Page 31 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“That about sums it up. He… he finally came right out and told me he wants more than just friendship between us.”

“How do you feel about that?” Iris asks.

“I don’t know. I like him. I mean… I was crazy in love with him in high school.”

“No, you weren’t,” Gage says. “You had a mad crush on a guy you hardly knew and who hardly knew you. That’s not the same as being in love.”

“You couldn’t tell that to my desperately-in-love teenage heart. I thought I’ddieif he didn’t notice me.”

With a wave of his hand, Gage says, “Teenage drama isn’t the same as real life. What does current-day Lexi think about having more with current-day Tom?”

“She doesn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he’s been an amazing friend to me, and the low-level high school crush never really went away. Years ago, when one of my friends mentioned him, my heart did a crazy little skip at the thought of him, and I was married at the time.”

“It’s so sweet that you’ve reconnected with your high school crush,” Brielle says, “and that he’s stepped up for you the way he has.”

“Don’t forget, he barely knew I was alive back then. He was older than me and way out of reach. I crushed from afar.”

“I’ve always thought it was tremendously meaningful that he offered you a place to live with no questions asked,” Gage says. “He certainly didn’t have to do that for someone he allegedly barely knew back in the day.”

“That’s true,” Derek says. “It was a big deal for him to do that, and I’ve suspected it had as much to do with him wanting you around as it did with doing a favor for someone who needed it.”

“How much do you guys charge for this male perspective?” Joy asks.

“It’s free to you guys,” Gage says with a wink.

“I appreciate that male perspective very much,” I tell them as I process what they said.

“Do you feel better after talking about it, Lex?” Brielle asks.

“I do, thank you. Feel free to move on to someone else’s problems.”

“But yours are so interesting,” Christy says.

“Not as interesting as your barnburner of a new romance,” Iris retorts.

“It is indeed a barnburner,” Christy says with a goofy smile.

“Tell us everything,” Joy says. “Leave out none of the dirty details.”

Christy laughs. “The details are very dirty, but I’ll just say that I wish I hadn’t held out so long with Trey because, as it turns out, I was only denying myself something amazing.” Her husband, Wes, died suddenly of an aortic dissection that severely traumatized Christy and her children, who witnessed it. “I still feel guilty sometimes, like I’m cheating on Wes or something, but I’m working through that. He’d want me to be happy, and Trey makes me happy.”

“That’s fantastic, Christy,” Roni says. “How are the kids adjusting?”

“They’re becoming more comfortable around him. Shawn teased him the other night about how he uses a spoon to twirl his pasta like he’s a fancy pants, or something like that. While they laughed, I had to fight off tears because it felt like a big deal that Shawn said that to him and knew it would be well received. If that makes sense.”

“It makes all the sense,” Iris says. “That’s how strangers become a family—one teasing joke at a time.”

“Just ask me,” Gage says. “I’m the favorite victim around here. The kids are ruthless.”

Iris laughs. “They don’t miss much, and you do give them plenty to work with.”

Listening to them, witnessing their happy second chapters, and that of Adrian and Wynter, too, fills me with a newfeelingthat might be called hope. If they could find the courage to move forward, especially with children to consider, then surely I can find it in me to at least try with Tom.

“When do we get to meet Trey?” Iris asks.

“I was going to suggest another Mexican night and invite him to come, if that’s okay.”

“We’d love it,” Iris says. “Let’s bring the kids, too. Laney has been asking for Maeve and Dylan. They haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks.”

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