"That sounds terrible."
"It really is but I have high hopes they'll go back where they belong after the twins are born." She nodded emphatically and I couldn't help but smile in response. "Since I have you here, I just want to say it's okay if you don't want to work with me. No, please let me finish before you tell me your thoughts on this. Lin, I'm giving you permission to say no and step away. It's okay. I'm not interested in this partnership if you aren't. Why would I want to force you into something like this? I wouldn't. I don't. That wouldn't be fair to either of us. So, if you want to put this behind us and never speak of it again, just say it because I want to move that item off my project board before I go into labor."
I almost did. I almost told Magnolia I didn't want to do this because partnerships and working relationships with legal backbones were not my style. More than either of those issues, I didn't care for commitments.
But that wasn't true, not in any authentic sense. I wanted therightcommitments, the ones that belonged to me because I made them and cherished them.
"I would like to move forward with your proposal," I said, the words sounding as unsteady as I felt.
She blinked. "Wait. Dude. Are you serious? Or are you saying you want to move forward with my proposal to never speak of this again?"
I bobbed my head as a rusty grin stretched across my face. "I want to work with you. It just took me some time to think it through."
She blew out a breath as she rubbed her belly. "Was not expecting that."
"Me neither."
With a laugh, Magnolia said, "You do realize, it's going to take you adecadeto ask Jasper to marry you."
Whatever relief I felt from finally making that decision died at the mention of Jasper.
And marrying her.
Fuck. Just…fuuuuuuck.
"Oh." Magnolia frowned and it was clear she knew what happened. Maybe not the texture and dimension but enough of the shape to understand. Sometimes it helped to have a triplet who could read your mind. "I'm sorry, Lin. I didn't know."
"No one does," I said with the acrid energy of someone who'd replayed a conversation so many times the words no longer sounded real or made sense. "Happened the other night."
"Do you want to tell me what happened? I won't say anything. I'll just sit here and munch on antacids."
"Not really." I said this and I meant it but then I continued, "She got a job offer. Or an interview offer. I don't know. Whatever it is, they want her to move to California and take over a big project."
"That must be exciting for her."
"What happened to you sitting there silently and munching on your antacids?"
"Sorry. Sorry, dude, sorry. Please continue."
"Well, she was pretty excited about the whole thing." My sister cupped a hand over her mouth to suppress a laugh as she gave metold you soeyes. "I would've been excited too if she didn't hate that work. Maggie, you have no idea how much she truly detested her old job but believe me—"
"What about it? Because she came off so confident and energetic when she was here for Sunday supper. Didn't seem to detest anything."
"You don't know how to sit and listen, do you?"
"No, apparently I don't," she said with a laugh.
"Look, I don't know exactly which part she hated but I know she did. I also know this job won't be any different for her. I can tell. Plus, it's in California of all the damned places."
"Okay, first, how do you know this job will be the same? How do you know it won't relieve that one pain point that made things insufferable in the past?"
"I don't," I admitted, "but—"
"No, you can't argue that. Small changes can make all the difference in the world. You don't know that she needs a completely different career—"
"I do," I said under my breath.
"—and you don't know this situation won't be a dramatic improvement for her."
