“Is what a thing?”
His hand goes between Posey and me, back and forth, back and forth as if we were a puzzle he has to figure out. Clearly if he’s asking, he’s not great at puzzles, but whatever.
“The two of you. You’re a thing?”
I’m not sure I’d call us a thing, but we’re working toward being a thing?
Posey looks at me to answer, so I nod. “Yeah. This is a thing.”
“What kind of a thing?” Eli prods for more information. I get it, it’s his job to know what I’m doing and who I’m doing but come on—at the dinner table?
Still. I don’t want to make things worse with Posey by telling him to piss off. Might hurt her feelings and that’s the last thing I want now that we’re in a good place.
Besides, she’s my friend.
Might even be my best friend, which is fucking weird since I’ve never had a female friend before. Not even close. Certainly not one I’ve dated; it never occurred to me to be friends with a girlfriend—my pops wasn’t exactly a shining example of how to treat a woman.
Everyone at the table has their eyes on me.
“Well,” I start slowly. “Like I said when I crashed her night out with the gals, I missed her while I was in Texas. Missed her a whole lot. We just met, you know, but sometimes I think…” Let’s see, how do I put this? “You just know about someone.”
Just know about someone...dot dot dot, fill in the blank.
Molly’s eyes shoot up into her hairline.
I’m not sure how to explain it, so I don’t. That’s between me and Posey. The last thing I wanna do is jinx anything by saying it out loud, and it’s too soon to really commit to how I feel—or commit to how she might be feeling, one way or another.
So I stand from the table and go to the kitchen, retrieving the pie left out on the counter. It’s a mess—a flippin’ mess, but I take it to the dining room and plop it down on the table in front of my agent, daring him to cut himself a slice, knowing all along we’ve been calling it a sex pie.
This ought to shut him up and stop him from meddling where I don’t want his nose.
I sit back down in my chair, take my steak knife, and cut into the pie, holding the slice up and offering it to him.
He shakes his head.
“No?” I set it on mine.
Everyone watches when I dig my fork in, lift it to my mouth, and take a bite.
“Dang, Posey, this is fantastic.” I pause. “Not as good as it was before, but…”
Her face gets bright red. “Um. Thank you.”
Nervously, she tucks a few stray hairs behind her ear, gold hoop earring twinkling.
“Can’t wait to have more of it.”
epilogue one
Posey
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Molly and Eli have long gone. We’ve showered (together for the first time, ooh la la), collapsing in bed after the longest day ever. Our first double date. Our first date, actually, if you consider it that?
Nothing about Duke and me has been normal.
Nothing.