Page 119 of The Perfect Love

“We love you too,” Rae says. “In fact, since we’re all here—minus Hyla, but she’s already claimed you, anyway—I think it’s time to officially indoctrinate you.” She grabs her phone and types something out. “We’re adding you to the Girl Gang group chat.”

“Yes!” Amanda agrees.

My phone chimes, but Rae continues.

“Fun fact: before our parents adopted Sarah, I was an only child. I didn’t want to be, so I made it my mission to start collecting friends. It started with Joel, then Mackenzie, then Aaron.” She looks at Sarah, emotion brimming in her eyes. “Then my sister. Then Miles. Along the way, there were lots of others—Hyla, Trevor, Nick—then Amanda. I love the friend group we’ve formed, but nothing means more than this. This sisterhood, the tribe of incredible women who I can trust with my heart and my life. We’d be honored to have you be a part of it. If you’re willing to drink the… coffee.”

I can’t help but laugh. “I’m in.” I hold my cup out and they all touch theirs to it, then we drink.

It’s sweet and silly and fills me with joy.

My phone chimes again, and I grab it, checking the group text.

Chelsea Winters has been added to the group.

Rae: Time to make Chelsea one of us!

The next message is from Hyla.

Hyla: Woohoo! It’s about time. Love you all.

Me: Back at you.

After I type out my reply, I change the name of the group chat to Girl Gang.

The ache of my past friendships hurts, but this is separate. This is joyful. This is my future. And I want to let the roots of these friendships grow deeper.

“Feel any different?” Amanda asks.

I nod slowly. “I can already feel the chaos creeping in… and the tug of the hive mind.”

“Yes, she’s officially one of us,” Mackie says, throwing a hand up in celebration.

I lean back in my chair and allow myself a moment to soak in this…love. I’ve never experienced this kind of platonic love before, but I want to be a part of this tribe as much as they all want me here. Even though it means dealing with my complicated feelings about my friends back home, the only people I want in my life now are the ones who want to be here and who truly support me. There’s no doubt I have it with this little group, and I get the sense that wherever I end up, I always will.

I go to turn my phone screen off, but then something catches my attention. The text I sent to Trevor hours ago. He usually responds to me faster than I respond to him.

I must make a face because Amanda asks, “What’s wrong? Tired of us already?”

I muster a little smile. “No. But… did any of you talk to Trevor this morning? We weren’t planning to meet up today, but heusually texts me back quickly. It’s weird that he hasn’t. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“Crap. I was going to mention that to you,” Amanda says. “It slipped my mind, but no, he wasn’t around this morning. I went to check on him before I left, and he didn’t answer his door. But then I told him it was a wellness check, and he told me he was still alive.”

“That’s weird,” Mackie says.

Then Sarah’s eyes go wide, and she grabs her purse. “What’s the date today?” She rummages through her bag, trying to find her phone, but I flick my screen on first.

“November thirteenth.”

“Today’s the anniversary of his dad’s death.”

“Shit,” I mutter. “Why didn’t he tell me?” It’s only after the words are out that I realize I said them aloud.

“Because he does the caretaking. He doesn’t ask for it in return,” Sarah says. “Which I’m guessing you’ve figured out based on the look on your face. The first year we were together, he didn’t mention it until the day after. I felt like crap for not realizing—because I knew him when it happened—but my dad helped me understand I didn’t do anything wrong. Still, I made it a point to mark it on my calendar so I’d know. And then I just started conveniently showing up.”

I stand suddenly and grab my coffee and croissant. “I need to go. Sorry to bail.”

“No, don’t be. We all get it,” Rae says. The way her eyes shimmer tells me she’d do the same for Aaron—likely has plenty of times.

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