Page 29

“Exactly. I do it for a living, not to make myself feel important. My relationships are real. I don’t love people for show.”

“I wonder, sometimes, if Aubrey and I would have lived happily ever after if there wasn’t social media. I think we really clicked before the whole influencer thing. When she’s being real, she’s amazing.”

Did a flash of jealousy cross Kia’s face? No. That must be Sullivan’s imagination because… did she want Kia to be jealous? Just a little bit?

“Now Opal is trying to set me up with every single person she knows.”

“You’re my wife.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Of course I’m jealous.” Kia turned away haughtily, then turned back to Sullivan and grinned. “But I already cuffed you, so I don’t have to be.” Kia winced dramatically. “I didn’t cuff you very romantically. No one is giving me prizes for wooing women, but… I do succeed at everything I try.”

She settled back into the love seat. The distance between them felt shorter.

Everything Aubrey had done felt farther away.

Kia’s words and her touch pushed Aubrey down in the algorithm of Sullivan’s memories.

Kia poured some more wine in their glasses, even though they’d only taken a few sips.

The gesture seemed to say, Let’s stay awhile .

They chatted about the Tennis Skort and about Opal and Nina.

Kia told stories about her father’s spaniels, and they compared preferences: lemon or lime, notepad or Post-its, summer solstice or first snow.

Eventually it was time for bed. Kia lingered, perched on the arm of the love seat after they’d ostensibly gotten up.

“Sullivan? Tonight when we kissed, did you… I mean… you didn’t… You kissed me because you had to, right?”

“I didn’t have to. I’m not that afraid of ruggers. But you’re lovely to kiss, and it is part of our plan.”

Had Kia wanted their kiss to be real? Had she felt the same thrill of desire and recognition Sullivan had?

Has it always been you? Sullivan stared at Kia.

Sullivan had half a second to make the most emotionally fraught decision of her life.

She could say, I think I feel something for you .

That would probably lead to Sullivan’s bed and a glorious, ill-advised night and then emotional upheaval on par with an earthquake.

Or Sullivan could stick to what she’d said.

It’s part of our plan. Her body longed for Option One.

Her heart liked it too. Her brain was an overtaxed parent trying to corral two bad children.

And the moment passed.

“I… I think we should go along with the plan.”

“Absolutely,” Kia said. Sullivan felt like she was watching a door closing. “We won’t kiss again unless we’re bullied by ruggers.” Kia’s laugh was the live equivalent of an emoji. The meaning was clear, but there was no heart in it. Then with a singsong “good night,” Kia disappeared upstairs.

Kia was sending the message that won’t happen again . That was as it should be, even if it didn’t feel right.

“You forgot the sage?” Opal asked as Sullivan dug through drifts of rosemary and oregano on the Mirepoix counter.

Sullivan knew she was off her game. The herbs should be chopped by now. They should never be in this messy pile.

“I woke up late.”

More like she hadn’t slept all night.

“Do tell.” Opal had been waiting for an opening.

“I had insomnia.”

“Thinking about Kia?” Opal asked, checking to make sure Blake was out of the kitchen (probably texting his dog). “I’ve seen you kiss randos at the bar, and it wasn’t like that.”

“She’s not a rando.”

“I know,” Opal said, as though she’d just caught Sullivan in a trap. “She’s your wife.”

“Nothing happened… besides what happened at the Tennis Skort.”

“Did you want it to?” Opal started stemming rosemary, keeping her eyes on Sullivan.

“Shouldn’t you be taking the bread out?”

Opal sniffed the air.

“No, and I will let it burn if it means you spill the tea. Talk to me about Kia, because I know she’s the reason you had insomnia.”

Sullivan leaned her butt against the counter in violation of health code. She sighed.

“I cannot—not, not, not—think about Kia that way.”

“Why not?”

“She’s going to tear down the Bois, and the first tree that goes down is going to make me hate her. I can’t pretend that’s not coming and kiss her now.”

“What if you didn’t hate her?”

“I will because she could stop.” That was the knife’s edge of truth behind everything. “She could find another property.”

“But Mega Eats would buy the land.”

“It’s like she has to destroy everything I love to protect me, and doing that is going to get her everything she wants. It’s like some fucking Greek tragedy where every option is bad.”

“Oh, hon.” Opal put her arms around Sullivan, carefully holding her gloved hands away from Sullivan’s back. “It’s going to be okay.”

“In a cosmic, cycle-of-life way. Not in a real-life way.”

Blake came through the back door.

“I wasn’t texting. I made a real call just like you guys did in the fifties.”

“He thinks we were alive in the fifties.” Opal shook her head. “Chef, go home and get some sage. I’ll school this young’un.”