“What do you think, Indy?” Hope asked me several minutes later.
Looking up, I cringed. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. I was busy reading chapter one.”
“Woot! We converted another one,” Maddie crowed, holding her hand out to Hope for a high-five.
Hope slapped her hand with a laugh.
“Sorry.” Maddie shrugged. “I’m a librarian, so I’m kind of like a drug dealer when it comes to hooking people on books.”
Likening sweet, bookish Maddie to a drug dealer was hilarious. Especially since she was the one doing it.
Hope rolled her eyes. “I was asking if you have a book in mind you’d like the group to read.”
“Does it have to be a paperback?” I asked.
Maddie clutched her chest in feigned pain. “You heard the part where I said I’m a librarian, right?”
I cringed. “Sorry.”
“You’re fine.” Hope waved a hand. “Ignore her. Most of the time we do ebooks.”
“You all do,” Maddie retorted with a huff before taking a drink of her wine. “I happen to like holding the actual book in my hands.”
“Ho-kay. I think the drinking portion of the meeting is over.” Sabrina laughed and shook the end of the wine bottle into her glass.
“Uh, Indy? Did you have a book you’d like to nominate?” Hope asked again.
I shook my head, hunching back into the sofa. The mood was kinda weird, and I once again felt like an outsider.
Hope sent me a sympathetic look then turned back to the group. “Anyone else?”
They ended up going with Rachel’s pick of a mafia romance I’d never heard of. But given that it was only $4.99 online, I could afford to swing it now that I had a somewhat stable job.
As the rest of the women said their goodbyes and helped pick up plates and glasses, I did my share then inched toward the door.
“Indy, wait up!” Hope called right as I slipped outside.
Closing my eyes with a muttered curse, I pasted on a fake smile and turned to face her.
She shook her head. “I’m so sorry for that. You missed the first part of the night, but Maddie is going through something with her new job. I guess her boss laid into her for something someone else did, and it was a whole thing. Anyway, I’m sorry if she made you feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t about you.”
“Oh, she was fine. I just didn’t really—I’m not really an extrovert or whatever. And you all are so close…”
Hope smiled. “I know this family is a lot. But everyone wants you to know we’re happy you’re here. I hope you’ll come to the next book club. And, um, my daughter is turning one in a few weeks, and I’d love it if you came to her birthday party. But no gifts, please. That girl has more than enough toys and junk to last a lifetime already. We just want you and that wonderful man you live with to come. It’ll be at Aunt Wendy’s house. In her backyard.”
Her babbling was so endearing, I found myself smiling before I knew it. Of everyone in the group, I’d felt closest to Hope, and I really wanted to make an effort to foster this friendship—I had so few of them. “Sure. And maybe you, Ryan, and your daughter can come over for dinner one night. If it’s okay with Dylan.”
“Given how much he’s taken from our fridge, he more than owes us a dinner. Just name the night.”
“I’ll talk to Dylan and let you know.”
“Oh! We should exchange numbers. Let me—”
“I, uh, haven’t turned my phone back on just yet.” I shrugged and looked away. “It’s on the list of things to do.”
“That’s fine.” Hope gently touched my shoulder and gave me a smile. “I’ll text Dylan until then.”
“Thanks,” I whispered. “I’m just gonna—” I gestured lamely at Dylan’s front door.
