Danica shook her head, but her smile softened. “Nice try. But no. Today’s not about keeping score.”
“Damn,” Maggie muttered, sinking back against the chair. “Worth a shot.”
The tension thinned, the heavy air giving way to quiet chuckles, and Maggie let herself close her eyes, grateful for the reprieve. Grateful that they let her crack and then let her laugh it off, too.
The laughter softened, fading into the hush of warm airand faint music. Maggie let her eyes fall closed again, her hands still tangled with Kiera’s and Danica’s, the three of them a little cocoon of quiet.
Then Danica’s voice wavered into the stillness. “I just need to say something, and you can’t make fun of me.”
Maggie cracked one eye open. “Okay, here it comes.”
Danica sniffled already, cheeks flushed pink beneath her mask. “I’m just… I’m so thankful for you two. For both of you. For this.” She gestured vaguely at their linked hands, her robe sleeve slipping down. “Like, do you know how rare it is? To have friends who’ve seen every version of you, even the ugly ones, and still stay anyway?”
Kiera blinked rapidly, her mouth twitching. “Danica?—”
“No, I’m serious.” Danica’s voice shook, but she plowed on. “You’ve been there through everything. Through the worst. And you still show up. And I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I… I love you both so much.”
Maggie felt the sting immediately, hot behind her eyes. She pressed the towel to her face, laughing helplessly as tears welled again. “Damn it, Danica.”
Kiera was already crying, too. “You’re not allowed to do this while I’ve got a seaweed mask on, you monster.”
Maggie was gone again, tears sliding, shoulders shaking, laughing and crying all at once. The three of them sat there in spa robes with their faces tear-streaked, masks ruined, clutching each other’s hands like lifelines.
They sat there a moment longer, sniffling and holding hands, the estheticians probably horrified behind their polite smiles.
Danica hiccuped through her tears, and Kiera dabbed uselessly at her face with the edge of her towel. Kiera laughed wetly, shaking her head. “We’re a disaster. A very expensive disaster.”
Danica let out a choked laugh of her own. “This has to be the ugliest spa brochure photo in history.”
Maggie sniffled again. “We should ask for a group discount. Three-for-one breakdown special.”
That broke them all — laughter bubbling up through the tears until they were doubled over in their robes, shoulders shaking.
Maggie gasped, clutching her stomach. “I swear, if one of you starts sobbing again, I’m demanding a refund.”
“Too late,” Kiera managed, still laughing, wiping at her cheeks.
CHAPTER 18
Gwen
The FaceTime window went black,replaced by Maggie’s reflection in the screen. For a moment, the suite was quieter, leaving Gwen still blinking at where the kids’ faces had been, her heart both full and aching.
Maggie began, “Did you see how Arlo?—”
Gwen’s phone buzzed with a work email notification. She swiped it open before she could think better of it, her inbox spilling across the screen.
Maggie groaned, dramatic, tossing herself back against the cushions. “Can you go ten seconds without bringing work here?”
“It’s an important project.” Gwen didn’t look up. She had dropped everything to be here this weekend for Maggie, and in the past, staying calm had worked. Until it hadn’t. Still, they were on tenuous ground after last night’s kiss and this morning’s softness, the ease with which Maggie was holding her hand and being around her.
Maggie’s head snapped toward her. “Yeah, you’ve been on an ‘important project’ for about tenyears, Gwen.”
The edge in her voice caught Gwen off guard, sharp in a room that was otherwise humming with soft chatter of people who were definitely straining to listen from all corners: Pete and Danica laughing in the hall, Izzy refilling drinks at the little bar cart, Kiera humming in approval at whatever playlist she’d queued.
Gwen typed out her reply to Melinda as fast as she could, then closed her phone, setting it face down on the coffee table, forcing calm into her voice. “There, all done.”
“You’re always onlyhalfhere with me,” Maggie shot back, quieter now but no less pointed.
