Page 98 of If This Was a Movie

I don’twantto escape her.

“Hey, Nate, I—” Claire says, walking in the back door with a small cardboard box balanced on her hip. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing,” I say, using the pile to the side.

“He’sdepressed,” Sophie says, a new word she probably learned from one of her aunts making me roll my eyes.

“Is that right?” my sister asks with a laugh.

“I’m not depressed, god.”

“Where’s Jules?” Claire says, looking around. Sophie glares at me, and I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

“At her place.”

“Yeah, let’s talk about that,” Claire says, putting the box on the counter. I see it, too; she has a shit ton of Jules’s stuff she left behind. “Why is she there?”

“Because she wanted to unpack, get settled, and said you should have time without her hovering.” My sister rolls her eyes like she doesn’t believe me and thinks I fucked up somehow. I wave a hand. “Trust me, we’re good. We agreed she would sleep over three times a week.” I don’t tell her I am absolutely pushing for more than that as soon as I can manage.

“And you just let hergo?!” my sister asks. “God, Nate, if I knew you were going to kick Jules out, I would have just stayed with Mom and Dad.”

“I didn’t kick her out! It was her idea!” Claire glares at me. “I’m serious, Claire. It washeridea.”

“And you didn’t even fight it?”

“I didn’t want to push her too much!” I say, throwing my hands up. “I just barely convinced her to agree we were together!”

My sister shakes her head, moving to my fridge and pulling out a beer, cracking it, and taking a sip. She cringes like it’s disgusting since Claire doesn’tdrinkbeer, then hands it to me.

“God, you are such a man, Nate,” she says finally, arms crossed on her chest.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she loves romance movies. She loves the guy chasing his girl down at the airport, telling her not to leave.”

“That’s not even feasible anymore. You can’t get past security without a boarding pass. She’s also not getting on a plane. She’s a mile down the road.”

She sighs like I’m exhausting her.

“I just mean, Jules loves the moment where the guy says,No! Don’t go! Stay with me forever and marry me and make babies!”

“Iknowthat proposing marriage and kids would absolutely send her into a spiral,” I deadpan, and Claire rolls her eyes.

“You’re so fucking thick-skulled. You know what I mean, Nate. You told me you’ve been watching all of those movies, right?” I nod. “And in any of them, do they end with her going back home and them shaking hands?”

“We didn’t shake hands,” I say because I pulled her into her bedroom and made out with her against the door while Sophie watched TV for as long as she’d let me get away with.

“You know what I mean, you fucking moron.” Then she slaps me upside my head. I should be offended, but instead…it makes sense.

Fuck.

I sigh, running a hand over my face and through my hair before turning to look at Sophie, who looks shockingly like her aunt right now, arms crossed on her chest, hip cocked out. “We messed up, didn’t we, kid?” I ask her, and both women glare at me.

“We?” Sophie asks, with more attitude in the single word than I’ve ever heard. Claire snorts out a laugh, and I glare back at my daughter. “I wanted you and Jules to fall in love and for her to stay forever.Youmessed it all up!”

“She really did give you Jules on a silver platter,” Claire says, and I glare.

“So what’s your plan?” Sophie asks.

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