“Right. Pardon me. Maybe Ellis, your make-out buddy, would go with you.”
Cherry watched her feet as she walked, liking the way the boots looked. “Maybe she would,” she said quietly. Shea was teasing her now, but Cherry knew how she felt about the whole thing, and she wasn’t in the headspace to deal with that right then, so she was relieved when the front door opened, and Adam came in.
“Sup, my bitches?” He dropped his stuff on the floor next to Cherry’s. “What’s with all the boxes?”
For the next hour, Cherry sat around the living room with her roommates, looking at Cherry’s products and batting around ideas for her videos and reviews. Then Adam stood.
“Gotta go make myself beautiful,” he said.
“Bartending tonight?” Shea asked.
He nodded. “You guys should come.” Then he headed for his room, and Cherry knew he’d return in a cloud of Sauvage cologne,looking like a Disney prince. Coasters wasn’t a gay bar, but much of its staff was queer in some way. Thus, so was the clientele.
“Wanna?” Shea asked, turning to Cherry.
She made a noncommittal sound and lifted one shoulder. “On a Monday? I don’t know. I’m kind of tired. It was aday.”
“Yeah, I get that.” It was clear Shea was trying to hide her disappointment, and Cherry felt a pang of guilt.
“I mean, we could go for one. Right?”
Shea’s face lit up, and in that second, Cherry knew she’d chosen correctly. “Just one. Possibly two. Maybe there’ll be some dancing if the music is good.”
Cherry nodded and gave her a grin. “Okay. Let’s do it.” She started packing her stuff back into the boxes, and when she looked up, Shea was focused on her. “What?”
With a finger, Shea made a gesture toward Cherry’s phone. “Why don’t you let your make-out buddy know where we’ll be. I’d like to meet this woman you’ve been kissing lately.”
“Kissed. Ikissedher. We haven’tbeen kissing. Wekissed. Once.” She toyed with the laces on one of the hikers. “Possibly twice.” And she laughed because she knew Shea was teasing her. And also? What if Ellis did want to come out? She grabbed her phone to text, but her thumbs hovered. She glanced up at Shea. “How do I do this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, do I invite her. Actually say,Come hang out with me and Shea? Or do I keep it more casual? Like,Here’s where I’ll be tonight, fyi?” She blinked at Shea and felt the panic rising. “Help me!”
“OMG, give me that.” Shea snatched her phone from her hand, typed quickly, and the sound of a text being sent filled the room. “There.” She tossed the phone back to her. “Can we get ready now?”
As Shea turned and headed to her room to change, Cherry glanced down at the text.
Heading to Coasters with friends. I’d love to see you.
Well. That was surprisingly pleasant and simple. Too bad she couldn’t come up with it on her own. With a roll of her eyes, she gathered up her boxes and hauled them all into her room so the living room didn’t look like a recycling center.
* * *
“Do I go, Mikey? I mean, I do, right? Or no? Maybe no.”
Ellis stood in Michaela’s room at the window, looking out on the impeccably landscaped yard that was bordered by some gorgeous woods. The brown of late winter and early spring had begun to fade, making room for the entrance of color. Green buds on the trees had begun to open, peeking out to see if the coast was clear. The bright yellow of daffodils springing up in flower beds and also in randomly unexpected spots, thanks to the squirrels who transplanted them. This view, this peaceful yard and gorgeous woods beyond, was one of the reasons Ellis had worked so hard to get her sister into Hearts and Hands. Yes, she knew Michaela probably didn’t see anything and likely never would again, but just in case—just in case—she did ever wake up, Ellis wanted to make sure what she saw was lovely and comforting. Not some scary hospital walls or a parking lot out the window.
She watched as a squirrel ran across the yard with a mouthful of something she couldn’t quite make out, and it reminded her that she wanted to get a bird feeder to hang outside the window. Michaela loved birds, even when they were kids.
“So?” she asked again, her eyes following the path of the squirrel. “What do I do? Go or not go?”
“You go. Absolutely.”
The voice startled her, and she turned to meet Kendra’s soft eyes. “I wasn’t asking you,” she teased.
“I know.” Kendra came in, took Michaela’s pulse, straightened her bedding. “Hi there, baby,” she said softly as she ran the backs of her fingers along Michaela’s cheek. “Your sister is asking for advice she doesn’t really need ’cause she already knows the answer. But don’t you worry, I got it covered.” She met Ellis’s gaze again and lifted one eyebrow. “Michaela and I agree.”
Ellis clenched her teeth and made a face. “You think?”
