She knows who I was with the past two weeks.
She knows where our funding comes from.
And she told me she’s not charging me any vacation days for the past two weeks since I was working with a major donor.
Bea and her family are my family, and my coworkers are a close second.
At the window, Simon flexes his biceps. “Burger and fries and a beefcake show,” he calls. “Free autographs too.”
Bea smiles and shakes her head. “Sorry, Daph. He is who he is.”
I make myself smile back at her. “He makes you happy. And he sells a lot of burgers for you. That makes me happy.”
I look down at my phone again and switch over to the family text message.
The one that has Bea and all three of her brothers.
I snap a picture of Simon, then send it to all four of them.Bet you’re sad you’re not here to see this, I text.
Hudson won’t answer quickly. He went back to college while I was on my trip.
Griff won’t answer quickly. He’s getting ready for a game in Atlanta.
Ryker won’t answer at all. He stopped by earlier with more vegetables from his farm, saw Simon’s flexing for himself, sighed like he’s ninety-three instead of twenty-six, and left quickly.
And Bea will eventually answer with something that will make her brothers all respond with throwing-up emojis.
I scroll and pull up my text messages with Margot.
She was one of the people who sent me the livestream with Oliver.
Maybe we can meet halfway between me and you for brunch this weekend?, I text her.
Her response is almost immediate, and she’s accurately reading between the lines of my message.It hasn’t been a full week, Daph. Have some faith.
It’s been long enough.
Four days isforeverwhen you’re in love and don’t know if you’ll ever see him again.
If he’s coming.
If he won’t be one more person to abandon me.
I cringe at that thought and switch over to text Lana, Simon’s ex. Like, looooong-ago ex. She’s the boys’ mother, and the four of them have their own unique co-parenting family situation that’s surprisingly functional.
Far more functional than my family. Simon keeps talking about Bea adopting him into her family, but he and Lana and the boys have adopted Bea and her brothers and me into their family too.
It’s pretty cool.
Plus, Lana let me whine to her about Oliver being bad for Margot before the road trip. It feels like forty-seven years ago that I was telling her how wrong Oliver and Margot were for each other and how boring he was.
And yes, she was one more person texting me this morning.
She heard the story of my road trip at a cookout yesterday at Simon’s house.
I need to binge something dark. You in?I text her.
Tomorrow? I have the boys tonight. I’ll bring snacks. Hot cheese puffs are your favorite, right?
