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I walk inside and look around. It’s the first time I’ve been to her place since I got back. She leads me into the living room, and I can’t help but admire the built-in bookshelves on the far wall.
At the risk of sounding like an old man, they don’t build them like they used to.
“This is the kind of house I’ve been looking for,” I tell her. I notice a few framed photos propped among the books. Mostly of Mack in distant and exotic locations, but there’s one of her and Emmy at the Harvest Festival that’s probably a couple of years old and another of me and Mack when we were kids.
I kept her at arm’s length, and she kept me close.
I feel like a jerk all of a sudden.
“They go fast,” she says. “But you should hold out for what you want.”
I glance at her. “Why do I feel like you’re speaking in code?”
“No reason.” She shrugs as she gives me a knowing smile. “Except that I think after years of holding out, maybe you actually know what you want.”
I turn away from the photo of Emmy and shove my hands in my pockets. “Where’s this sticking door?”
She plops down onto the sofa.
I stare at her. “There’s no sticking door, is there?”
“Sit.”
“Don’t boss me, Mackenzie.”
“We need to have a heart-to-heart.”
I stare.
She points to the couch.
I sag my head to one side and sigh, looking at the door. I look back at her and see that I’m not going to win this fight.
I do as she says, not because I think I need to obey her but because she’s insufferable when she doesn’t get her way. “First, let’s talk about you and Jace.”
She frowns, “fake innocence” all over her face.
“Don’t lie to me. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she protests, and then, after a pause, “Except. . .he’s really good-looking. I’ve just. . .never, you know. . .noticed it before.”
I’m weirded out. “Jace has been my friend since grade school.”
“Well, what a coincidence. That’s about as long as Emmy’s been my friend.”
I frown and stare.
She frowns and stares back.
“So?”
She quirks a brow. “So, are you going to ask her out, or what?”
Now it’s me feigning innocence. “No,” I protest. “I’m just. . .not dating right now, you know. . .with everything that’s happened.”
She frowns and stares.
I frown and stare right back.
