"What about you dating anyone else? You wouldn't be able to for six months. Publicly, at least. Whatever you choose to do behind closed doors is your own business of course."
Court looks genuinely frazzled. Which is rare because he's usually the king of cool. Nothing in the world ever gets to him.
"I'm taking a break from dating to work on my stuff. Besides, I get to have you all to myself for six months. I won't have time to date."
Half joke, half true, one hundred percent pathetic. But my needy heart wants what my needy heart wants.
Our two other closest friends, Scooter and Cyrus, also live out of town, and as much as I love Howie, or Ramzi, or even my newest friend, Zane, no one holds a candle to Court.
"Are you sure?" he asks, staring deep into my eyes. "You don't want to take some time to think about it?"
"I'm sure," I reply without any hesitation. "Let me do this for you."
He gives me a slightly bewildered smile. "Yeah, okay. I guess it's another adventure we can add to our lifetime of crazy adventures."
"That's the spirit. Now less talking and more eating. I'm dying to see if our tree house is still there."
8
Courtland
"Holy shit! It's still here," Buzz exclaims excitedly. We've waddled our way through the property after finishing the amazing feast—including dessert—Lola and her team spoiled us with. He jogs up to the still intact structure Grandpa Arnie built for us when we were kids.
It's more of a fort than a tree house really, propped up on four sturdy wooden legs, barely off the ground now that I look at it. But as kids, man, it felt like an adventure climbing up that short ladder and disappearing into our own little world.
Buzz pokes his head inside then looks at me, flashing that grin that never fails to hit me square in the chest. I used to think that was a normal reaction until I realized no other person made me feel that way when they smiled at me.
"Reckon we could still fit in there?" he asks.
"Think we might exceed the maximum weight limit. Especially after the lunch we just had."
"You calling me fat?"
I eye him up and down. He's wearing a warm charcoal sweater molded to his torso and dark chinos that cling to his thighs. There are many adjectives I could use to describe his body, butfatsure as hell ain't one of them.
"I'm calling us grown men," I say, sticking my head inside. The smell alone, a combination of mildew, old wood, and dry leaves, transports me back in time. I sometimes forget just how many countless hours we spent here…or what a completely different person I used to be when I was younger. Trusting. Unguarded. Hopeful. "But what the hell? If we break it, we break it."
I wedge myself through the narrow opening. Buzz smacks my ass playfully before following suit. Inside, we can't stand upstraight so we sit crossed-legged on the floor, surrounded by quiet and forest. The world beyond the windows dissolves away.
Buzz looks around, his lips parted slightly, then says to me. "Look. It's still standing. We haven't broken it."
"Yet."
He grins. "Just take the win, Court."
I chuckle and keep my mouth shut.
The bigger win here is Buzz's offer to get married so I can inherit this place. If I'm going to go through with this totally crazy thing, he really is the best person to do it with. The only person, really. I love Scooter and Cyrus, but they live out of town, and more importantly…they're not Buzz.
"What are you looking for?" I ask when I notice him squinting at the wooden floor.
"I came in here by myself one day and inscribed our initials, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Can you see them?"
I join him in looking for them but come up with nothing. "Maybe the wood warped or rotted?" I suggest. "Or maybe termites got to it."
"Yeah, you're probably right," he says, but he doesn't stop glancing around.
I can see it means a lot to him, he loves this sappy, sentimental stuff, so I keep looking for a few more minutes.
