Both sisters’ mouths hinged open. Then, simultaneously, both began to smile.
“I keep tying to ignore these ridiculous swoony feelings,” Britt continued, “hoping that they’ll go away. But so far that hasn’t been working.”
Their smiles grew.
“Neither of you is looking sympathetic,” Britt noted.
“Oh! Sorry about that.” Nora attempted an expression of contrition and failed.
“I guess,” Willow said, “I’m happy because ... maybe ... this is a good thing?” She gave an elegant shrug.
“Yes! Have you stopped to consider that this might be a good thing?” Nora asked.
“No. I’ve had Zander in my life all this time and we’re as close as we are because we’refriends.” A movie reel of images whipped through her brain. She and Zander sitting together at high school football games. She and Zander eating the chocolate soufflé they’d made. She and Zander kayaking. She and Zander painting the inside of her house before she moved in. She and Zander dancing at a club to brighten her spirits after her relationship with one of her boyfriends had disintegrated. He was the one she called when she needed help, when she received good news or bad, when she was discouraged or elated or uncertain. “Breakups don’t usually happen between friends, but they happen all the time between boyfriends and girlfriends.”
“I hear you,” Willow said. “But not every romance ends in a breakup. Mom and Dad’s hasn’t.”
“John’s and mine hasn’t,” Nora said.
“Corbin’s and mine hasn’t,” Willow said.
“You’re suggesting that Zander and I might fall in love and live happily ever after?”
“Why not?” Willow asked.
“Who better to fall in love with than him?” Nora spoke in the reasonable tone she used when guiding her library patrons toward the next sensible step in their ancestry research. “You already know him very well, and you already like him tremendously.”
“You share history,” Willow added. “You have the same interests. He’s wickedly smart.”
“He’s a Christian,” Nora said. “You know his character.”
“Plus,” Willow added, “he’s handsome.”
“That dark hair!” Nora sighed. “Those blue eyes!”
Willow nodded. “He’s got that whole fiery but introverted thing down.”
If her sisters were trying to be impartial, they were doing a terrible job. “And in this happily-ever-after scenario of yours, you assume that Zander will want to date me and then love me forever. Even though he’s never given me a reason to think that’s the case.”
Her sisters regarded her with hopeful patience.
“Do you think he wants to date me?” Even as Britt asked the question, the muscles at the back of her neck constricted. Some uneasy part of her didn’t want to hear their answer. Why? Why was it hard to confront even the idea that Zander might want to date her?
“Are you sure you want to know what we think about Zander’s feelings?” Willow’s level gaze cautioned Britt not to plunge thoughtlessly into information that might end up changing things she didn’t want changed.
Wasshe sure that she wanted to know?Yes.No. “I’m sure.”
Their plates of food continued to sit before them, untouched. “You need to keep in mind that this is just my opinion,” Willow said. “I’m not speaking for Zander.”
“Me neither,” Nora said. “I’ve never talked to him about this.”
“Nor I,” Willow said.
“Fine,” Britt told them.
“And you won’t hold what we say against Zander?” Nora asked.
“No.”
