Page 53 of The ABCs of You & Me

Marley bursts out laughing. “You can’t? I still can’t believe I’m married and love it, let alone over the moon about becoming a mom.”

A look I can’t quite identify replaces Sophie’s joy briefly before her mask slips back on.

Marley looks up at me and holds her hand out. “You must be the brother and fake boyfriend, right?”

“Shit, sorry,” Sophie says, gesturing toward me. “Marley, this is Foster. Foster, Marley. I can’t believe you two have never met.”

“Feels like we have,” Marley says, gripping my hand tightly.

I’d have to agree with that. Cass gave me a play-by-play of how Marley and Bennett came to be shortly after she’d started working at the rescue. Since then, she talks about them more than she talks about anyone we’re related to. I don’t actually know Marley and Bennett, but I do know I like them more than almost everyone I share DNA with simply by the way they’ve treated Cass. The fact that Sophie speaks so highly of them doesn’t hurt either.

A call to come eat comes from somewhere deep in the house, and I follow Sophie and Marley as they talk about potential names.

In the dining room the table is piled with copious amounts of food, every dish more mouthwatering than the last.

“Foster?” a deep voice asks from beside me.

I look up from the food to see a guy nearly my height but who looks like he’d crush me easily if the chance arose.

“Bennett?” I dare a guess.

We shake hands and are then ushered to our seats before we have a chance to exchange more than names.

When Sophie sits down next to me, I clasp my hands to keep myself from reaching for her. It has become a habit now in the presence of other people where a meal is involved.

Being here feels right, but not touching her feels wrong.

TWENTY-FOUR

SOPHIE

Foster looks far more comfortable at this table than he did at his parents’ place. He’s in the middle of telling Marley and Bennett about Pete and his love of storing things in his pockets, and the two react the way you’d hope people would—engaged, taken in, genuinely curious. No one is sneering or judging him because of his job.

I don’t realize I’m staring at him until Cass clears her throat, pulling my attention from the conversation.

“So, how terrible was my uncle?” she asks, her lip curling in disgust.

“From what I’ve heard about him, he was in fine form,” I grumble.

Cass rolls her eyes and chews a piece of cinnamon roll thoughtfully, her gaze sliding to her brother for the briefest moment before looking back at me and mouthing, “Thank you.”

I shrug in response. I don’t need to be thanked for being there for him. Friends show up for the tough times too.

“So, Soph, it’s wild that you got placed somewhere with someone you know, eh?” Marley says enthusiastically.

“Even wilder that I had no idea that it was a possibility.” I glare over at Cass, who is suddenly very interested in a smear of ketchup on her plate.

“Do you two get to hang out much during the day?” Bennett asks, leaning back and wrapping his arm around Marley’s shoulders. She relaxes into him, her hand automatically going to his thigh.

I’ve never seen two people who need to have constant contact with one another and yet have it look so natural. I don’t even think they realize they’re doing it. Even before they were officially a couple, they were like this. It’s a level of intimacy I worry I’ll never understand.

“Most days we see each other at lunch,” Foster says. “But some days we don’t see each other at all.” I hate those days. Not only because seeing him is a highlight but if we don’t see one another it’s usually because something has gone wrong.

“Those days always seem extra-long,” I admit shyly. I can feel my face heat and then turn into an inferno when I see the way Marley looks over at Cass.

“I remember those days,” Bennett says as his hand tightens on Marley’s upper arm.

“So, Bennett, any new additions?” I ask, changing the subject before anyone else can try to interpret what I said.

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