Leaving my perch on the kitchen barstool, I let her pull me into a hug. A heartbeat later, Millie’s there, too, her arms around me for the hundredth time today. My body relaxes into the embrace. This is exactly what I needed—to be sandwiched between the two people who’ve had my back since the day I was born.And as I breathe in their familiar scents and feel their arms tangled around me, I finally let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s going to be okay.” Tessa’s voice is so sure that I can’t help but believe her.
Thirty minutes later, my sisters and I are sitting cross-legged around a giant charcuterie board, with glasses of wine and10Things I Hate About Youplaying on the television. Avery and Eloise helped us set up an air mattress in the middle of the living room, complete with a fluffy duvet and at least ten pillows, for what we called asisters’ sleepover.
“Can we have a sisters’ sleepover too?” Ave had asked as she climbed onto the mattress.
Eloise stuck her bottom lip out and flashed some puppy eyes that almost had me giving in. But Finn promised their own sleepover upstairs, and I swore to take them to the park in the morning. Which garnered enough excitement that they were running to their bedroom, their dog, Pepper, bounding after them.
“Okay, catch me up.” Tessa pops a grape into her mouth. “What did you already tell Millie?”
I roll my eyes. “We waited for you to get here.”
“Knew how mad you’d be if you missed anything.” Millie gives her a knowing look.
Tessa grins. “You two get me.”
“Or we’re scared of you,” Millie murmurs into her glass.
“Whatever works.” Tessa flutters her lashes. “So fill us both in, Fabes.”
I sip my wine and sigh. “It’s a whole lot of things that seem unrelated, but they’re somehow tangled up together.”
“Then give us the pieces and we’ll sort them,” Tessa assures me, which is exactly what I need—someone to make sense of this for me.
Grabbing a slice of cheese, I tell them, “I think I messed everything up with Theo.”
Millie’s smile is sympathetic. “I find that hard to believe, but tell us what you mean.”
The emotions from earlier prickle behind my eyes again. There’s no great way to explain everything, so it tumbles out in a messy string of sentences.
“I finally worked up the nerve to call the property owner for the bookshop, but it’s already rented to someone else. So I was falling apart, and I wanted to leave. Just run away and not think about it anymore. But the Bronco died—which ended up being a stupid battery cable issue, but I was already losing it at that point—and I just... wanted to quit everything.”
They exchange a look, but I can’t stop to clarify. I’m on a roll, and if I pause, I may never get going again.
“Then Theo shows up and says he won’t let me quit. We’ve been doing this fake dating thing—with a contract and rules. It’s supposed to be casual, but out of nowhere, he says he hasrealfeelings for me. He’s the one who’s been telling me this can’t be real—that he doesn’t trust himself enough. This whole time I’ve been keeping a wall up, trying not to let myself fall for him, but then he said that and”—my hands go wide, frazzled—“I was trying to leave, and he didn’t want me to, and then I... said something awful.” I gulp in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Millie’s eyes are full of concern. “What did you say?”
I swallow against my dry throat, not wanting to repeat it. But at the same time, I think the only way to face it might be to let it out and be honest. Ican’t hide it if I want to fix it. “I said I was leaving just like he did at the parade.”
Both of their faces confirm what I feared—the jab was unnecessarily cruel. Guilt gnaws at my insides.
“Okay.” Tessa takes a big swallow of wine. “A lot to unravel there.”
“We should’ve taken notes,” Millie chimes in.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Don’t apologize,” Millie says quickly. “This is a safe space. No sorries needed. This is what we’re here for.”
“Makes me feel useful. Ilive for this kind of stuff,” Tessa assures me, tying her long hair into a bun, like she means business. “Let’s chat about Theo, then we’ll circle back to... a bookshop? Did I hear that right?” I nod, my cheeks heating. “Coming back to that, then.”
“First, nothing is beyond repair.” Millie rubs a hand over my back soothingly. “People say things they regret all the time in the heat of the moment.”
“Absolutely.” Tessa stacks some cheese and prosciutto on a cracker and hands it to me. “The important part is apologizing and trying to do better next time.” She shrugs. “At least that’s what I’ve been trying to tell Harrison, not that he takes my advice.”
My gaze meets Millie’s for a beat. Harrison and Tessa have been together for a few years and recently got engaged on a trip to Bali. The photos were beautiful and everything in their relationship seems to be progressing exactly how Tessa hoped it would. The only problem is, we have yet to meet him, and in a tight-knit family like ours, none of us know what to make of that.
