“Ah, no,” she scoffs, waving my help aside. “Moira is incredible. She hasn’t put any sort of time limit on any of the renovations or anything like that.”
“You know I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hold a hammer,” I snort.
“I had to fix that hole in the wall of my old apartment back in college, thank you very much.”
“Didn’t Elijah offer to fix that for you?”
She immediately bristles. “I don’t think so.”
I scrunch my eyebrows at her. “You don’t like him, do you?”
She shrugs noncommittally. “He’s always been a bit of an ass, don’t you think?”
I squint at her.That’s almost word-for-word what Elijah said.“He’s been through some shit,” I say, defending him, and letting the coincidence pass.
“Whatever,” she sighs, whisking faster.
We work in silence, her pouring the batter into cupcake tins and me washing dishes and setting them on her drying rack. We can hear giggles floating down the stairs from Terra as Summer changes her voice for different characters in the book she’s reading. Juliet looks in the direction of the noise with a fond smile on her lips.
“She’s nice,” she says quietly. “I sort of didn’t want to like her, since the relationship is risking your career, but she’s a hard girl to dislike.”
I laugh. “She’s very hard to dislike.”
Juliet puts the cupcakes in the little oven before turning to me, hands on her hips. “You are being careful, aren’t you? With her, your job, everything?”
I let the plate I was washing fall into the soapy water with a dull clunk before turning toward my sister. I understand her concern. If I were someone else, I’d be disgusted by my actions. It’s an abuse of power, and the idea that anyone on the outside might find out what’s happening and assume that I’m taking advantage of Summer makes me sick to my stomach. That’s not what this is. Ilikeher, and I know that she may know that, but outsiders won’t. We’re both consenting adults, but one of us has more power in the relationship than the other.
It’s wrong, and I know it’s wrong. But something has never felt so right to me before. Watching her play with my niece after dinner had weird feelings swirling in my chest, and I have a feeling ‘like’ is dangerously close to turning into something else.
“We’re being careful,” I assure my sister. “I know how it looks. I know it could be something we both regret. It might be a huge mistake, but… I…”
Juliet puts her hand on my arm to comfort me. “Making a bad choice doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person,” she says softly. “We all make mistakes. It’s about how you handle them that shows what kind of person you really are.” A small creaksounds outside the kitchen. Juliet sighs before slowly removing her apron. “I’m going to go make sure Summer was able to get Terra to sleep.” I’m returning to the dishes as she starts to leave the room, but she pauses in the doorway, drawing my attention back to her. “Just for the record, I don’t think she’s a mistake. I think you might love her, and how could love ever be considered a mistake?”
29
SUMMER
I’m pretty sureAsher’s sister hates me.
I overheard her saying to Asher that it’s okay to make mistakes; it’s how you handle them that shows what kind of person you are. It’s easy to assume the ‘mistake’ she was referring to is me.
Juliet had insisted that Asher and I stay in her room, and she’d take the couch while we were visiting. Both of us had tried to refuse, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had come downstairs to see if Asher was ready for bed—it felt weird entering someone else’s room even with their permission—and that’s when I had overheard her.
I’d quickly left feeling ashamed and scared to hear Asher’s response.
Juliet woke the house with pancakes that were probably the best I’d ever tasted and informed everyone we were going to the beach.
Sitting in the sand feels weird when Christmas is just a few days away. The sun is out, and I’m hiding under an umbrella for fear of sunburn. In December. It’s weird. Yet oddly enjoyable. It’s something I could get used to.
Juliet’s in high-waisted jean shorts over a one-piece swimsuit, and her dark hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. Asher wears cargo shorts and a dark blue T-shirt, which is weird to see him in anything but his button-ups. And I settled for a blue polka-dotted sundress and strappy sandals. I’d had to dig into the back of my closet, where my summer clothes were packed away, to prepare for this trip.
Asher’s building sandcastles as fast as he can so that Terra can stomp through them like a giant monster. He makes tiny screams for help, and Terra cackles maniacally.
Honestly, it’s really cute. It makes me want to reconsider my opinion on having kids, but being around for Terra’s full-blown tantrum this morning was pretty off-putting.
But kids are cute from a distance. And watching Asher with his niece puts a warm, gooey feeling in my belly. He scoops up Terra and swings her around, making her screech out a laugh. Everything feels softer and lighter here than it does back home. Maybe it’s just because we don’t have to hide how we feel here. We don’t have to drive half an hour out of the way just to have dinner together. There’s a small part of me that wants to stay here forever.
Juliet plops down beside me, while Asher chases Terra down the beach. I can still hear her daughter babbling away and Asher laughing in response, but their voices are muffled by the distance.
