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I smile back.

There is absolutely no reason for that to feel as intimate as it does.

“You’re doing it again,” Maggie says.

“I know.”

“Oh, good. We’ve reached acceptance.”

“Maggie,” I say with a groan, and I’m tempted to walk out onto the patio and stay there until every single soul has left this house to save me from the embarrassment I feel right now.

She leaves me a minute later under the pretense of getting another drink, although her glass is still half full. I don’t immediately cross the room, because apparently there are limits to this newfound acceptance.

Instead, I finish enough of my drink to justify putting the cup down and spend another minute pretending to be interested in a conversation happening next to me about mining for cryptocurrency. I manage to catch approximately none of it once I’ve deciphered it’s just two dude bros talking nonsense.

Then Merry is moving in my direction, but I’m confident not toward me. I’m sure she’s heading to the patio, which happens to require passing close enough to me that when she gets to the sliding door, she slows.

“Hi.”

”Hi.”

For all the looking we’ve been doing, neither of us seems particularly prepared for the talking. Up close, I can see that her cheeks are a lovely shade of pink, whether from the heat in the space or whatever she’s been drinking. There is glitter near one of her eyes that catches the light when she turns her head, and I have the absurd urge to reach up and touch it.

I wrap my fingers firmly around my dress instead.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” she says.

“I didn’t know you were coming either.”

“Good.”

I raise an eyebrow.

She laughs. “No. Not good that I didn’t know. Good that you’re here.”

Something in my chest shifts. “I’m glad you’re here, too.”

For once, Merry doesn’t immediately fill the silence.

Her eyes stay on mine for a second before drifting over my shoulder. “Is that your friend?” she asks, almost absentmindedly. I don’t know if she’s trying to be casual or not, but I find it endearing regardless.

“Maggie?”

“The woman you were talking to.”

“That’s Maggie.”

Merry nods, concentrating on this information with considerably more attention than the situation seems to require. She scans the room, then looks back at me. There’s a tiny crease between her eyebrows.

I almost let her off the hook.

“Did you want to ask me something?"

“No.”

I smile.

Merry exhales. “Okay, that sounded suspicious even to me.”