Page 14 of Can We Skip to the Good Part?

“Um, I think so,” Morgan said with an apologetic cringe. She was showing her innocence again. “They’re married and settled and more supportive than most of the parents I know. I mean, they make spaghetti every Thursday. Some people might say boring.”

“I would never say that. Mine aren’t awful by any means, but sometimes they make me feel like …”

“You disappoint them,” she said quietly.

“Yes. That.” Max tossed back the rest of her glass and then set it aside. Maybe she’d take a break.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She turned back to see Ella standing a few feet behind her with a completed cheese and charcuterie tray worthy of a photo shoot.

“I hope Stevie won’t mind me finishing up on her behalf.”

“Where is she anyway?” Morgan asked, craning her neck to see down the hall.

“Me?” Ariana asked, appearing in the entryway. “Right here. And, surprise! I brought Olive. She was loitering out front, so I thought, why not?”

Olive, bless her, dropped her brows and reddened. “I was just walking up. No loitering.”

Ariana loved to mess with her. She slung an arm around Olive’s neck and grinned. “It was a joke, Olive. You make it too easy.”

“I’m not a loiterer,” Olive said quietly to Morgan as she slid onto the couch.

Morgan patted her knee. “I know this about you.”

“Hi, there, everyone,” Stevie said, appearing from the hallway. “Brief announcement. I already told Ella and M, but let’s just get it out there.” Ariana and Morgan exchanged a look. Olive sat taller. “Dominic and I are going our separate ways.”

“Stevie,” Morgan said quietly. She was close enough to reach out and squeeze Stevie’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“He didn’t cheat on me. We still like each other. It’s probably just that I’m primarily interested in women.”

“Oh,” Ariana said, nodding.

“You saw this coming?” Max asked quietly, eyes still on Stevie.

“Hundred percent,” Ariana said without moving her mouth. “Hey, we got you,” she told Stevie.

“We don’t have to make a big deal about it. I just thought you should know. You’re my friends, and I love you.”

“And we love you,” Olive said. “Is there anyone … special?”

Stevie’s eyes went wide. “No. I wouldn’t know the first thing about women.”

“Luckily, we do,” Max tossed in with a wink. She felt Ella’s eyes on her profile, but didn’t spare her a glance. If she wanted to coexist, that’s what they would do. “I’ll be your wingwoman anytime.”

Stevie, the most confident woman she’d ever encountered, actually blushed and waved her off. “Enough of my drama. Let’s talk about this book. These two should be presidents of the Mile High Club.”

“First of all, who here is a member?” Ariana asked.

To everyone’s absolute shock, the only hand raised belonged to Morgan.

“I’m sorry, Madam School Teacher,” Ariana said. “We’re going to need that story.”

Morgan shrugged. “It was a long flight, and my situationship at the time needed some assistance in the restroom. I merely obliged.” She picked up her copy of the book and thumbed through it. “Now, let’s get back to business. The flashbacks were my favorite.”

And they were off. Dishing and dissecting.

Throughout much of the back-and-forth, Max sipped her newly poured wine and tried to stay with the conversation and not think for a minute about the way Ella’s blond hair brushed her shoulders, prompting her to flip it behind her back until it finally made its way to rest on her shoulder again the more she talked.

The hair battle left her hot and bothered, and she hated it.

“I found myself pulled in every time they kissed,” Ella said. “I don’t care what was happening that might have pissed me off in the scenes leading up, but when those two grabbed each other and went for it? My heart went right along with them.”

“Right, but on chapter,” Max paged through her hard copy, “eighteen, I was rolling my eyes. They’re at this huge impasse, and they pause their very intense argument because one can’t stop lusting after the other one to the point that they have to kiss.”

“It’s fiery and awesome.” Ella shrugged and turned to her. “I think it speaks to their level of chemistry. The heat cannot be contained.”

Max snorted. Not her best moment. This was the wine egging her on. “It’s unrealistic.”

“Maybe that’s why I like it,” Ella said flatly, eyes flaring. “Isn’t romance about escape?”

“Why does it have to be? I’d love to see a glimpse of the real-life love we all battle every day represented on these pages.” She raised a shoulder and let it fall. “That’s all.”

She blinked. “I can’t say I agree in the slightest.”

“And that’s not surprising.”

That’s when Max realized the room was watching their exchange intently, confusion hanging from all four faces. “It’s good to disagree,” Stevie said brightly, clearly attempting to reclaim the discussion and shift them into friendlier territory. “It celebrates our different perspectives.”

Ella did the brush-off-the-shoulder thing, and Max resisted an eye roll. It was going to be a long night.

Oh, for fuck’s sake . Ella’s second book club meeting was proving to be way more complicated than her first. To kick them off, Stevie dropped the coming-out bombshell.

And now, Max was on a very determined mission to undermine almost every word out of Ella’s mouth.

Meanwhile, she was waging a battle within herself to reconcile the various versions of Max in her mind.

She needed to fixate on something other than Max Wyler, who’d spent the better part of the evening being awful.

“Why are you so awful tonight?” That was the sentence that leapt from Ella’s lips the second they were alone following the more tumultuous book club meeting. The others had gathered up wineglasses and plates and were chatting away in the kitchen.

Max turned to her, incredulity bursting onto her features.

She was all parted lips and dropped brows and caught Ella in a sideways stare.

Say what you would, but she really had the best eyebrows, so expressive and perfect, bested only by those big brown eyes that were regarding her now with less than careful judgment. “I’m the awful one? Me? What did I do?”

“You challenged every opinion I offered tonight. You didn’t do that with anyone else in the room.”

“I provided a counterpoint, which is actually what a book club discussion is designed to include.” She held out a steadying hand. “But I realize you’re new. Maybe next time you won’t be caught off guard by a little back-and-forth.”

Oh, that comment got under her skin. She saw Max’s lawyer side coming out. “See? That was patronizing and uncalled for, making me seem sensitive and unprepared.”

The fire in Max’s eyes weakened. “Sorry. I heard it, too, that time.”

“You were lawyering me.”

“A little.”

They both exhaled at the same time, and if they had been on the same side, it would have been humorous.

Max’s mouth pulled sideways. “Is it imperative that you dislike me automatically just because I wasn’t a match with your friend?”

“You stomped on her heart.”

“We ended months ago. Do you know how many people I’ve dated since? Zero. She was dating someone two weeks later, so it couldn’t have been that broken.”

That pulled Ella up short, and she wondered if it could be true. Had Rachel moved on that quickly? “I’m sure if she did that, it was out of necessity. A rebound.”

“Great. But why is that my fault?”

“You ghosted her.”

“I absolutely did not.” She squinted and regarded Ella with a question mark hanging over her.

“What in the world are we talking about over here?” Ariana asked, striding toward them with both hands in her back pockets.

She’d pulled her brown hair into a ponytail earlier in the evening when the discussion had turned lively.

“A continuation of the first kiss debate? You two had some strong opinions.”

Ella decided that honesty was the best approach. “Max used to date my best friend.”

“Say again.” Ariana blinked widely. She swiveled to Max. “The only person you’ve dated in forever is …”

“Rachel,” Max said resolutely. “Remember her? They live together.”

She swiveled back. “You live with Rachel?” Ariana asked, eyes even wider. “Sorry if it seemed like I shouted that. I wasn’t expecting that information.” She returned to Max. “The Rachel?” she mouthed as if Ella wasn’t standing right there.

Max nodded wholeheartedly about six times.

“Yes. I’m currently staying with her until I find my own place.” Ella felt the need to explain further. “Rach and I went to college together. She’s my best friend.”

“Well, that’s great,” Ariana said, but her eyes went flat.

Fire flared in Ella’s chest, and she resisted the urge to stand taller in defense of her friend.

Apparently, the group had opinions. Probably Max’s doing.

They’d heard her version of the story, and probably not at all how Max had crushed Rachel’s heart like a bug.

Ella shoved aside the knowledge that she hadn’t actually heard Max’s story herself because that seemed beside the point.

Rachel was someone she cared deeply about.

She was a good egg, if a little caught up in her own trajectory.

Just that morning, she’d monologued her list of grievances to Ella without so much as taking a breath.

Her lawn care service dared to raise prices.

Her blueberry bagel should be way more crunchy after a good toasting.

Her assistant at work needed a hairstyling tutorial.

Her car. The morning news anchor. Her friend, Stephanie.

All without asking Ella a thing about her life or morning.

An oversight, surely, but thinking of others was maybe one of Rachel’s weaknesses.

“Well. What a small world!” Ariana said, regrouping with a burst of faux enthusiasm.

“It turned out to be, yes,” Max said, with a matching grin and an exaggerated hand to her hip. “So tiny, one can hardly believe it!” The bite in her tone said a lot.