I want you. Was that an accident that she didn’t finish typing out the rest, or a message? My face flushes and my pulse quickens. When I look up at her, her eyes are locked onto mine. I slowly nod.
Jill and Tina are at the door, blowing air-kisses to the rest of us, but Callie stays moored on the couch as if she has no intention of going anywhere. She drags the bourbon across the coffee table, downs more straight from the bottle.
“Sorry, woman, I’m whooped,” Margot says, sinking into Callie’s lap and slinging an arm around her neck. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” she says, planting a kiss on Callie’s cheek.
I don’t know what to do with myself, so I mumble an excuse about having to use the bathroom and head down the hall to buy more time until Callie leaves.
—
WHEN I WALKback into the great room, Margot is slung across the couch, her legs stretched out in front of her. She gives a quick jerk of her neck toward the kitchen. I see a light coming from the mudroom, the small nook off the kitchen, and inside, I see Callie lining up the guns in the glass-front gun cabinet.
“I was going to clean them tonight,” Callie calls out. “You know I like to clean them regularly.”
Margot rolls her eyes at me, twists her neck in Callie’s direction. “Thanks, but just leave ’em, sweetie. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Callie stomps out of the mudroom, huffs at the sight of me still here. I stand frozen in the middle of the great room with my bag in my hand.
“Oops, left my cell in the bathroom,” I lie, then head, once again, down the hallway. I’m just about to step inside the bathroom when I hear the front door slam. I turn around and creep back toward the great room.
“Coast is clear!” Margot says brightly. “Never thought I’d shake her off tonight.”
She moves around the island in the kitchen, pulls down a pair of stemless wineglasses.
“Red or white?” she purrs.
“Red, please,” I say, and walk the few steps up to the kitchen.
It’s still dark in here, except for the trio of bullet lights, making everything feel candlelit and intimate. Through the windows lining the back of the great room, the half-full moon glistens over the lake, and orange-yellow lights from the neighboring boathouses sparkle against the night.
“Mmmmmm,” Margot says, after taking a sip of her wine. “This tastes so good.”
My heart is racing from being all alone with her. I lift the glass, swirl the wine around, and take a gulp. Itisdelicious.
“Yum,” I say, “sogood.”
Margot leans back on the counter and crosses an arm in front of her.
“I just wasn’t in the mood for them tonight. Ya know? But I wasn’t ready to head home just yet, either. So, thanks for sticking around,” she says, but I still sense that air of distraction about her, like she’s talking to me but also not really talking to me.
I want to set my glass of wine down, move toward her, lean in and kiss her, and see what happens. But every time I think of doing it, I stop myself. My palms are glazed with sweat, and my heartbeat drums in the back of my throat. I keep drinking instead, and the room grows softer with each sip I take.
I’m just working up the courage to ask her how her week went when she steps away from me and heads down the hall. “Nature’s calling,” she says over her shoulder.
I lean against the kitchen counter and stare out the window at the ripplinglake. I take another slow sip of wine, swish it around in my mouth. It tastes like cherries and oak. Maybe I’ll use that as a conversation starter when Margot gets back. God, I really am schoolgirl nervous.
I reach for the bottle to refill our glasses, and out of the corner of my eye, blue-white light flashes through the kitchen like miniature lightning strikes.
It’s Margot’s cell, vibrating on the kitchen counter. I peer down the hall. She’s still in the bathroom, the light seeping from beneath the door, so I creep over to her phone and risk taking a peek.
There’s a text notification from “B,” which I assume means Brad. I quickly swipe the screen and a stream of their texts blooms into sight. The latest one reads:Where are you?So I scroll to the top to get the full conversation.
Margot:I’m not gonna wait around all night.
B:Sorry. Still at dinner with Abby’s parents.
Margot:Figure it out.
B:I can’t just leave. But I’ll get out of here asap.
