AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But…”
“But I’m…we’ve been friends for a long time…”
“Yes we have.” I got up to chase down Shawn, who’d started to wander away.
“I don’t want to have to pick sides,” she continued when I got back.
“Why would you have to?”
“I wanted to talk to you before, but Malcolm told me to stay out of it. I just—”
“You’re worried about what happens if we don’t work out,” I answered, sensing her hesitation.
She nodded in response.
“You won’t have to pick sides, Macy.”
“How can you say that? He’s my brother. You’re like a sister to me. There will be tension. And with you moving in with him, someone would have to leave—”
“Whoa…what? I’m not moving in with him.”
Macy gave me a frown. “What do you mean? That’s why he bought that house. That was the whole point.”
Shawn started squirming in my arms trying to get free again. I buckled him back into the stroller. “Mal and I have talked, and we agreed to take things slow. I need it that way. Besides, he doesn’t even know if he got the house yet.” I pulled out the to-go container of cereal and poured a few on the tray of Shawn’s stroller.
“Yeah, he does. He found out yesterday, but since you two didn’t talk guess you wouldn’t have known.”
There was a bit of edge in her voice. I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me or at Malcolm. Either way, I chose to ignore it.
“Almost done?” I looked over at London whose eyes were closing as she sucked on her bottle.
“Yeah, she’ll be out in a few.”
“You wanna just go?”
“No. Shawn is still up, and we haven’t let him feed the giraffes yet.”
She buckled London back into her stroller, and we headed out. We talked about random things on the way, I could tell she wasn’t completely satisfied with the end of our conversation, but I was glad she wasn’t pushing.
Shawn was excited to get up close to the giraffes. Macy took a cute picture of us that I sent to my parents. By the time we finished, it was almost two, and I realized I’d still not heard from Malcolm. Not even a text. My thoughts were at odds over that fact. It wasn’t like I needed him to call me every day, but part of me worried his lack of communication stemmed from guilt. Yes, he went to Macy’s last night, but what went on before then?
“I’m hungry and rather not eat here. Let’s go get some lunch,” Macy said.
I put my phone away and shook off those wandering thoughts. “Sounds good.”
“Do me a favor,” she said as we walked toward the front gate.
“Sure thing.”
“Don’t talk about the sex. The idea of my brother is too…ew. I don’t think I could handle it.”
My first reaction was to say there wouldn’t be any sex to talk about, but stopped myself. It was easier to play along.
“But Macy,” I replied, forcing a laugh, “you’ve always wanted to know about my sex life. I will have to share. I mean, what if he knows cool tricks from those fancy French women or something.”
She made a gagging motion that made me laugh hysterically. Shawn joined in on the laughter. As she walked toward her car, I thought about what she’d said. I’d not even thought about the ramifications when things didn’t work out with Mal and me. I didn’t want to lose my friend over this, nor did I want to be the cause of another rift in their family.
~~~~~~~~~~~
