“Aye, apparently even when she was dating me.” Fyfe appeared mildly affronted.
“I remember telling you she wasn’t good enough for you,” Eilidh pointed out before giving me a sharp look. “And you’re an idiot if you trust a woman who has admitted to secretly harboring feelings for her friend’s boyfriend and boyfriend’s friend for years. Let me tell you, Carianne is hoping that by pretending to date her, you’ll fall in love withherinstead, like some fucking stupid rom-com.”
“That sounds like Carianne,” Fyfe agreed.
Confused, I huffed, “Carianne’s nice, no? I mean, she loves Callie.”
“Maybe.” Eilidh grimaced. “But she’s also always been jealous of Callie. When we were kids, it didn’t matter what Callie had, Carianne had to have it too.”
“I remember that.” Fyfe nodded. “When we were dating, if Callie got something, Carianne wouldn’t shut up about it until she got it too. I just thought it was what girls did.”
“No.” Eilidh screwed her face up at him. “Way to generalize us.”
They bickered back and forth while I considered what they’d said. Maybe I was letting my impatience get the better of my rational thinking. Eilidh was right. Carianne had confessed to having feelings for me for a while, and I didn’t want to lead her on.
And Callie … my gut screamed that it would only reinforce Callie’s idea that I wasn’t constant in my love.
It was, in fact, the stupidest fucking plan I’d ever considered.
“You’re both right,” I cut my sister and friend off from whatever they were bantering about.
“We are?” Eilidh wrinkled her nose. “About what again? Fyfe befuddled me with his mild misogynism.”
“Uh!” Fyfe made a noise at a pitch I didn’t know was possible for him. “How dare you?”
My wee sister grinned mischievously. “You’re so easy to wind up.”
He rolled his eyes and turned to me. “What are we right about?”
“That pretending to date Carianne to make Callie jealous is a bad idea. Not only is it childish, but I think it would push Callie further away.”
“Agreed,” they said in unison and then shot each other a mock scowl.
“So …” I sighed heavily. “Any ideas on what I should do next?”
“Well.” Eilidh smirked. “I know this might not make you happy, Mr. Impatient, but I think you should try a different tactic. It’ll take longer, but it’s more likely to work.”
“And what’s that?”
“Ask her if you can try to be just friends.”
“Just friends?”
“Just friends. Then you can spend time together without all the pressure and you can remind Callie that you’re a loyal, good person she can trust.”
I looked at Fyfe.
My friend nodded. “She’s right.”
“Did it hurt you to admit that?” Eilidh teased.
Fyfe shot her a look. “Why? Because I’m mildly misogynistic?”
“Did I say mildly? I meant wildly.”
“Friends,” I interrupted them. “You both think I should propose friendship?”
“If you want to prove that your first thoughts are to Callie, then aye,” my sister insisted. “She needs trust to build between you again.”
