Page 62 of Years in the Making

“Nope. Apparently you’ve had more of an influence on me than I realized.”

“Come talk to Bennett, he’ll have you bawling in minutes.” She laughs. Marley wasn’t a crier, but apparently on her first full day with Bennett, she set some kind of personal record for tears.

“If this goes on much longer, I may take you up on that.”

“Deal. He’ll love it.” Her voice has taken on a tinny quality.

“Where are you?”

“The bathtub,” she says as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

“Why?”

“I’m spying.”

“On who?”

“Teddy.”

“Um… okay. Why?”

“Nell, the guy is a nervous wreck. He has checked the contents of the truck at least eight times today. Did you threaten him or something?”

“Does that seem like something I’d do?” I scoff.

“True. Did Izzy?”

“Not that I know of. Maybe this is always how he travels. You check things a bunch. It’s not unheard of.”

“Well, that’s because if I forget tampons or something, there isn’t a Shoppers just down the street.”

“Marley, stop spying on Teddy. He probably knows you are,” I scold.

A pfff sound comes through my speakers, most likely accompanied by an eye roll I can’t see. “Seems unlikely. I’m very good at being invisible.”

“Marley, Teddy asked me to come tell you to stop watching him,” I hear Bennett say from somewhere nearby, and I laugh at the visual of Marley being told off while hiding in an empty bathtub.

“I’m just watching to make sure he doesn’t drop from exhaustion. Has he even hydrated during all his trips to and from the truck?”

I hear Bennett chuckle softly then what sounds like a kiss. It’s still weird to think of Marley in a relationship, let alone one where she’s open about absolutely everything. Sometimes too open.

Bennett says something that I can’t make out, and by Marley’s reaction, I’m glad to not be in the know.

“You two are gross,” I grumble.

“You’re just jealous. You could be gross with someone too if you let yourself be. Think you’re willing to try allowing that?”

“Marley, there are nearly twelve years of history I’m going to have to wade through to even reach a place where friendship is possible.”

“Are—” she says at the same time as I say “But—”

“Go ahead.”

I take a deep breath and work up to what I’ve been telling myself since we decided to do this thing. “But I am actually looking forward to trying because when I think back to the before times—”

“BM!” Marley exclaims.

“Bowel movement?”

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