles, blushing. “Old enough to be my dad. Older than your boyfriend, even. But, like, super hot. Silver fox.”
I nearly spit my coffee. “Stop. Who?”
She waggles her eyebrows. “Promise you won’t judge?”
“Never,” I say, which is the world’s biggest lie.
She glances over her shoulder, as if the subject might appear out of nowhere, then says, “It’s someone you know. Someone you’ve met.”
I lean forward. “Who though?”
“Stella’s dad.”
I squint my eyes.
“Stella from down the hall? But how did you even meet him? I feel like I saw him once from a hundred feet away when he was helping Stella move.”
“Yeah, and he was hot right?”
I nod, blinking.
“Yeah, but Andie. He’s Stella’s dad. Like he has to be at least forty-five, wouldn’t you say?”
She giggles.
“Yeah, probably, but he’s still virile, Sim. Let me tell you, that guy has got it going.”
I stop, mouth open.
“Oh my god, you’ve already had sex with him!”
