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“Mom, is this about me or about you and Dad?”
“No, not about him. Not even about you really. Just about me and not knowing what I was going to do when I was your age. If I hadn’t had you girls, if I hadn’t separated from your father, I don’t know if I’d ever have found direction. I only started this business so I could provide for you girls.”
“I know,” said Brielle. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” she said. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. You’re a smart woman and a good person. Thankyou, Bri.” She went silent as Brielle stood back up, shuffling the papers now that the gust of wind had died down. “See you this weekend.”
Brielle’s phone buzzed again. Gavin was practically screaming at her in text form to answer already. She chuckled. “See you, Mom,” she said. “Thanks for the invite.” She hung up and sighed. She was mere feet from Archer’s door, but she really wasn’t going to get there at this rate.
What? Sorry. Busy. Papers flying everywhere. Mom having epiphany.
Off work and about to shag hot comic guy?replied Lilac.
Oh, thought Brielle. It was a group text.
Basically, she typed back.Why, your dorky mascot still in his costume and you’re trying to fill the time while he gets his handler to get him unstuck?
Shut up, answered Lilac, but she added a smiling emoji.No one gets him out of his costume but me.Brielle was glad things were better with her after what she’d been through earlier that summer. Glad things were settling down for her. While she never would have thought Lilac would find him a pleasing prospect from what she’d heard about him, this guy she’d hooked up with down in Florida… He seemed to give Lilac something she’d been missing. Something she needed.
Okay, dirty ladies,typed Gavin.Can we move on, please? I gathered you here today for a very important announcement.
How are we ‘gathered’ anywhere exactly?asked Lilac, but Gavin ignored her.
First… Pembroke has something to say.
Pembroke was lurking in the conversation, as quiet in the chat as she would have been had they been gathered in real life.
A bar appeared to indicate she was typing, but she sure took her time.
I think I’m in love,she wrote.
No one responded for a bit. Then the screen exploded with questioning emoji.
How?asked Lilac.I thought you said you weren’t into romance.
She isn’t intosex,said Gavin.Big difference.
Maybe for you,typed Lilac. She paused.Told you you just hadn’t found the one, Pem.
That’s not how it works, responded Gavin.Lilac, open your mind already.
Brielle shook her head and readjusted her butt against the hood of the van so she was sitting on the pile and it couldn’t escape her.Guys, she typed,can we let Pembroke talk please?
She took a little while to respond.I still don’t want sex, she wrote.But I don’t know… I kind of like kissing. Maybe someday. Maybe with them.
“Them”?asked Gavin.
Shell-shocked, Brielle immediately thought of some sort of ménage à trois.
Pembroke didn’t answer. Archer chose that moment to continue his own text conversation with her.Where are you?he asked.I’m getting worried.
In the parking lot, Brielle typed back quickly.Be right there.
I told you she was gay, said Lilac in her other conversation.Oh, so not two people, maybe just withholding the gender of the person?Brielle wasn’t sure if Lilac had ever guessed Pembroke was gay, but maybe she had with Gavin in a private conversation.
Not quite, wrote Pembroke, texting almost immediately.Romantic ace. I don’t have the rest defined.
The rest?asked Brielle, genuinely curious.
