“I’m sure,” she teases and I snarl.
“Hey.”
“What would you do if there were no consequences?”
I know the answer right away. “I’d stay right here. Put roots down. Stop being afraid I didn’t do it right.”
I take a sip of my Dr. Pepper and Maggie’s grinning at me. “Then do that. Screw the consequences. Be wild.”
“It’s scary, letting go of a story I sold myself for so many years.”
She nods. “Letting go’s when the fun starts. And you are so stinkin’ beautiful when you’re wild.”
“It’s just . . . quieter than I imagined it would be. Not glamorous or flashy.”
She laughs. “You know those birds that do that crazy dance to make the girl birds sleep with them? They’re so flashy because they’re full of shit just like everybody else. Wild is way more fun than flashy.”
I can’t stop smiling and Maggie grins back at me. “Why are you always so amazing?”
“Never got a little girl of my own, so I think they sent me you instead.”
“Oh my god!” I squeal at her, fanning my face and pulling her into a tight hug. “How dare you make me cry more?”
“Because I love you,” she sniffles. “And you’re pretty when you cry. It’s annoying as hell.”
My laugh is wet but I squeeze her tighter.
“Why don’t you get on down the road and go see if that boy wants to be part of your wild or not?”
I groan. “God, he was probably just looking for some summer ass, and here I am having a life-changing event.”
“Never know when he might be ready for a change. And if not, who cares? Go get ye some.”
“From the messiest woman in America.”
She shrugs. “He’d be lucky to get ya. Now go on. Make me proud.”
“No pressure,” I say.
Maggie pats my leg as she climbs off my bed. “Sis, you always make me proud.”
FORTY
JAKE
I’m splayedout on my couch with a short pour of bourbon in my hand when there’s a knock at the door.
I open to a nervous-looking Darcy. “Hey. Come in.”
I swing the door open but she sticks her hands out to stop me. Her lower lip releases from her teeth. “I’m just going to let some things rip,” she rushes out.
“Okay.” I cross my arms and lean against the doorframe. She’s talking to me through the screen door, bugs bopping around the porch light.
“For so much of my life I’ve had to be prepared, and responsible, and good. It’s hard for me to do anything without wondering what the next thing is going to be because maybe if I’m prepared it can’t hurt me. But even with all the preparation in the world, I’m not always spared the pain and, I don’t know.” Her brow furrows and she breathes, clearly not done yet. “That part of me wants to take what we’re doing this summer and try to plan an entire future off whether or not it works. But I think, for once, I just want to be wild. Let it unfold however it’s going to. Know you in a way I haven’t yet and just try to be in it. Not worry about whether I’m having your babies, or holding you back, or marrying you, or leaving you on the side of the road somewhere because I’m mad at you.”
I chuckle, my head now leaning against the doorframe too. My laugh takes her off guard, and I rub my lips together. “You’d leave me on the side of the road?”
She shrugs and crosses her arms, mirroring me. “If you’re enough of an asshole, yeah, I guess.”
