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“That’s great,” I said, squeezing her hand. No matter what happened between us romantically, I still did want to be there for her as a friend would.
“Some days are better than others, and we celebrate and cherish the ones that are better,” she said.
“That’s beautiful,” I said, almost wanting to cry.
“My sister Alice is coming up to visit next weekend with her husband and kids. It will be nice to see my nieces and nephews.”
“How many nieces and nephews do you have?” I was going to keep asking questions about her family as long as she was going to answer them.
“Hold on,” she said, counting in her head. “I have eleven. It’s a lot when they’re all in the same place. We went to Disney one year and it was a nightmare,” she said, laughing.
“Oh my god, I can’t even imagine.” That was like a million kids.
“It was fun though,” she said. “My back was hurting for weeks because I gave so many piggyback rides.”
She told me more about her siblings, and how they’d grown up. I got the impression her family was close but had drifted apart.
“I really try to get everyone together, but it’s nearly impossible to have us all in the same place at the same time with work and everything.”
“Well, hopefully they’ll all come see the inn and see the work you’ve been doing.” Someone in her family should give her some credit for what she’d done.
“You’re sweet,” she said, kissing the back of my hand.
I wished there was some way I could help organize her family together, but that was definitely overstepping.
“Well, I’m sure you got enough of being with my family this weekend,” I said with a laugh.
“They are a lot, but they’re all good people and they love each other,” she said. “I see a lot of family feuds, that’s for sure.”
I bet she did. Weddings could bring out the best and worst in people simultaneously.
“I have another wedding next weekend, but it’s a lot smaller. Less than twenty guests, and they all seem very reserved. It will be a nice relief. Plus, they wanted everything super simple, so we’re actually just doing it in the dining room.”
We reached the end of the trail and turned around to go back, my hand still in hers.
* * *
“I’ll just eat lasagna again,” she said when we reached my apartment.
“You don’t have to. I can make us something else,” I said.
“You don’t have to do that. Unless you wanted to save it.”
“No, I made it for you,” I said. “You can have as much as you want.” She could eat the entire pan if she wanted.
“You don’t know how much lasagna I can eat,” she said with a laugh.
“I’m looking forward to finding out.”
* * *
Alivia ate three pieces of lasagna, barely pausing to breathe.
“Okay, that is impressive.” I clapped for her, and she rolled her eyes.
“I should get back and check on the inn,” she said as we dealt with the plates.
“Okay,” I said, even though my heart fell. It wasn’t fair of me to beg her to stay even longer, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to.
