“Well, how about chips with a side of queso to go with that honesty?” Lacy held up a bag from Mae’s favorite tacoria in Lark Lake.
“Yes!” She forced herself to sit up.
Lily and Lacy spread a big blanket over the bedspread, giggling about their husbands having a fit if they spilled crumbs in their beds.
“And yet, both of your husbands aren’t shy about loving to eat in bed,” Mae teased.
Lacy’s face turned bright red. “Oh my gosh. I know Nashlooks so innocent, but the mouth on that man! I can barely make the bed in the morning before he’s tossing me back on the covers and trying to sneak a little snack before we have to start the day.”
“Ah, newlywed bliss,” Lily teased.
“Not just newlyweds. You guys should have seen Stone the minute his family got in the car to head back to Delaware.” Mae smiled. “I had to remind him hejustgot out of the hospital after nearly dying from two gunshot wounds.”
“Clearly he didn’t lose his memories of just how attracted he is to you.” Sloane handed the first plate to Mae. The queso was still piping hot, and as she bit into the ooey-gooey cheese dip, Mae could feel it heating her from the inside out. How long had she felt so cold? So lifeless? And how could she have been so blind to the fact that her friends would help her carry her sorrow? Just a few minutes with Lily knowing had already made her feel lighter than she’d ever imagined.
She let her hands fall back down to the bed, the tidal wave of sadness disorienting like a sailboat lost at sea.
“I think I’m broken,” Mae cried, her voice catching as she dissolved into tears.
“Oh, honey.” Lily wrapped her arms around Mae. Sloane sat behind her, patting her back while Lacy’s warm hand came to rest on her ankle.
“We’re here for you, Mae. If you need to just cry. If you want to talk about it. Whatever you need. We’re here,” Lily cooed.
She couldn’t talk. The second the first tear fell and her friends swooped in to hold her, she was lost to the sadness. At some point, they all laid down together in the bed, Mae squished between Lacy and Lily as Sloane ran her fingers through Mae’s hair. In the distance, beyond her grief, Mae knew that this was sisterhood. A true moment of divine connection, through something only she experienced, but thatconnected them all as women. A pain that would live in her soul for the rest of her life, but that her sisters would carry forward with her, so that her burden was lighter. So that one day, they could talk about this baby that had only existed for one short moment in time, and there would be more love, more hope, to chase away the shadows of pain and heartache.
Her eyelids became heavy as she listened to her friends cry with her. Their tears mixed with hers, flowing towards the wound in her heart. Mending something she feared would be cracked open and raw within her for the rest of her life. But for the first time since it happened, Mae knew there would be a day when she was okay.
“Mae…”
God, she was so warm, and cozy, and why the hell was there a deliciously gravelly voice calling out to her, trying to take her from her blissful sleep?
Mae cracked her eye open, smiling as her vision focused on Stone laying next to her, right where she’d left Lily.
“You’re not the sassy, petite, fiery blond I was sleeping with earlier.”
Stone chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint you. How was your day with Lily?”
He looked worried. And rightfully so. Mae had asked him not to say anything to the girls. But she couldn’t hold it against him. Having Lily there, staying in bed and crying while her best friend was just there for her, was exactly what she needed. He’d know what she needed all along.
“You mean my ambush from Lily?”
“Mae…”
“No. Don’t start apologizing. Because you were right. I needed to talk to someone. And I got to talk with Lily, andthen I talked with Lacy, and Sloane. And it was what I needed.”
“God, I’m so glad to hear you say that.”
“How was everything at work? Did you guys come up with anything?”
“It’s fine. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“Nope. Nu-uh.”
“What?”
“You don’t just get to brush it off like that. I’m part of the team. I handle a ton of shit for the business and I take a ton of shit from you guys. I deserve to be looped in. You don’t have to tell me the classified parts from your past, but I deserve to at least know what the plans are for dealing with Laurel and her lies.”
“We’re going to be fine. That’s all we talked about at work today. Honestly.”
