“You being an Aries actually makes so much sense,” Lucy says, eyes flicking betweenus.
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
“I would never give you anything less than praise, darling.” Lucy loops her arms between Camille and Toni. “Let’s go enjoy the fire I painstakingly started inside.”
“You?” Oliver protests. He picks up Toni’s bags and tries to grab mine before I snatch them away. “I’m pretty sure I brought in the firewood.”
“Yes,” Lucy says over her shoulder as she leads the other two women inside. “But I lit the match.”
We get settled in, and I thank Oliver and Lucy for making the place cozy. They’d already wiped down the kitchen and tossed the canvas drop cloths I used to cover the old couch and collection of floor cushions.
“Honestly, I feel kinda bad,” Oliver says as he puts on a pot of coffee.
“Why?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’ve been out here more this year than you have, and it’s your place.”
“I consider it everyone’s place these days.” Ever since I moved into my uncle’s house, it made sense to keep the invite open to the family if I wasn’t using the cabin or property.
“Still. You should?—”
“If you’re about to say ‘take time off,’—” I sigh. “I know.”
“Oh, God,” Camille groans. Oliver’s face mirrors my own as my stomach drops to my knees for a fraction of a second. “Is that coffee?”
“Cam, you’re too pregnant to start anything with ‘oh, God,’ nearly gave us a heart attack in here,” Oliver chides.
She laughs. “Believe me, if something was happening with the baby, I’d be screaming something with more bite than ‘oh, God.’”
“You should have heard what came out of her mouth when she was having Braxton Hicks contractions last week,” Michaelsays, slipping his jacket off to hang by the door. “Could’ve made the devil blush.”
“I’m excited to see what I come up with when this little guy decides he’s ready to come out. I may invent new words.”
Michael smiles at Camille tenderly, kissing the top of her head as he passes by. “You want some tea, babe?”
She sighs as I bring Toni a mug of coffee and perch on the arm of the couch. “Sure. Maybe if Toni lets me smell her coffee, I can pretend it’s as good.”
Toni holds the mug under Camille’s nose. “Breathe it in.”
Camille doesn’t hesitate, wafting the steam rising from the mug toward her face, inhaling deeply. “I miss you,” she whispers.
Lucy looks down at her own mug. “I almost feel guilty drinking this in front of you.”
“Don’t.” Camille accepts the tea Michael brings her. “Trading coffee… and sushi, and charcuterie, and-” She pauses.
“That’s a lot of things.” Toni pats Camille’s knee.
“So many things,” Camille dramatically pouts. “But, it feels like a fair trade for a tiny human.”
The rest of the evening is filled with easy banter and good food. But the combination of a long week mingles with the crackling of the fire and the cool autumn night and begins lulling us all to sleep earlier than any of us anticipated.
Michael and Camille tap out first, retreating to the tiny cabin. Oliver and Lucy aren’t far behind, committed to sleeping rough rather than bringing their cots into the living room.
“I will never understand it. Inside is better than outside.” Toni says around a yawn, her body relaxing against me on the couch.
I chuckle, “You like the park and the beach, and didn’t you spend a whole day apple picking?”
“I’m not entirely opposed to the outside, but I got plentyof the—” another big yawn cuts her off, “outdoors and the country as a kid.”
