Page 47 of Love Everlasting

Shannon blinked. “Really? He didn’t mention it, but knowing Sam’s aversion to church, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Cat actually stopped popping her line. “Our Dr. Love? In a church building? Wow, Shan, if he’s even thinking about it, then you have made some progress.”

“Yeah, we have,” Shannon said quietly.

Lacey glanced her way. Too quietly. She zeroed in on the sudden slump of Shannon’s shoulders and the way her rod remained still, not popping once while her gaze trailed into a sad stare over the water. Stomach lurching, Lacey laid a hand on her friend’s arm, her voice as gentle as this woman she loved. “Shan?”

Shannon didn’t answer, and Lacey leaned forward to peer into her face. That’s all it took for a sheen of tears to glaze Shannon’s eyes. Dropping her rod on the dock, Lacey shot up from her chair to give Shannon a tight hug. “Oh, honey, what’s wrong?”

Cat froze, rod suspended as she glanced over her shoulder. “Shan?”

“I … I …” Voice quivering, Shannon calmly placed her rod on the dock and then crumpled into Lacey’s arms, body heaving as her words choked from her throat.

Words Lacey had never wanted to hear.

“I … think I’m in love with him …” Shannon said, fluid and grief congesting her tone.

“Oh, Lord, no, please—” Cat’s rod clattered onto the wood as she rushed to squat beside Lacey, hands trembling while she stroked Shannon’s hair.

“Oh, honey, are you sure?” Lacey whispered, hoping against hope that it was just a crush and not something that would “crush” Shannon’s spirit.

Shannon nodded as she pulled away, swiping her arm across her face to mop up the tears.

Furiously fumbling into the pocket of her jean shorts, Lacey handed Shannon a slightly used tissue, the one weepy benefit of possible infertility—she always had tissues on hand.

“Come on, Shan,” Cat said with a plea in her eyes, “you’ve only been friends with the guy for a little over two months. How on earth can you be so sure you’re in love?”

Shannon blew her nose hard, then rewadded and dabbed at her eyes, voice nasal. “Because s-suddenly the only time I’m h-happy anymore is when I’m with him, Cat, and when I’m not?” She hiccupped and sagged back in the chair, gaze wandering into another dead stare. “He’s all I think about. I have no interest in food, my friends, my writing—”

A low groan scraped from Cat’s throat as she slumped onto the dock, head in her hands. “Nooo, not your writing too! That’s what happened with El Jerko.”

Shannon grunted. “Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m so sure I’m either in love with the idiot or well on my way.”

Cat jumped up. “Oh, no—not if I have anything to say about it, sweet cheeks.” Hands on her hips, she glared down at her sister. “You’re either going to ditch this friendship first thing or cave on that stupid no-dating policy of yours, because you are not going to go through another heartbreaker like this—I can’t take it!”

“You can’t take it?” Lacey said a lift of her brows. “It was Shannon who lost a year of her life, Catfish, as I recall.”

“Yeah, Carbuncle, and I suffered right along with her—major. After all, we share the same blood, the same DNA, the same brains—”

“The same sweet personality?” Lacey hiked a brow.

Cat’s blue eyes thinned considerably, lips twitching in sparring mode. “Somebody’s gotta bring up the rear in this family, Carmichael, between Doc Brilliant and Mother Teresa here, so I’m just doing my job.”

“And an excellent one at that, Catherine Marie, I assure you, but must I remind you—again—that I am now an O’Bryen, not Carmichael or Carbuncle.”

Cat squinted while she aimed a peanut at her best friend. “Sorry, Lace. You’ll always be a crusty carbuncle to me, sister-in-law or no.”

“Mother Teresa??” Shannon said in a hoarse voice, a hint of a smile in her tone as she lasered Cat with a look worthy of her twin. “I should be so lucky, then I’d be long gone from this mess I’m in, totally content in the arms of God.”

“But you’re in the arms of God now, Shan,” Lacey said softly, hope pumping through her veins over the only thing that would get Shannon through. She ducked her head to peer up into her sister-in-law’s red-rimmed eyes, peace suddenly flooding her soul. “I don’t know if you’re in love with Sam Cunningham or not, Shan, but I do know that God will get you through if you are. And you’ll come out on the other side stronger, happier, and more blessed than you’ve ever been before, and we’ll be right there beside you, cheering you on.”

A smile trembled to Shannon’s lips as she squeezed Lacey’s hand. “Thanks, Lace. I do know that, and I can promise you it’s the only thing that’s keeping me afloat.”

“Good,” Cat said with a thrust of her chin, “because I’m getting ready to throw you a floatie, sis, and so help me, you’re gonna take it or I’ll make your life miserable.”

“You mean more than now?” Shannon asked in an innocent tone, her serious expression causing Cat to go stock-still. “Gotcha,” Shannon said with that sweet smile that Lacey loved, slipping off her chair into a squat next to her sister. “You are my other self, Catherine Marie,” she whispered, her soggy look a mirror reflection of her sister’s as she brushed a stray hair from Cat’s face, “the best half of the whole.”

Cat was a stoic, so seldom had Lacey ever seen tears in her eyes, but she saw them now, bright and shiny as she clung to her sister in a ferocious hug. “I love you, Shan, with everything in me,” she whispered, “and so help me, God, I will gut any guy like a catfish who ever hurts you again, you got that?”