“And that’s bad…?”
I puff out my cheeks before releasing a breath. “Not exactly. She’s going to be able to tell that I’m happy, especially since I’ve been moping for a month.”
Kit closes the laptop and rotates his full body to me, careful to not disturb the cat. “Andthat’sbad…?”
“I don’t know how to explainyou.”
“How about, ‘Hey, sis. Look at this hot guy I met. I love him, so don’t say anything mean to his face. He’s fragile.’” He gives me a goofy grin.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. You’re right. I’m making this more of a thing than it needs to be. I’ll tell her the truth—or as close to it as I can get.” I kick him lightly with my foot. “Do you want to come with? So I can introduce you officially?”
He wiggles his eyebrows. “Ooo. Meeting the big sis. This feels like a bigger step than meeting your mom.”
I kick him a little harder. “You’re not wrong. If my mom doesn’t like you, that’s her problem. If Meggie doesn’t like you, that’syourproblem. So, you need to behave. Promise you will say nothing about Hell, demons, or any references to being inside of me, no matter the context.”
He holds up his right hand. “Scouts honor.”
Kitand I are late to dinner. We were ready on time, we just found ourselves getting distracted. Twice.
I put on the lavender skirt Kit bought me, pairing it with the cardigan since there’s a light chill in the air. Once we arrive, Kit separates from me to go use the restroom. I find Meggie in the middle of the restaurant.
“Hi,” I say, taking my seat. “Sorry. Lost track of time.”
She sips her white wine with an eyebrow raised. “Right. And where is this person making you lose track of time?”
“Bathroom,” I say. I glance around to make sure Kit is not coming to the table and lean forward to hiss, “Be nice to him.”
She feigns insult. “When am I not nice?”
“You were horrible to Jack when you first met him.”
“Jack was a dick.”
“Okay, that’s true. What about Simon? He was fine, he just wasn’t for me.”
“I was nice to Simon!”
“You told him he was cheap.”
Meggie huffs. “I told him that he needed to offer to pay for you every now and then. Be a gentleman, goddamn it.”
Before I can respond to that, her eyes move behind me to watch as Kit comes to the table.
“Sorry,” he says, sitting next to me and pressing a kiss to my temple. “I will never get used to peeing again. It is so unnecessary and weirdly time-consuming. You don’t realize how time-consuming it is until you don’t have to do it for hundreds of years.”
I grab his knee and squeeze a little harder than I need to. I say to my sister, “He’s joking. Megs, this is Kit. Kit, Meggie.”
Kit reaches a hand across the table. “Hi,” he says. “Nice to meet you. I was definitely joking. I regularly use the bathroomand have for every moment I’ve been alive.”
My nails dig harder into his knee. I’m going to kill him. “Wow, this is a great time to change the subject.” I look to my sister. “Kit is the friend I told you about who helped me with the video I submitted.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh! She said you moved to Missouri. I’m glad you ended up sticking around.”
He smiles, brow furrowing at the Missouri comment. “Me, too.” Then he says, more to me than her, “I’m not going anywhere.”
I un-dig my nails from his knee, offering a gentle stroke of his thigh instead. “I know.”
Meggie slaps a hand over her heart. “Aw, he knows how to cater to your abandonment issues!”
