Page 13 of Flying

Afterour nailsare shaped and cleaned, painted coral and pink, we walk towards Witherspoon Street.

“Did you really think you could keep being back a secret? How long were you here before I found out?” Stef presses, either teasing or tense I can’t be sure.

“Not a full twelve hours,” I admit.

“Uh huh, and you slept, where again?” She continues the ‘friendly’ interrogation.

“River’s loft above The Featherweight.”

She’s practically foaming at the mouth from this information. “Was that the plan? When did you reconnect with him? Oh my god.” I wince from the shrieking. “Did you two reconnect before this? How well did he fill out, by the way? I mean, not that he wasn’t always muscular, what with being on the hockey team and all… but, he’s like a man. Did you finally make out with him? Would you date him? Do you think you can stay and be my maid of honor? Oh my god, I have so many questions!”

“Clearly,” I dryly retort before taking a deep breath. Then another. “Give me a minute to get this organized in my head, please.”

“River is…”so fucking hot I can’t stand it,“obviously a good looking man. Yes, okay? But also, Stef, I don’t think it’s like that. He neverasked for my number again when I changed it. For all I knew until last night, he was still good friends with Grant, and was just sliding into my DMs like so many other guys. I make my living wearing spandex on the internet and you don’t want to know what some of these guys send me.” I shudder just thinking about it.

“So how did you end up there?” She's such a good person to talk to. Always uses her questions with grace and a soft touch, keeping me on track and digging further in than I even realize.

“Umm, honestly?”

“No, lie to me.” She nudges me playfully.

“Honestly, I had no plan. I called Nessa and Delia but I didn’t know when I’d get to town. I was basically having a panic attack thinking about it, so I stopped on Route 1 to eat disco fries and delay. I just kept telling myself that despite my urge to turn around and skip this, I’d regret it. I drove by Bangor Drive…”

“You did?” The confusion is all over her face and laced into her tone.

“They don’t know, I just idled on the street, staring at a palace that was my home for a while and now isn’t.” I shrug, trying to act nonchalant when I am verychalantabout this.

“Anyway, eventually, the curiosity got the better of me. It was late enough that I assumed everyone would be asleep so I parked the Wrangler downtown and was going to take Pete for a walk before using the key Delia left out for me. Instead, he dragged me into the square and straight into River who wanted to give me a tour of The Featherweight, updates, and offered me a drink.” I’m rattling off the events as simply as I can.

“Then what?” she prods me to continue, as if I wasn’t going to keep rolling along.

“I got drunk,” I say simply, shrugging.

“Then, River, true to form, saw I was wasted and put me to bed. Clothed. No, I did not make out with him. He’s definitely attractive, but I don’t think he sees me that way. I’m just Lily, the pathetic divorcee. You know how my dating goes. I meet someone beautiful, and we get along for a few weeks, months sometimes. Eventually, they tell me that I’m not the marrying kind. Eventually, I move to a new place and we fade out of each other's lives. Eventually,everyone moves on. I mean,” dropping to a whisper, “even my parents did.”

I swallow to hold back the flood of emotions thinking about my many broken hearted moments along the way. Switching topics to keep my cool, I say, “Anyway, obviously I know how things work. If a Salvatore woman saw me then everyone would know. Are they invited tonight?”

“Not sure. There are absolutely no Morgans. But, the Kelly’s are included. He’s really not that bad, Jim. He’s, um, tolerable?”

“Oh goody, tolerate it! Anyway, what I truly did not anticipate was my dog tackling the breakfast delivery and running off with it! So, I ended up out in public.”

“With River.” She wags her eyebrows at me and smirks.

Resigned, I say, “With River, but I really do not think it is like that.” Right? I mean, petting his chest and stomach hair this morning when I thought I was reaching for my dog was… it was comforting. Shockingly nice. Nope, there’s no way it is about River. I’m probably just horny. I’ll fix this after I leave town and I bet it won’t be a thought again.

“More importantly than your matchmaking for others, let’s discuss you, soon-to-be the bride-to-be.”

“Can you say that again, but faster?”

I roll my eyes, not bothering to acknowledge that I’m back in word-soup territory. “Have you started to plan, if you knew this was coming? Do you know what kind of ring he’ll give you? Do you know what we’re wearing?”

Her eyes light up, giddiness takes over and she admits, “I found the ring.” Mischief streaks across her face. “I was cleaning the bathroom last week and I stumbled on a little green velvet box in one of Lee’s drawers. It was right there, in the vanity, where his deodorant usually goes. I was not snooping.”

“Sure, whatever you say, babe.” I wink.

“It’s perfect, Lily. Like straight up never seen anything so perfect. So me. Like…”

“Like?” interrupting her, “Which one of us is the educator and which is the West Coast bohemian?”

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