Page 67 of Try Hard

“You tried one soup, one time.”

“What can I say? I’m easily pleased.”

“Good to know.” I was trying for light and amused, but it hit me that there was a more…intimateinterpretation and I felt my insides heating up in embarrassment.

Eve laughed knowingly, but graciously let it go. “I look forward to meeting her and informing her how great her soups are in person.”

“You might want to watch yourself. She’s on a real kick about how wonderful it is that everyone’s getting married and settling down. She’ll be on your back about it if you’re in the same space.”

“Pretty sure Alistair would find it weird if his wife was asking me to settle down with her,” she quipped, mostly managing to keep a grin off her face. I could still see the twitching in her jaw that I knew gave way to an exuberant smile.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, hanging my head.

“Not to mention how weird that would make things between us.”

“I didn’t mean like that,” I said through gritted teeth. None of us needed to think about my mum romancing Eve. My parents were still perfectly happy together, and Eve and I…

“I know,” she laughed.

“I’m glad.” Though, of course, the real risk was that my mum would try to tell Eve that I’d had feelings for her, thinking she was helping and, instead, ruining everything.

“I suppose that’s one of the good things about having divorced parents,” she mused, eyes firmly on the road. “They know the value of waiting until you’re really ready.”

“They don’t pressure you to get married?”

“Nah. I don’t remember them doing it much before the divorce, either. I had a couple of grandparents who werereallyinto talking about how Soph and I would grow up to be heartbreakers and all that stuff elderly relatives don’t need to be saying to kids, but our parents? Not so much. Then, after the divorce, it was more advice on really taking time to sit with our dreams and pursuing those, ensuring that the people we brought into our lives enriched them and actually made us happy.”

“That sounds nice,” I said, softer than I’d planned. “I guess it makes sense, and I’m glad you didn’t have to go through the whole…thing. You know how people can be.”

“I absolutely do.” She paused, watching the road carefully for a moment. “Does it bother you that all of that matters to your mum?”

I frowned, considering. As the song changed, all I was really concentrating on was watching her face, the flicker of her muscles as she drove, and the way the fading sun illuminated her like it was made for her.

“Not really,” I said eventually. “She and my dad have been lucky. They’ve had a great marriage. She just wants me to experience that.”

“Is it something you want for yourself?”

I hummed. “I mean, as a concept, it’s had its challenges, what with my job, and then… uh, well, just various reasons.”

She shot a concerned glance my way, like she heard exactly the change in my tone, the way I backed away from the answer. I was more interested in how easily I’d gone there, been ready to give her my whole personal history without thinking. But this wasn’t the moment for it. I did feel like I would tell her, though,and that was an odd experience, a level of comfort I wasn’t used to.

I sniffed a little stiffly. “But, you know, recently, I’ve felt like, if the right person came along, it might be nice.”

She smiled, the concern was still evident in the furrow of her brow, but the rest of her face relaxed. “Snap.”

“I guess we’re getting old now.”

“We are not! We’ve just both been busy building our careers and lives and figuring out exactly what it is we want in a partner. Nothing wrong with any of that.”

“Indeed.”

She smirked. “You became a swimmer and everything.”

I sighed. She couldn’t have known that was related to the answer I’d already backed away from, but it felt like a sign from the universe. “Yeah.”

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “We don’t have to talk about that.”

I shook my head, unsure whether she’d actually see. “We can. Just not now. Soon, though.”