Stella snorts through the phone. “So, you’ve moved in with Beck? I’m following this train, right?”
“You’re on the right track,” Beck says so casually, like this isn’t the first time he’s talked to my sister. I know we’re in a bit of a different state of mind right now, but I don’t think Beck would be talking any differently without the gummies.
“Sort of moved in. Temporarily,” I add. Shit, are my hands sweating? I feel like I’m on the verge of getting a lecture. Stella is well aware of mycomplicatedfeelings toward Beck. She’s seen this play out before—well, not exactly, but the whole dangerous territory I should be walking away from…yeah, Stella is always the one holding my hand when I’m doing the walk of shame back.
“Right, of course it’s temporary.”Yep, she doesn’t believe me.
“Who doesn’t want it to be temporary is Dottie.” Beck ruffles her back and she barks happily, hopping off the couch to play when Beck pulls out one of her rope toys.
“Jennie,” my sister interrupts, taking my attention away from watching them.
“Hmm, yeah?”
“You’re smiling,” she says with what I can only assume is a bigger smile than mine was.
“I’m impaired, Stel. Not all of us are chill and mellowed out like you.”
My sister chuckles. “Okay, sure blame it on the gummy, that’s fine.”
My eyes flash to Beck, but he’s still playing with Dottie. I’m not entirely sure how much of his attention is sneakily on our conversation, so a topic change needs to be made. “You called forrrr?”
Stella makes atsksounds, while shaming me with her fingers.
“I’ll hang up on you.”
“I was just calling to check up on you. Your silence in the family chat makes sense now, all things considered.”
I glance at Beck again, I swallow hard. “Yeah, it’s been something. Where are Mom and Dad now?”
Stella closes her eyes thinking. “I want to say one of the Dakotas, could be Wyoming…I haven’t looked at Mom’s location yet today.”
Our parents could not be more opposite people if they tried, but the love they have for each other is downright obnoxious. So in love that even though Mom hates all things outdoorsy, she’s on a six-month-long road trip with our father because it was his dream to go camping in every state. Granted, she had some stipulations of her own.
“Well, one of us ought to.” I swipe up on the screen pulling up our group chat then clicking on the maps. “Wyoming is the winner. I can’t believe she agreed to this.”
“I can’t believe it’s lasted a whole month. I was ready to put money down that Dad was pulling an elaborate joke on her.”
“Yeah, I think you and Mom both. Neither of you helped while he was planning it. He had maps and red strings connecting the stops. It looked like he was either planning or solving a murder.”
Stella snorts a laugh. “Him and maps. They’re using a GPS!”
“He’s a physical planner person!”
“Like father, like daughter. I guess that entire notebook full of budgeting and life planning you have will need some adjusting, or has it completely gone out the window? Can I do a tarot reading now?”
Beck sits straight up. “Can I see this life planning notebook?”
“No,” I say immediately, then send Stella the evil eye. “Thanks for calling, as you can see I’m fine. I’ll call you later.”
“Noooo,” Beck whines. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop eavesdropping.”
Of course he was listening, I should have known his nosy ass would.
“Bye, Stel.”
“Talk so soon, Jennie,” my sister says before her face disappears from the screen.
Dropping my phone on the couch, I huff. Yep, I’ll be hearing a lot about this, but she does have a good point about my planner. Maybe mapping out some moves for opening the tattoo shop would help make it easier for me to make decisions on my own.
