Elias pauses mid-backswing. “Wow. Not even gonna warm me up first?”
Magnolia sips her drink as though she didn’t just drop a conversational grenade. “Just curious.”
“She’s your best friend.”
“Yes, and I’m your teine,” Magnolia fires back.
Elias shakes his head, steps back from the tee box, and gives her a look. “You don’t muck around, do ya?”
Magnolia shrugs, cool as ever. “What’s the point? Life’s too short to muck around.”
“Better to fuck around, right?”
I shoot my brother a warning. “Elias––”
He chuckles. “Yeah, well… Violet’s great.”
“That’s a politician’s answer.”
He shrugs, adjusting his grip. “Fine. She’s smart, sure of herself, calls me on my bullshit. And funny.”
“So you like her.”
He smirks. “That obvious, huh?”
“I’m a woman. We know these things.” Magnolia glances toward the green. “Where’s your head at with it? Do you see potential, or are you just having fun while it lasts?”
There’s a beat of quiet before Elias answers. “I see potential. If I’m being honest, she’s the first person who’s ever made me picture forever with someone.”
Magnolia fights a smile. “So what’s stopping you from telling her?”
He gestures toward the horizon. “The whole other-side-of-the-world part. She’s got her job, her life. I’m not asking someone to uproot everything for a maybe.”
Magnolia plays it casual, a tiny shrug as if she hasn’t already thought this through. “If she moved here, y’all could find out if there’s more than a maybe between you.”
He turns, giving all of his attention to Magnolia. “You think she’d do that?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible. For the right reasons. Or the right person.”
Elias’s gaze goes distant. Then he shakes his head with a soft laugh. “You’re trouble, you know that?”
“The best kind,” she says, winking.
Magnolia’s not just curious—she’s calculating. Nudging him toward something bigger. And the longer she sips her drink and steers the conversation, the more obvious it becomes.
She’s dropping breadcrumbs.
Perhaps Violet coming to Sydney isn’t a far-fetched idea after all.
I lean forward on the steering wheel and glance her way. “Is she coming here?”
Magnolia avoids eye contact and takes another sip of her drink. “Who?”
I squint. “Don’t play dumb with me.”
Her mouth curves in the faintest smile. “Not playing. Just protecting the suspense.”
A quiet laugh slips out of me. “You’re so damn sneaky.”
