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No way was I signing up for that.

I had other things in my life to fill my time and to satisfy me. I didn’t need someone living in my house that was going to end up resenting and hating me for the rest of our lives. Sure, divorce was an option, but I’d still be left with a broken heart. Not giving it a chance to get broken in the first place was a better option.

Before she’d married my father, my mother had been an amazing artist. I’d found some of her paintings once and asked her about it. She said she gave up art to have her family, but I knew the real reason. My dad had come into the picture and she’d given it up. He sucked all the joy out of her and left her with nothing. And she’d done the same to him. I couldn’t remember the last time my dad had laughed or smiled or enjoyed anything.

Growing up with them I’d dreamed about finding out that I was adopted and my real family would come and take me away. I’d have siblings and a mom who hugged me and read books and baked cookies and a dad who never missed my school events and taught me how to drive.

That wish never came true.

Now I was an adult and none of that mattered anymore. Only that I avoided everything my parents did so I don’t end up like them.

Eloise was waiting for an answer and I didn’t have one for her.

“I believe that you believe it. That’s all I can give you right now,” I said.

She sighed. “I understand.”

Her fingers gripped her glass and she opened her mouth to say something else, but Cade ran over, her face flushed and her smile bright.

“El, come on! I want to show you how to do a double under.” The way Eloise’s face softened when she looked up at Cade made me look away as something uncomfortable twisted in my gut.

“Cadence, I don’t think I’m in the right outfit for jumping rope,” Eloise said, but Cade just rolled her eyes.

“Go put on your yoga pants and your workout shoes on. Please? It’ll be fun.”

I expected Eloise to refuse again, but she just shook her head as if she was trying to hide a smile.

“The things I do for you,” she said as she stood up.

Cade used Eloise’s shirt to pull her closer, resting her arms on Eloise’s shoulders and grinning.

“You’d do anything for me because you love me,” Cade said.

Eloise leaned in and I could just hear her saying “I suppose I do” in Cade’s ear before kissing her cheek gently and going into the house.

Cade looked after Eloise with stars in her eyes before flopping down on the chair Eloise had vacated.

“So. How did it go interrogating Eloise?” Cade asked.

“I wasn’t interrogating her,” I said. “I was being a friend, there’s a difference.”

Cade’s sunny demeanor dropped. “Listen. I know you are my best friend and I love you, and I love you looking out for me. But you’ve got to stop treating Eloise like this. She’s not making me do anything. She takes care of me, and she loves me. I know you have a hard time trusting people, but I need you to trust me. Trust that I know what I’m doing. And that I know the woman I love.”

My immediate reaction was to argue. To say that wasn’t what I was doing. That I just wanted to make sure that Cade wasn’t making a mistake.

But she was right. Eloise was her mistake to make. And I had been kind of a bitch about it. I was a bitch about a lot of things, but I might have taken this a little too far.

Fuck.

Shame and guilt curdled in my stomach and I looked at Cade.

“I’m sorry, Cade. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

She just smiled and came over to give me a hug. “It’s okay. Your heart was in the right place. You just got a little carried away.”

I hugged her back. Hugging wasn’t something that I did very often, and I always felt awkward about it. That was what happened when your parents didn’t give you enough physical affection as a child. You struggled with it as an adult and now here I was.

Cade let me go and Eloise returned wearing yoga pants and sneakers.