Which is ridiculous. We were tipsy, teasing each other like we had been friends for years. And that’s the problem. It was easy. Too easy.
Everett is funny without trying to be. Confident, but not cocky. The kind of man who listens when people talk, and actually seems interested in what they are saying.
Watching him joke around with Henry last night, laughing with my sisters, it felt natural.
Comfortable.
And that alone makes my chest tighten.
Because the last man who made things feel easy ended up tearing my confidence apart piece by piece.
Ryan started sweet, too. Flowers. Coffee. Lunch dropped off at school when we were both buried in assignments.
He used to look at me like I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Then slowly the comments started. And even now, years later, sometimes when I look in the mirror, I still hear his voice.Does that ever go away?
I shake the thought away and check the oven. Not tonight, tonight is girls’ night.
And girls’ night means snacks, wine, and early 2000s rom-com movies.
Right on cue, there’s a knock at my door.
“Door’s open!” I yell.
Lily steps inside first. Rose and Daphne follow behind her, carrying so many grocery bags it’s as if they are preparing for a natural disaster.
“Please tell me you baked something,” Rose says, closing the door.
“Please tell me you didn’t buy the entire snack aisle again,” I say back. “And of course I baked. I made fresh sourdough bread and brown butter chocolate chip cookies.”
Rose drops three bags onto my kitchen table. “I panicked, everything looked so good.”
Daphne pulls out items one by one.
“Birthday cake popcorn,” she reads aloud.
Rose nods proudly.
“White chocolate pretzels and three kinds of chips,” Daphne adds.
“I like options,” Rose declares.
“Oh my god, what is that delicious smell?” Lily asks.
“Brown butter chocolate chip cookies,” I say.
“I’m so happy my sister loves to bake,” Rose says, as she scoops a piece of dough and eats it.
“If I get salmonella, at least I’ll die happy,” she says, making her way to the couch.
Daphne laughs and sits beside Rose.
As Lily leans against the counter, I notice her giving me a look, like she wants to talk about something, and I am pretty sure I know what it is.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she says.
