“I’m in the laundromat.”
“So…yes?”
I shook out one of my pairs of trousers—God bless wash-and-wear work clothes, am I right?—and tried to make my voice stern. “There’s no one here but me and my uniforms. Spill the beans.”
“Uniforms? Oh, you mean your work wear?”
“They make us all wear black trousers.” I folded them with abrupt motions, the topic a long-time irritant of mine. “Shirts are whatever color, as long as they’re bright and button-up, andoh my God why are we talking about this?”
“Because I love you, and I care about your life.”
Kesha was using herMommy tone, which is what I called it when she got all sugary and well-meaning.
I wasn’t falling for it.
With the practiced ease of one who spent her work shifts refolding shirts that customers had held up to them, then decided they didn’t want and tossed down again, I creased the arms of my favorite blouse before tucking them under. With a light tone, I tried again. “Kesha, who are you marrying, and why?”
When she blew out a breath, I could tell she was done teasing me. We’d met in grad school—her for English comp, me for archeology—and although life had taken us in very different directions from where we ever thought we’d go, we’d remained close for over a dozen years.
“So, you know how I told you Milo and I had that summer trip planned?”
“To that island, yeah.” Kesha had scrimped and saved for months to afford the rental. “His bestie lives there, right?”
“Jay, yeah. The two of them have been planning it sincelastsummer, and after the stress of this school year for him, I couldn’t say no.”
I tucked another shirt into the stack. “I know, hon.” Milo had been struggling, and his mama right alongside him. “I wish you’d let me help.”
She snorted into my ear. “You’re treading water as much as I am, Jocelyn. This is my gift to him, and I can pay?—”
“Okay, okay, yeah, you’re right.” She was. I had a steady paycheck, but it was a job I hated, and not so far above minimum wage that I could afford to be generous, even with her. My lease was up for renewal next month, and I was praying the landlord wouldn’t raise the rent. I needed to bank money for that possibility. “Should’ve marriedme, Kesha. Then Milo would have health insurance, at least.”
I mean, notgoodhealth insurance. I was considering letting it drop, just to save some money…
She sighed again. “I know we used to joke about getting married for the insurance benefits—and pooling resources. If you lived on Eastshore, I would seriously consider it.”
Frowning, I began to match socks. “What does that mean?”
“Jocelyn, everything I’ve read about Eastshore makes it sound…well, like an idyllic place to grow up. The elementary school is just what Milo needs, and he and Jay are over-the-moon about becoming brothers?—”
“What?” I screeched, a sock dropping from my hand. “You’re marrying Milo’s friend’sdad?”
“I connected with him. He’s…he’s really nice. We’ve been talking for a while, and this seems…” Kesha blew out a breath that turned into a groan. “It’s really scary, butI think I’m going to do it. I’m breaking my lease, Milo and I are loading everything into the car, and we’re moving to Eastshore Isle.”
Oh, holy shit.
I took a deep breath, tossed the last pair of socks into the basket, and braced my palms on the counter. Staring at not much of anything, I murmured, “This is big, Kesha.”
She was silent for a moment, then agreed. “Really big. But…I’ve done my research. He’s a good guy, and it’ll make Milo and Jay ridiculously happy. We have an agreement—Korrad and I—like a prenup and everything. If this goes sour, the boys aren’t going to be hurt.”
I trusted Kesha to know what she was doing, but…damn. And who was namedKorrad?
Are you sure it’s not supposed to bewhom?I tried out the trick.Him was named Konrad. He was named Karrod.No, no, it was definitely supposed to bewho. Also, what was the guy’s name, again?
Wait, what had I been thinking about?
Oh yeah. “How long have you been planning this?”
“We’ve been talking about a month now. It started out just as logistics, but his texts are funny and interesting, and…he’s a good guy,” Kesha repeated. “We made the decision a few days ago, and we’re going to do it this summer.”
