I nod. No shit.
“And that it’s weird after all these years wanting you guys to really be with you.”
“That’s weird.” I grin at her, hug her more tightly to my side. “So you were lusting after me from a distance at college?”
“Sometimes from even closer. You just never noticed me.”
“I was an idiot. Even Jet said so.”
“Well, if Jet said it, who am I to argue?” She sticks her tongue out.
It makes me laugh. “Move in with us,” I tell her.
She gives me a startled look. “J…”
“We’ll get a bigger couch. And a huge bed.”
“How huge?”
“The biggest they have.”
“Tempting.”
“That we are.”
She smiles at me, soft and warm. “Yeah, you are. I’d love to, J.”
I kiss her cheek and lead her to a bench. It’s a pretty cold night for August. She shivers, and I rub her back. “You’ve been helping Jet with his studying, right? To get his GED. Is he having trouble?”
“With the reading and writing part. I was going to ask you if you knew about this. I think he may be dyslexic. He may also have a bit of ADHD”
I freeze. “Really?”
“I asked my doctor about it, and she thinks it’s possible. You don’t think so?”
“I never thought about it. Didn’t even know he had specific difficulties.”
“I was going to take him to a specialist. He can get help, and they could help him get his GED, too.”
I hang my head. “I failed him, didn’t I?”
“Not if he never told you about it.” She elbows me lightly in the ribs. “Hey, none of that. He would have told you eventually. He was sort of forced into telling me because of the bookstore.”
“I don’t know.” I hug her so hard I’m not sure she can still breathe. “What I know is that you’re good for us. And we can’t live without you.”
“That’s a bit too soon to say,” she giggles, struggling to get free from my starfish-hug. “We’ve only been together a few weeks.”
“But we fit,” I say, because I feel it in my chest, in my bones. “Like we were made of each other.”
Like we were meant to be.
“That’s true,” she says after a moment and snuggles in my arms, smiling again. “And don’t forget I knew it first.”
***
Watching the doctors prod and poke Jet has my hackles up, and it’s only because Candy is practically holding me back I haven’t yanked them away from him and demanded they be more careful.
“It’s okay,” Candy whispers, pressing a hand to my middle, as if sensing everything going on inside my head. “They’re helping him, J. Don’t worry.”