Olivia paused for a beat longer than she needed to. “Yeah. Which means we’re going to have to move his office…downstairs.”
Merritt rested the wooden spoon on the counter. “You mean, you’re going to move it to my room.” It wasn’t a question.
Olivia gracefully rose from the chair and swept past Merritt to grab a glass from the cabinet. “Well…yeah,” she mumbled, opening the fridge to pull out the water filter. “Except…it wouldn’t be your room. By then. Right? It would just be…Dev’s office.”
She avoided Merritt’s gaze as she filled the glass and returned the pitcher to the fridge. Merritt leaned against the counter and crossed her arms.
“If you want me to move out, just say that. You don’t have to be so weird about it.” She tried to keep her tone even, no trace of the gathering storm. Olivia sighed as she returned to her stool.
“I mean…it’s not like you could keep living here forever.”
“It hasn’t been forever,” Merritt retorted, stirring the curry with renewed vigor.
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “It’s been two years.”
Merritt snorted. “Don’t exaggerate. It’s only been…” She flicked her eyes to the ceiling and counted in her head.April, May, June…“Twenty-seven months,” she muttered, deflated.
“You don’t have to leave until the fall. You’ll have plenty of time to get your house ready.”
When Merritt had crawled out from the wreckage of her last relationship and fled Los Angeles for Olivia and Dev’s sleepy Colorado ski town (population 1,543), she had no plans to stay there. She’d sworn to them that she’d be crashing for a week at most, until the dust settled and she could slink back to Los Feliz with as much dignity as she could muster.
She must have been addled by the altitude, however, because she’d put an impulsive cash offer on a house atop the mountain three days after she arrived, instantly seduced by the town’s picturesque natural beauty and kitschy charm. The house had been sitting vacant for a few years and needed some basic renovations before she could move in. Small enough that she’d put them off for a month, then two—then twenty-seven.
In the meantime, she’d settled into a life of unconventional domesticity with Olivia and Dev, splitting the mortgage and bills and chores and cooking dinner for the three of them practically every night. Of course she’d known it couldn’t last forever, but she’d delighted in the unexpected chance to live with her sister as adults—exactly the shot in the arm their relationship had needed.
But now she’d be leaving the warmth and laughter of Dev and Olivia’s kitchen for the dark solitude of her abandoned house. Alone and directionless at thirty-five, while Olivia hit yet another milestone Merritt likely never would.
Everything was about to change, Merritt realized in a dizzying flash, in ways she couldn’t even anticipate yet.
She shut her eyes and took another calming breath, bracing her palms against the cool metal edge of the stove. This would only be a big deal if she made it a big deal. She’d be moving less than ten minutes away, just up the mountain. The kitchen and laughter and warmth would still be here whenever she needed it.
The rice cooker beeped behind her, and she released the lid, steam billowing out of it.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay a little longer than that? Don’t you want help?”
Olivia stared into her water glass. “I was going to ask Mom to come for a while, actually.”
“You think she’ll be much help?”
“I mean, she did it three times, I’m sure she has a few tips,” Olivia said, her voice icier than necessary.
These days, Merritt’s relationship with their mother was minimal. The two of them were in polite contact at all only for Olivia’s sake—so being replaced with her was effectively banning Merritt from the premises.
“Do you not trust me or something?” Merritt asked, cranking the can opener around the rim of the coconut milk so aggressively she felt the muscles in her neck strain.
“God. This is why I didn’t want to tell you yet,” Olivia said with a groan.
“Tell me what? That you’re evicting me because I’m too irresponsible to be around your baby?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Yes. Exactly. That’s my big news, aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
Merritt set her jaw and stirred the coconut milk into the pan.
Before she could reply, Dev burst through the front door along with a blast of icy air.
“Smells great in here.” He stopped short as he took in the tense scene in the kitchen: the hard line between Olivia’s eyebrows, Merritt’s rigid shoulders. “What’s up?” he asked cautiously, his grin fading.
Merritt flipped off the burner. “Nothing. Dinner’s ready and Olivia’s pregnant.”
