“You don’t think Alex is perfect?” Julie asked, voice soft, both hands tucked in the pockets of Devin’s hoodie now.
“Well,yeah,obviously,” Chris scoffed. “But I dunno if you missed the part where I was planning on marrying him?”
“I think Marta’s perfect,” Julie said.
That made my heart light up. I liked Marta, and I liked Julie, so it was good to hear they were happy. Marta, I didn’t need to ask—I saw the way she looked at Julie, like she’d die for her.
The same way I looked at Devin, I was pretty sure.
“What about you two?” I asked. “Any plans for marriage?”
“Oh, we talked about it,” Julie said. “On our third date. We’re waiting until I’m done with grad school and Marta’s promoted to manager at the store.Thenwe’ll get married.”
“Third date?” Chris asked.
Julie nodded.
“You guys really are lesbians,” he concluded, leaning back against the wall of the van.
Julie laughed, picking at her skirts, blushing like she always did when she talked about Marta. Third date plans or not, there was real love there. Comfortable, everyday love, the kind that made a relationship work forever.
I hoped I was invited to their wedding.
“Wait,” I said, reallyhearingwhat Julie had been saying. “How do you know Marta’s gonna make manager? Devin’s worked there longer, right? Shouldn’thebe the next manager?”
Julie shook her head. “Devin doesn’t want to manage the store. He wants Marta to manage the store so he can step down to part-time and organize his shifts around his college classes.”
“College classes?” I asked. Devin had dropped out, I remembered that, but I had no idea he was goingback.
“He wants to be a teacher,” Chris said, sharing a smile with Julie. “He loves taking the kids’ classes when we’re on the mountain. He’s good with ‘em, too. I would definitely have dropped one in a snow drift by now, but he’s got the patience of a saint. And the little animals love him.”
“Alex know you don’t want kids?” I asked, smiling at the thought of Devin surrounded by a flock of them, each one just as in love with him as I was.
In love with him.
Okay.
Okay.
I’d known that was going to happen, nothing to be surprised about.
A littlefast, but…
I’d been opening myself up to it for years, why shouldn’t it happen fast? I’d probably been in love with Devin a long time. I’d just never quitethoughtit. Never been brave enough to think it.
“I’d love my own kids,” Chris said. “Have you met the kind of people who can afford to ski,with children, without also teaching classes to pay for board? Their kids are nightmares. Alex and I would be model parents,” he finished, nose in the air.
Julie giggled, but it wasn’t an unkind giggle. I thought maybe she was picturing Alex and Chris with a flock of kids around their feet, too.
“I’m sure you would—”
A bang on the door of the van interrupted me, and I looked up to see Devin peering around the edge. He grinned at me, bright and warm and like nothing at all had changed, and then swooped in for a kiss.
Brad huffed, but I was having the best day of my life, so I didn’t care all that much.
“Got your starting times?” I asked, trying not to stare as Alex pounced on Chris, knocking him further into the van.
“Would’ve gotten better ones if you two hadn’t been so slow,” Brad complained.
