“She’s very kind. And I’m very not.”
“You little—come on, we’re checking the donuts and if they’re squished thenyouare buying us new ones,” she said, and I laughed with them as she pulled Jade away to the side, just as another figure joined us from around the house and I looked at where Daniela sidled up next to me, leaning against the car with a tired smile my way.
“Kindly, respectfully,” she said, “you look like shit. This place hasn’t been good to you, huh?”
“It… no,” I whispered, looking down. “I was just…”
Now that I was here, the knowledge of what I’d been about to do was so unbearable I couldn’t even say it. But she didn’t need me to. She just smiled at me and gave me a casual one-shoulder shrug. “Well, looks like I win the argument. You’re staying in Vermont.”
“Daniela, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have lied and hid things from you, I was just…”
“It’s okay. Honestly.” She put a hand on my shoulder, a soft, comforting touch. “We’ve all been learning how to talk to one another. God knows it’s not always easy. I didn’t mean to lose my temper on you, and I sure as hell wasn’t trying to sendyou away altogether. I hope you know, even when I’m mad at you, I still love you and want you around. So no more of this kind of thing, okay?”
I nodded, trying to speak—to say anything—but I was welling up so much, my face hot, that words were hard to come by. I managed to whisper, “Thank you,” and she grinned.
“Now I see why you were so intent on getting Jade to stick around. Just couldn’t bear to say goodbye to a girl with strong muscles, huh?”
“Oh, Jesus, it’s not like that.”
“And when you both disappeared for a bit at Gianni’s?”
I looked away, my face burning. “We made out against the wall.”
“Damn. That’s hot.”
She didn’t know the half of it. And she wasn’t going to. “You’re, um… you’re not mad about it?”
“I’ve moved on.” She shrugged. “I mean, already shot my shot. Already felt my disappointment and had my moment feeling dumb about it. You’re still both two of my very best friends, and I want you both to be happy. And you sure as hell seem happy together. And besides, I, uh…” She glanced over at where Jade and Cat were arguing over a donut, and she laughed once, nervously. “Forget it. I’m happy, you know? I have the three of you.”
I paused. “Wait, are you—”
“Exhausted? Absolutely. A road trip together was fun for the first six hours.”
“Daniela—”
“We should crash here tonight, get a hotel room unless you want to all crowd into this house, have those tamales and donuts.”
“Are you—”
“Nothing beats tamales and donuts as a combination.”
“Do you have a crush on Cat?”
“Shush.She’ll hear you.”
“What—no she won’t!”
“She’ll feel the vibrations!Jadewill hear you! Shh.” She put a finger to my lips. “It’s just fun to hang out! And to cook together. And we kinda sorta had sex a little bit.”
“What?”
“Don’tworryabout it.”
“How do you have sex alittle bit?”
She put her hands up. “We kept our clothes on. And we didn’t really talk about it. It kinda just happened.”
“Jesus. Okay.” I shook my head, still processing. Maybe I really couldn’t leave. There was no telling what these people would get up to if left unsupervised. “So you—”
