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Cricket didn’t say,But something bad always happens. Because they both knew that was true, or often true, or could be true. Especially when you were a bad girl like Cricket was, or could be. It didn’t need saying. And it wasn’t helpful. It didn’tservethem, as Liza would surely put it. Liza, who she liked as a person (even though she had married Mako, Cricket’s first—everything—kiss, love, fuck), and whom she also followed on Instagram,andtook her morning yoga class with via livestream on Thursday mornings.Yoga with Liza.Everyday Zen.Wellness and calm are within reach of everyone, no matter how imperfect. Cricket liked that idea. Hoped fervently that it was true.
Joshua climbed off her with a farewell kiss. The back seat was a little cramped for two tall people, and he awkwardly pulled up his jeans and backed out of the door, grinning at her in that way that she loved. Like he was a man who was fully satisfied by just the sight of her.
“Wow,” he said from outside. “This is beautiful.”
She shimmied into her discarded panties, pulled down her skirt and joined him. Itwasbeautiful. The air smelled—green. Fresh and moist, clean and clear. She took it into her lungs.
There were a lot of things about this trip that might not be ideal, but now that they were here, or almost, it seemed like just what they needed. A moment to unplug, to be in “nature,” and with each other—her friends, the man shemaybeloved. Okay, she definitely loved him.Maybehe loved her, too. Maybe she was about to be the one with the ring on her finger, the wedding to plan, the sash that said “Bride” on the bridal party weekend. Hannah would behermaid of honor.Makowould be the one sulking in the corner, drinking too much.
She heard Joshua’s phone buzz.
“You have service!” she said, stupidly thrilled.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. What he saw there made his face darken, brow furrow, eyes go a little dull.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Ugh,” he said, glancing up at her. He suddenly looked stressed, eyebrows meeting in the middle. “Just work stuff. Figures we can’t get service to find our way, but she can always find me.”
She. His boss.
Something about the way he said it caused a little flutter of worry in her stomach. He was such an easygoing, lighthearted guy, but he really seemed to hate his IT job at a big cybersecurity firm. Apparently, his boss was a bit of a tyrant. She was probably some not-hot-anymore middle-aged cougar who wanted Joshua under her thumb because she was secretly into him. But Cricket was just making that up.
Cricket didn’t know much about his work because he didn’t like talking about it. Which she loved because most of the men she’d dated talked about little else. But she knew he was an engineer, that he was responsible for the hardware, that he got called away at all hours when this or that went down with long rides out to a big data center in the middle of nowhere.
I’m basically a computer mechanic, he’d said. Did it seem like he was purposely vague about his work sometimes, changed the subject quickly when it came up? Maybe.
“Don’t answer,” she said. “You’re on vacation.”
He nodded, some of the brightness returning. “You’re right. Yeah, I’ll get back to her in the morning.”
“Or not.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, glanced up at him. “We were going to unplug, right? Everybody is entitled to some actual vacation time. Time not thinking about work.”
He nodded, smiling. “Right. You’re right.”
And then her mouth was on his, soft, gentle.
He pulled away, put a soft hand on her cheek.
“Cricket,” he started, voice throaty. Oh my god. Was he going to say it? She definitely wasn’t going to say it first. She held his gaze, trying to look encouraging. “I think—”
I think I love you.
It wasright there.
But the honking of a horn broke the moment. She lost Joshua’s gaze. Following his eyes, she turned to see a brand-new gleaming black Tesla coming to stop behind them in the shoulder of the road. The Model S, the most expensive, of course.
She’d just ridden in it last week actually. Mako had made sure to show offallits features.
“Look at you two lovebirds,” said Mako climbing out.
As he approached, she noticed big purple circles under his eyes. But still he looked good to her, virile and vital. Cricket felt an unwelcome tug to him. Always did.
She looked in the car for Liza but the passenger seat was empty.
“Hey,” she said, greeting him with a big hug. He felt strong, familiar, safe, like family. Hewasfamily; so was Hannah. They were the family she would have chosen, if she’d had a choice. She used to fantasize when she and Mako were dating in high school about their wedding, how Hannah would be just like a real sister. She imagined Sophia and Leo treating her like a true daughter. Her own family was so—broken. She was the only child of unhappy people who’d had a nasty divorce, and still hated each other a decade later. Toggling between miserable homes, she’d wanted to be part of the Maroni clan so badly. And she was. Just not the way she expected.
