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“It’s kind of nice to be here and not have to do any work for once.” Shannon winked.
Dax looked up from the grill. “I bet.”
“I know this is a party for high schoolers, so I assume there’s no booze?” she asked.
Morgan held her arms up in the air. “Are you kidding? How do you have a party for high schoolers without any booze to help the adults get through it? I have a secret stash in this cooler right here. What can I get you, Shannon?”
“Any white wine?”
“You got it.” Morgan turned to me. “Would you like some wine, too? I also have beer and wine coolers.”
“White wine would be great.”
Morgan grabbed a couple of red Solo cups and poured us each some Chardonnay. I guess she was officially the hostess of this party.
“Want to take these over to that table and sit?” Shannon asked me.
“Sure,” I said, grateful for the excuse to leave this particular spot.
Shannon chose a table right next to one of the heaters. After we sat down, she said, “I love the story of how you surprised Rafe.”
“Yeah. It was fun to do that.”
“I know he missed you.”
“He actually told me he wished I’d come home. I’d been planning to stay maybe another six months, but once he said that, I had to come back.”
“Your relationship with him has only grown since you went away.”
“It’s kind of hard to believe, but I have to agree.”
She looked over her shoulder and lowered her voice. “And you deserve an Academy Award for putting on a smile over there.” A look of concern crossed her face.
Shannon and I had never discussed my past with Dax, but I knew he’d told her everything. She was his confidante, and it was a relief to know someone understood my struggle right now.
“It’s not easy, but I need to adapt to this new normal. For Rafe.” I sipped my wine. “And Dax is happy, right? That’s what matters to me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Do you really feel that way, Wren? You can be honest with me. Anything Dax says to me stays with me. And I will offer you the same discretion if you’d like to vent right now. No matter what you’re telling me, I know seeing him with her can’t be easy.”
I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. “You’re right.” I let out the breath I’d been holding. “It’s not easy at all.”
She pursed her lips sympathetically. “I figured as much.”
Running my finger along my Solo cup, I asked, “Do you like her? Morgan?”
She sighed and looked toward where Dax was grilling. “I will say this,” she told me softly. “I do think he’s happy. He’s very calm around her. But you see, that’s not necessarily a positive sign. When things were happening between you two a few years ago, he was the opposite of calm. He was tense, dysregulated…but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I feel like when you’re passionate about someone, you’re not calm at all. You’re bouncing off the walls from adrenaline. You’re calm when you’ve…settled.” She waved her hand. “Anyway, my opinion doesn’t mean anything in the end. And I certainly have not expressed my opinion to him. Lately I try not to interfere in his personal life unless he asks me for advice or brings up the subject himself.”
I tilted my head. “You didn’t answer my question about whether you liked her, though.”
She once again looked over to where Morgan was talking and laughing in the distance. “I think she’s okay. That’s how I feel. I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. She’s respectful to me. But…” She hesitated. “A couple of things have rubbed me the wrong way.”
I leaned in. “Like what?”
“I’ll give you an example,” she said. “I happened to be cleaning up one night when I heard her talking to him about taking Maren’s photo down. You know, the one in the foyer where she’s wearing the wedding dress. He immediately refused. I was proud of him for not considering it. I mean, how disrespectful would that be to Rafe? That’s his mother. The only mother he ever knew. Why would anyone want to take her photo down?”
My blood felt like it was boiling. “What was her rationale? Why did she want him to do that?”
“Well, she said something like, ‘The house needs a new aura.’ That enough time had gone by and if he wanted to start anew, he needed to let go of the past.”
I shook my head. “That’s insane to me, Shannon. Maren is dead. How could Morgan possibly feel threatened by her—because that’s what it’s really about.”
“Of course, it is. I know. It’s insane to me, too.” She sighed. “But like I said, he seems happy overall, and I haven’t wanted to rock the boat.”
