“You had me there for a second,” I tell Nick. “But I havewatched that movie an inadvisable number of times, to the point that I have it memorized.”
“A fellowBFGWfan! I love her!” Nick yells, wrapping an arm around me. “What aboutMamma Mia?”
“Obsessed,” I admit.
He slaps a hand over his heart. “I’m a goner.”
Gently, Lydia draws me out of Nick’s adoring clutches. “Come on, Thea,” she says. “Let’s get you a glass of wine.”
I follow Lydia into the kitchen, glancing over my shoulder at Alex, who seems to be bickering with his dad and one of the sisters, pointing to the banner.
“You’re not together, are you.” Lydia says. A statement. Not a question.
“Um, no?” I glance over my shoulder again, hoping I’m not messing something up. Alex would have told me if he wanted me to lie to his family about us being a couple.
“Ariana was positive you were. Apparently, you’re a prominent feature in Alex’s social media,” she explains.
My cheeks heat. After the petty bike race, Alex and I decided we’d start posting photos of each other on our feed. Nothing overtly romantic, more of a statement. The longer Jen and Ethan last, the more, it seems, we both want to prove we’re lasting, too, even as something different. Something that, in my mind, is infinitely better. Because it’s safe and solid. Because Ethan and Jen could break up tomorrow, hearts freshly shattered. But Alex and me? No such risk.
“We’re just friends,” I explain. “Our exes are together, and we sort of bonded over that at first. But now…” I shrug, smiling, nervous. “It’s a friendship of its own. A good one.”
Lydia smiles. “That sounds very healthy. I have no ill willtoward Jen, because she’s the mother of my granddaughter, so please know I’m not judging her, but I have no idea how she could jump right from one relationship to another. Heartbreak needs time to heal. And the people who hurt each other need time to figure out how that happened, what role they played. That way, when they want another relationship, they don’t just do it all over again, repeating the same mistakes.”
I blink, a little taken aback. And… maybe a little encouraged by it. Could that happen for me? After enough time has passed, might there be a day when I trust that Icouldpursue romance again without holding my breath, terrified for it to implode on me?
Lydia sets a glass in front of me, then points to the bottles lined up on the counter. “Red, white, or rosé?”
In the chilly months, I love red. But that bottle’s not open. “I like it all,” I tell her.
“But which would youlove?” she asks, smiling up at me.
“Oh. Um.” I clear my throat.
“I’m going to open them all for dinner,” she says, leaning in. “So don’t you worry about asking for an unopened bottle.”
She reaches for the red, cuts across the seal, twists the corkscrew in, then yanks the cork out with a pop.
“How’d you know?” I ask.
“Your eyes,” she says. “They lingered.”
I make a mental note to be sure my eyes linger nowhere else tonight that Lydia might notice. Say, on her son, whom, despite the bushy fall beard he’s grown, I still very much want to kiss.
Lydia pours me a glass of red as she says, “I’ll get Ari to take down the banner.”
We both dart a glance toward the entryway, where Alex and the same sister—Ari?—and his dad are still going at it. Lydia peersback at me, then nods toward the counter, where a bowl of fishy-smelling mollusks sit. “Ever shucked oysters before?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Never eaten them, either. But I’m happy to try.”
“Excellent.” Lydia takes a sip of her wine. I take a sip, too. “While we shuck, you can tell me all about yourself. Your background. Your family. Your divorce. I want to hear it all!”
When she turns toward the oysters, I take the kind of sip I really need.
A deep, bracing gulp.
A game of Pit dominates the dining room table. It’s loud and hot. My cheeks are flushed, my hair sweat-frizzed and tugged up onto my head. Alex’s body’s has brushed mine with every movement of the game. Which means, it’s been constant.
Named the winner, Alex raises his hand in a magnanimous wave. We all boo and hiss. His sisters frisbee cards at him.
