Page 18 of Distant Shores (Stapled Magnolias #2)
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She tugged on her sweatpants, grimacing. She was beyond ready to leave. “This is a win for everyone. Now come on, let’s get out of the heat.”
We walked single file up the smooth, paved path toward the front door. Blooming azaleas lined the walkway and palm trees the sidewalks.
I already knew this, of course, but looking at these things as the surroundings of a home was different.
It was way nicer than the original condo I’d booked, and I was going to save on gas—and on pain, too, given how smoothly I limped into the house behind Jillie and Delly thanks to the stepless entry and extra wide doorway.
Maybe I really was born old if these were the kinds of things that excited me.
“There was one more thing I wanted to discuss with you as well,” Jillie said as I closed the door behind us. “How would you feel about having a roommate?”
Delly and I looked at each other, diving into a silent conversation.
The new wrinkle in her forehead paired with the tilt of her head said something like, “Are we getting a live-in grandma?” The straightening of her shoulders and the way she licked her lips said, “Oh my God, what if she is an Italian grandma who will cook authentic pasta for us?”
I raised my eyebrows at her in a move that I hoped communicated, “I seriously doubt they’d pair a regular resident with the two of us, and if they did—” I paused and pressed my lips together in a grim expression that was universal for: “When have we ever been that lucky? No Nonnas for us, little sister.”
Her shoulders slumped. I hated that.
We held each other’s gazes for one more moment, and I had to assume the resignation in her eyes was a mirror to my own.
We would do whatever we had to do to keep this good thing.
Delly turned to Jillie, who was back to fussing with her sweatpants. I had a feeling she wouldn’t know peace until she got home and changed.
“Who would it be?” Delly asked.
Jillie gave up on her sweats and forced her hands to her sides. “Actually, Adair has already met her. It’s Uncle Wilbur’s roommate’s daughter.”
Pop Rocks filled my brain as Delly whipped her head toward me.
“ OHMYGOD, her? Blue eyes and skinned knees?” she asked silently. Her eyebrows were in the ceiling, but my head was in the clouds.
I yanked off my glasses and let the world blur.
Delly burst out laughing .
“What am I missing?” Jillie said hesitantly, her gaze presumably flicking between us.
I wouldn’t know, as I wasn’t going to be putting the world back into high definition again until I could face it.
Pulling my loose shirt from my body, I mindlessly cleaned the lenses with it and listened to Delly eagerly agree to the roommate.
To her.
They chatted about it a bit longer, but I just gripped my glasses and wandered away from them further into the house.
Delly found me a few minutes later. “Addy?”
I’d been studying the blurry wall of the living room and scrunching my nose at the vaguely musty smell of disuse. I put on my glasses, and the framed watercolor seahorse cleared.
“Yeah?”
“Jillie had to go, but I have the lease.” She held up a manilla folder.
“Great.”
“She also said we can move in today.” She held up three keys with her other hand and a triumphant smile.
“Super.”
“Wanna start the paperwork?” She waved the folder at me.
“You bet.”
“Why are you talking like a boomer?”
“War on Christmas.”
Delly giggled and tugged my arm. “Come on, let’s do the paperwork. Then we can start unpacking!” Her giggle turned into a squeal, and I did my best to meet her enthusiasm by smiling as big as I could.
She sat down at the kitchen table and opened the folder. I took the chair beside her, and we got to work .
“Wow,” I breathed as I looked at the rent price. “That’s generous of them.” I pointed out the figure with my pen. “Work for you?”
Delly glanced at it, then nodded. “Yup.”
Just as we were finishing up, Delly sat back in her chair and sighed. “This might put a damper on that hot summer fling I was hoping for.”
I signed the last page, then dropped my pen on top. “Is that so?”
She nodded seriously. “I’d already imagined the beautiful stranger I was going to meet on my first day here. He was going to be broody and mysterious but an exceedingly tender lover.”
I died on top of the table, my forehead banging the glistening hardwood on impact.
Delly patted my back, and I turned my head toward her carefully so I wouldn’t bend my glasses. “Please don’t say the word ‘lover’ to me.”
“How about ‘consort,’ then?”
I revived and sat up in my chair. “That does seem more… respectable. Do you, ahh….” I scrubbed the back of my neck. I’d always straddled the line of parent and brother with her, but the fact was, if I didn’t say hard things to her, no one would.
Straightening my shoulders, I looked her in the eye.
“Are you up-to-date on your birth control? I can take your blood pressure, and we can use that app to order more if you need it. But if you don’t want the pill, I can schedule you an appointment with a clinic for whatever you might prefer instead. ”
There.
“You know,” Delly said after a thick beat of silence, “I want to act surprised by your you-ness or even pretend to be flustered, but you’ve conditioned me to this sort of thing.
” She smiled ruefully. “Remember when I got my first period, and you sent me YouTube videos for how to use pads and tampons?”
“My targeted ads were messed up for a whole year,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my stomach.
“I couldn’t watch anything without suffering through a tampon ad.
But seriously—” I gave her a stern look.
“I know you want to be a mom, and I also know you’ll be the best mom to ever mom, but…
let’s not make that happen this summer, yeah? ”
She nodded. “Sounds like we need to go to the local CVS and stock up then, right?”
“Yes. Because condoms may be balls, but I’ll have the balls of anyone who gives you an STI.”
She gagged. “I won’t say ‘lover’ if you don’t say ‘condom.’ But yes, maybe we go get a value pack of condoms so neither of us is a parent before we’re ready. Though… the clock is ticking down for you, Addy.”
Delly giggled as I whipped off my glasses and died again—this time into my open palm, my elbow braced on the table.
A voice cleared from behind us, and Delly’s giggle cut off as we both whipped toward the sound.
My lips parted as I haphazardly put my glasses back on, nearly taking out an eyeball in the process.
Her.
Miss Sewell.
Entirely without permission, my gaze traveled down to her knees, as if the scrapes would still be there weeks later.
She cleared her throat again, and my gaze bounced back to her face.
Lordy.
Blue eyes that were still the bluest blue bounced between me and Delly .
I hadn’t imagined it.
“Don’t look now, Addy,” Delly muttered under her breath. “But there’s a beautiful stranger at our door. And she definitely seems broody.”
But my gaze was already locked on the woman in question, and I wasn’t sure I could look away if I tried.