“What’re you doing?”
“Sniffing your coffee,” I say, although it should be obvious. I’m holding the cup to my nose and breathing in the scent.
“Why?”
“For paint thinner. Or some hallucinogen that’s been slipped into your drink and is making you think thatkeeping this information from Kaden is the right thing to do.
Pete’s not even smiling at me. His expression is neutral. “It is the right thing, Claire. I’ve known Kersey since I was a kid. He’s a little different, yeah, but he’s like family to me. This is going to destroy him, and I won’t be part of that.”
It takes me a minute to formulate my words becausewhatthehell? We didn’t talk about the situation when we got home from the game last night because we had better things to do, but now I think it’s something we need to address. “We’re just the messengers, Pete. Yes, this information may hurt him, but he’s being hurt right now, and he doesn’t even know it. Look, maybe there’s a totally plausible explanation for why Sophie’s freaking underwear and jersey were not on her body. And why she didn’t show up to the celebration until it was time to leave. For Kersey’s sake, I hope there is. But the fact is that he deserves to know. Wouldn’t you want to know?”
Pete sighs. “Kersey and I are totally different people. Trust me, this will make him doom spiral. He’s completely devoted to her, and it doesn’t matter that none of us really get what he sees in her. And maybe she’s not the most likable person, but he likes her. Hell, he loves her. And that’s enough for me.”
I literally don’t understand what is happening right now. It’s like Pete and I are watching the same movie but seeing different plots.
“So, you’re just going to be in his wedding this summer? Stand up at the altar like you don’t know what you know, and?—”
“We don’t actually know she’s cheating on him,” Pete says.
I don’t let his interruption slow me down at all. “Andthen, when it all comes crashing down, you’re just going to act surprised?”
“I’m not destroying his entire world on a suspicion, Claire. I’ve got enough going on in my own life that I don’t need to wreck anybody else’s. He’s happy right now, and if there’s one thing the past few years have taught me, it’s to hold on to happiness when you have it.”
His words take the temperature in the room down by about two degrees. He must feel it, too, because he blows out a breath. “Look, I don’t want to fight about this. I just want to spend the morning with you. Can we agree to disagree?”
I nod, because I can’t think of anything else to say. I don’t want to fight, either, but Pete’s response doesn’t make any sense to me. Still, I want to spend the morning with him, too, so I hop off the bed.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s time to take my mask off. And then I thought maybe I’d hop in the shower.” My smile is playful because we don’t have much time together, and I don’t want to spend it arguing.
He smiles back at me. “Huh. I have to shower this morning, too.”
“Oh, yeah?” I ask, peeling off my t-shirt and tossing it in the hamper. Well, it was Pete’s t-shirt, but it’s mine now.
He’s off the bed and out of his boxers in record time. And when we get in the shower and he gets on his knees for me, I forget we were ever arguing at all.
Just twenty-four more hours, that’s what I keep telling myself. I have one more day in wine country and then I can head back home to Bainbridge and go back to mynormal, everyday life—a life that does not involve hearing Sophie Robbins’s personal philosophy on everything from the joys of fasting to the dangers of sunscreen.
I may not survive the next twenty-four hours.
Leslie and Garrett have given me great feedback on the articles I sent them, but they wanted something new, something fresh. So, when I pitched the idea of doing a girls’ weekend on a college budget, they jumped on it.
I invited Holland and the rest of the crew, and that included Sophie. I didn’t think she’d actually come, though, because she rarely hangs out with the rest of the girls.
She seemed disinterested at first, but as soon as she saw where we were going, she was in. Josie was excited, too, but then she realized Iris had a ballet recital. Annabelle’s in rehearsal, Mel’s at work, and Maggie’s about nine million months pregnant.
So it’s just the three of us.
Holland and I had so much fun planning this trip, and Sophie has managed to find something wrong with everything single thing we’ve done. The winery was too crowded. The farmer’s market smelled like a farm, and the charcuterie board class led to a twenty-minute lecture about the evils of pasteurization.
Take right now, for instance. It’s a warm April day and the sun is shining. We’re at an outdoor café drinking iced coffee. Some people might compare this to heaven, but not Sophie. She forgot her sunglasses and she swears the barista snuck sugar into her latte, even though we all watched him remake ittwiceand there was no sleight of hand or magical sugar fairy involved.
To my credit, I haven’t even brought up her underwear. Not once. Not even when we passed a lingerie shop.
I still think Kersey deserves to know something’s up,but he’s like family to Pete, and I don’t want to disturb that relationship, especially not when what I have with Pete is so new and going so well.
His mom’s surgery is scheduled for next week, just two days before he leaves for the national tournament. Thankfully, it’s in DC this year, so he won’t be far. And besides, Leo, Henry, Gramma Dottie, and I can hold down the fort.
