I note the kitchen is spotless. The pan, knife, and cheese grater Zander used last night are sitting in the drying rack next to the sink. I smile.
“Hey,” I say, placing a hand on his chest, “would you mind going back up and getting the tray from last night?”
He agrees without a second thought. I sigh as I turn back to Willow, who is positively seething. Because of course she is. I crack two eggs into a plastic bowl and wait for her to explode.
“Addie,” Willow finally says after I’ve started whisking the eggs, milk, and cinnamon. “Can you warn me the next time you bring a criminal into the house? Seems like common decency, don’t you think?”
I drop the whisk. I feel Zander’s presence just behind me.
Crap.
“Willow.” I try to keep my anger in check. My knuckles go white against the counter. “First of all, this is my house. I don’t care that you think you have some sort of claim over it, or me, but you don’t. You don’t get to make decisions about what I do and don’t do.” She punctuates this with an eye roll and aggressive chew of her breakfast. “And second, apologize if you want to live here.” I don’t know where it comes from. I’ve wanted to say this to her a million times, but it’s never come out. “That was rude and uncalled for. You don’t even say hello, you just call someone a name.”
Willow sighs and stands. She grabs her bowl and laptop, pushes between me and Zander, and drops the bowl in the sink. She faces me, completely ignoring him.
“I won’t be apologizing,” she says. “I would, however, like one from you. You brought home trash and you woke me up when you fucked him. Make better choices.”
With that, she leaves. I hope it’s for good as she noisily finds her car keys and slams the front door, but I know she’ll come crawling back. She’ll spin this, tell my dad, tellherdad, and make everything my fault. It’ll be up to me, once again, to keep the peace in my family.
“Bitch,” I say and throw a piece of bread at the wall.
Zander bends to pick up the bread, adds it to the food from last night, and dumps the leftovers into my compost bin. He adds the dishes into the sink, then loops around to the other side of the island. He gives me a small, sad smile.
“So, Adelaide Ramsay only swears when she’s having an orgasm and arguing with her cousin.”
“I guess so,” I say, vigorously whisking once again. “Both situations deserve it.”
“Hey.” He places a hand over mine, stilling my movements. The mixture is frothy and overworked. “Thank you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Zander
Ipace in front of the library almost a week later, which likely makes the people of Beaver Creek believe I’m as much of a lunatic as they think I am. This would be the perfect moment for Lucy to drop her stubborn butt on my feet and calm my nerves, but I left her at Gran’s. I regret this decision now.
I should not be this nervous. And I know I tell myself that frequently when in town. I have as much a right here as anyone else, and luckily some of that angsthasslipped away. But today, we’re going on a double date with Addie’s best friends and fuck if that isn’t nerve-racking. Not even the socks Addie made for me make me feel better. It usually gives me some comfort to have a little piece of her on me at all times, but seeing as how she’s about to join me, the socks don’t technically need to do anything.
A group of older women walk down the front steps of the library, laughing and brandishing their embroidery. I check my phone. Right on time.
Addie walks out with my grandma. Her red hair catches the golden hour sunlight, making my stomach flip. Her striped tank top fits her perfectly, moulds to the curves I love so much,complemented perfectly by the colours in the embroidered flowers on her jean shorts. The sunburn from last Wednesday has turned into even more freckles dotting her skin. I love the constellation of her. She shakes her head at something Gran said, smirking, then snapping her fingers. She pulls that bright pink notebook out of her bag, stops in the middle of the sidewalk, and scrawls something out.
I find myself dazed, with a stupid little grin on my face. I’m rooted to the spot. I feelfine.
“Hey, Zander, sweetie,” Gran says, spotting me first.
Addie looks up from her notebook, stuffs it back in her bag, then pulls out something yellow and precisely folded. I don’t expect the speed at which she runs at me from only a few feet away. She jumps into my arms and attacks my lips.
“Hi,” she says when she breaks from the kiss. She brushes hair from my eyes. “You look cute today. I made you something.”
Addie steps back and unfolds the shirt in her hands. It’s my size, pale yellow, with a sunflower embroidered over a breast pocket. Yellow.
“You got me the shirt.”
“I told you I’d get you in a yellow shirt. It’s for your book signing.”
I don’t have the words to tell her, once again, how much this means to me, so I just wrap her in a hug. I close my eyes and breathe her in. I could stand like this for hours if she let me.
“I’m heading home,” Gran says, eyes twinkling. I stutter out something that doesn’t make any sense and she laughs. She taps my shoulder as she passes. “Keep this up and you’ll live a full life. You dropped Lucy off?”
