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My eyes go to the round gray dog, and I’m hit with a punch of rightness to see Pig so happy, her body and tail wiggling in joy as she plays.
“Dash! Luna and Charlie are here!” Paige calls out as we linger on the porch.
Dash lets the ropes drop, then scoops up a tennis ball and sends it flying. As the dogs sprint after the new distraction, my brother makes his escape, jogging over to us.
“Hey.” He wraps me in a hug, and I smell motor oil on his clothes. I wonder if that scent is ingrained in his skin now. “Want to say hi to Pig?”
“Definitely.” I follow him, crouching low when the chunky puppy lumbers up to me. “Hey, girl.” I scratch her just under the chin, and she snuffles my shirt. “Miss me?”
I take her doggy grin as a yes.
Charlie and I decided us taking a trip to New Orleans to pick up Pig made more sense than asking Paige to transport her. This way, we can also share the awkward news of our nuptials.
“Time to go inside and eat,” Paige calls out. I give Pig a final pat, toss a squeaky toy across the yard, then follow everyone inside.
There are plenty of places to sit, but I gravitate toward the loveseat where Charlie settled, dropping onto the cushion beside him. When I turn my head, I find him staring down at me, and I offer him a tight smile. This next bit is about to get awkward. Might as well eat before we drop our bomb. I dig into the finger foods Paige arranged on the coffee table.
For a stretch, Dash and Paige talk me through the steps I’ll take for Pig’s adoption, but none of that is complicated, and soon the conversation turns to Charlie and me. Here together.
“Your job doesn’t mind you taking another trip so soon after our wedding?” Paige fiddles with a tortilla chip as she stares at her friend. “I’ve been wanting to visit Luna in Nashville too. But Dash and I have to earn some more PTO.”
Charlie flicks his eyes to me, and I see the message in them.
Time to start easing into the big news.
“The thing is, I quit my job.” There’s a strained note under his normally easy manner.
“What?” Paige yelps.
“Yeah.” Charlie has the grace to appear chagrined as he meets his best friend’s eyes. “It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. And I guess I wanted to tell you when I had a better idea of my next step.”
My fake husband glances at me again, and we both know his next step is going to be the real shocker of the evening.
“That’s ridiculous. I called you when Martin screwed me over, I had no job, and I was drowning my sorrows by watching a continuous stream of baking shows at my parents’ house. You do not need to have your life together to tell me what’s going on in it.” Paige points my way with a dramatic flourish. “And you told Luna!”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Charlie props his elbows on his knees. “Luna offered me a place to stay.”
Roommates is one way to present our new arrangement.
A bout of surprised silence blankets Paige and Dash as the couple glances between us. Then my sister-in-law grins wide, her entire demeanor flipping like a switch.
“You’re living together! That’s fantastic.” Paige turns her attention to me. “Dash thought you would bite Charlie’s head off. But I knew you would be friends.”
“Why’s that?” I can’t help doubting her assumption.
“Because Charlie is friends with everyone. Strangers on the street. The person he sits next to on a plane. The lady behind him in the grocery line.”
“I still could have bitten his head off,” I point out.
“Maybe.” Paige doesn’t seem convinced. “But you’re loyal. And you love me now, and you know Charlie is one of my only friends. I knew you’d try, which means he’d win you over.”
Another silence falls over the room as Charlie grins at me, and I process my sister-in-law’s odd way of speaking. Paige does that. Just offers bald honesty.
And damn, is she perceptive.
Originally, I didn’t get off to a great start with my sister-in-law. Mainly because I only learned about Paige when she and Dash were dealing with a rough part of their relationship.
But since then, the woman has gotten as close to me as I’ll let people get, and I realize she’s right. When I first met Charlie, I knew how important he was to Paige, which is one of the reasons I was a nicer version of myself than I tend to be around strangers.
