During the longest silence of Winnie’s life, Eleanor looked down at her brother, up at her friend, then back and forth between them several more times. Very slowly, understanding dawned on her face.
“Oh,” she said. Then, “Oh. Oh, you guys are…”
“Not telling you is totally my fault,” Winnie hastened to chime in. “So, please don’t get mad at Shane. He really didn’t do anything wrong. And it was only… well, we only hung out a little, and I know that we are just starting up our friendship?—”
“Winnie,” Eleanor interrupted, starting to laugh. “Winnie, honey, stop. I’m happy for you guys.”
Winnie blinked. “You are?”
“I told you so,” Shane grumbled as he fought to get his way out of the pile of soldiers. He was red in the face when he got back to his feet, but he looked more amused by the situation than anything else.
“Of course I am!” Eleanor explained, pushing past her brother to wrap an arm around Winnie’s neck. She almost knocked poor Shane back into the soldier pile. Winnie reached forward to accept the hug with relief.
“Actually,” Eleanor said, pulling back to look between them again, this time with a great deal more understanding, “it’s actually kind of perfect. I can’t put my finger on it, but weirdly, I can totally see you guys making it work.”
“I was… very nervous,” Winnie admitted. “I don’t have siblings, but I know that you’re protective of your brother.”
“I am,” Eleanor admitted. “But that’s only because he’s always working and never takes any time for himself. This is him taking time for himself.”
“I’m right here,” Shane commented mildly. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”
Eleanor ignored him.
“And besides,” Eleanor went on, “it’s basically a dream to have him dating someone I know and like. I will tell youallthe embarrassing stories about when he was a little kid.”
“Still right here,” Shane repeated.
“Like when he was maybe three or four,” Eleanor continued, not even looking at her brother, “he wasobsessedwith dogs. Like,obsessed. And one time, we gave our dog a bath out in the kiddie pool in the backyard, and for basically a whole year after that, Shane only wanted to take a bath in the outside pool.”
“Didn’t you guys live in a place that got cold?” Winnie asked.
“One hundred percent.” Eleanor nodded. “We lived in the Midwest, but, even so, February comes and little Shane is having a total meltdown because my mom wouldn’t let him take a bath in the eleven-degree weather.”
“I can hear you guys,” Shane said, “but is it possible that you can’t hear me? Am I dreaming? Am I still secretly trapped in the closet and am only hallucinating my freedom?”
“That’s extremely cute,” Winnie told Eleanor.
“Yeah, it really was,” Eleanor agreed.
“Hello, is anyone out there?” Shane called.
“Oh, hush, you pest,” Eleanor said, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Yes, I can hear you. I’m very happy for you.”
One gesture and the siblings were reunited again.
“Technically, Winnie didn’t agree to go out with me yet,” he said, shooting Winnie a wink that told her he was just playing around. “I came over here to ask, and she said something about being nervous about my mean, scary sister. And then I got shoved in a closet.”
“She did not say that,” Eleanor retorted before Winnie could rush to defend herself. “Winnie is great. You’re the difficult one. That’s why you got shoved into a closet.”
Shane huffed out a breath. “Tough crowd.”
Winnie felt her cheeks start to hurt and realized that she was grinning from ear to ear. Not only were these two perfectly hilarious together, but she was practically dizzy with relief over Eleanor’s reaction to her and Shane’s budding romance. So many things were happening recently, and all of them were wonderful.
“Hey, look at who all is here!”
Cadence’s cheerful voice made Winnie, Shane, and Eleanor all turn to see where she and Tyler were coming around, following the same path that Eleanor had taken only a few minutes before.
“We’re not late, are we?” Tyler asked with a frown.
