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“Hey, Z.” My brother offers Z a quick handshake.
“Trick or treat!” Chance shouts, waving his bucket around. “Where’s my candy?”
“Chance,” Z warns.
Alex scratches his head like he has no idea what my son’s talking about. “Candy? First, you have to show me your costume. What are you?”
“A wolf-mer-jack.” Chance pulls a tiny plastic ax out of his pumpkin bucket and shakes the fuzzy ears on his head.
Alex tosses me a skeptical look and I shrug. “He wanted to be a big, bad wolfanda lumberjack.”
“Grace is red hood,” Chance adds.
“Hope’s daughter,” I remind Alex in case he doesn’t remember who Grace is. “She’s going to be Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Ah, I get it.” Alex nods. “Cute.”
“Hey.” A softer, feminine voice greets us.
I look past my brother, into the living room.
Sophie.
What the hell?
I haven’t seen my ex-best friend in…I try to do the math. Four years? Five? A large chunk of the past few years of my life remains clouded. Pieces of my history I’ve put behind me and prefer not to examine too closely.
Sadness weighs on my heart. We were the best of friends growing up. Every crazy adventure we went on together. All the times we got into trouble with our parents for not being “good girls.” The boys we cried over in high school. The road trips when we got our licenses. Every moment comes rushing back to me.
With those memories comes a truth that’s hard to admit to myself. I didn’t like the person I was back then. The acting out was a reaction to overly strict, cruel parents who made me feel worthless. We bonded over the pain of not quite fitting into our families.
Alex moves closer to Sophie and takes her hand.
My stomach rolls. Obviously, she didn’t stop by for a candy bar. They’re…something.
Together.
When we were kids, Sophie had a crush on Alex. She spent a lot of time trying to capture his attention. Supposedly they had a fling in college but since they wanted two very different things in life, it didn’t last.
Priorities change.I know that better than anyone.
I slip my hand into Z’s, and he gives it a reassuring squeeze. I certainly never planned to find myself wildly in love with and married to a biker.
Alex clears his throat. “I wanted to tell you. But not over the phone,” he begins.
So you thought ambushing me was a good idea?
I force what I hope looks like a genuine smile. “Tell me what?”
Sophie stares up at my brother and he flashes an affectionate smile at her. “We’ve been seeing each other for a while,” Sophie finally says.
Seeing each other? It’s more than that. She’s clearly comfortable enough in my brother’s house to run around in nothing but one of his over-sized T-shirts.
Don’t be catty.
“That’s great. I’m so happy for you guys.”Dammit, Lilly. Can’t you sound more sincere than that?
Sophie’s face breaks into a smile and she steps forward to embrace me. “Thank you,” she whispers against my hair.
