Page 83 of Wild Thorns

I thought about it. Actually thought, instead of deflecting.

Happy. Such a simple word for such a complicated thing. I thought about waking up to the magnolia tree outside my window. About the way Jasper laughed. About Callum's silent vigilance. About Eli's careful questions.

About feeling, for the first time in years, like I might actually be running toward something instead of away.

"Yes," I said. "That's the confusing part. I'm happier than I've been in years."

"Then let it be a problem later."

"That's your advice?"

"My advice is to stop trying to figure everything out and just feel what you feel." Her voice held that blatant savvy that came from years of friendship, from knowing each other's worst and best. "You've spent years not trusting yourself because Marcus made you doubt everything. Every instinct, every desire, every choice. Maybe it's time to start trusting yourself again."

I didn't say anything. My throat felt tight.

"You're allowed to want things," Tara said. "You're allowed to not have it all figured out. You're allowed to be messy, complicated, and human."

"What if I hurt someone? What if I'm already hurting them?"

"Then you deal with it when it happens. But you don't preemptively destroy your own happiness just because it might get complicated." A pause. "That's what Marcus would want, you know. For you to be so afraid of doing wrong that you never let yourself do anything at all."

The words hit somewhere deep, somewhere I'd been trying to protect.

"When did you get so wise?" I asked, aiming for lightness and missing.

"I've always been this wise. You just never listen."

"I'm listening now."

"Good," I heard her set down her wineglass. "So here's what you're going to do. You're going to stay in that weird little town with those weird hot brothers. You're going to let yourself feel whatever you feel without judging it. And you're going to call me immediately when something interesting happens, because I'm emotionally invested now."

"Something interesting?"

"Like when you find out why none of them seem to care about sharing you. Because that's not typical, babe. There's something going on there."

She wasn't wrong. I'd been trying not to think about it, the strangeness of their acceptance, the way they orbited around me without ever colliding with each other. It made little sense. Jasper interrupting Callum getting chummy at the festival, that had made sense. I hadn’t encountered anything else like that with them, but then… I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with Jasper about my “moment” with Eli. But Eli knew. Eli had to know Jasper and I were a thing, didn’t he?

Unless I had missed something? Was there something else I was missing?

"I love you," Tara said. "Call me when things get weirder. Because they're going to get weirder."

"You sound very certain about that."

"I'm always certain. That's my brand."

I laughed again, and this time it felt more real. "Goodnight, Tara."

"Goodnight, disaster. Try not to fall for any more brothers before our next call."

She hung up before I could respond.

I sat there for a long moment, phone in my hand, staring at the ceiling. Outside, the moon was bright through the window. Somewhere in the distance, I heard it again, that sound that had become almost familiar. The howling from the preserve, rising and falling like a song.

I should have found it eerie. Instead, I felt accompanied. Like whatever was out there in the darkness knew I was listening.

She was right. She was always right.

Things were about to get much, much weirder.