“Well, if I’m being honest… Probably since around the time we met.”
“That was like two years ago.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Iris! Why didn’t you say anything?”
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, Gage, I want to climb you like a tree’?”
Despite the recent epic release, those words make me hard again even as I laugh. “That might’ve been a good place to start.”
“You weren’t ready, and honestly, neither was I.”
“What made you decide I was ready last weekend when you ‘accidentally’ ended up naked in my bed?”
“That was an accident.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
She loses it laughing. “Yes, it was!”
I pinch her ass. “You’re such a liar. Why did you decide that was the time to move things along?”
“In order to answer that question, I’d have to implicate myself, so I plead the Fifth.”
Amused, I say, “Tell me.”
“I don’t know exactly. It might’ve been Roni and Derek getting engaged and being so stupidly happy or being away from the kids and feeling a sense of freedom I rarely experience anymore. Or it was just pure liquid courage.”
“Maybe a combination of all those things?”
“Yes, and your jeans.”
“What about my jeans?”
“You wear a really nice pair of jeans.”
“They’re Levi’s.”
“They’refadedLevi’s, and they look spectacular on you. Very rugged.”
“So you were ogling me?”
“I was—and objectifying you—especially when you were tending to the fire. You were bent over, and the jeans were stretched tight and… yum.”
“I’m shocked speechless.”
“No, you’re not,” she says, laughing.
“I had no idea my friend Iris was lusting after me for all this time.”
“I hope you know… always… that your friendship is more important to me than that ever was.”
“I do know that, but thanks for telling me.”
“You’re one of my essential people in widow-ville.”
“Likewise.”