Page 37 of Where We Belong

“Hey, Finn,” Wren says as she joins us with Woody, her smaller and calmer dog, following her heels as closely as is physically possible.

I give her a quick hug. “Was just telling your husband how much I miss you guys.”

“We suck, Aaron,” Wren tells him over my shoulder, then turns to me with a frown. “Last month’s been crazy at work, but I promise we’ll be around to help soon,” she says.

“I’m not talking about the farm. I miss my friends.”

“You getting sappy, Finn?” Aaron says.

I punch his shoulder as an answer. God, it’s good to have him here. We text and call every now and then while he’s in the city, but it’s not the same thing as having my best friend around. When I was traveling, it was easier to forget how much I missed him, but it’s been much worse now that I’m in our hometown and he isn’t around.

“All right,” Wren says, “I’ll go see if Martina needs help with dinner and take the dogs to Callie,” Wren says. “She’ll kill me if I don’t.”

“See you soon,” Aaron says, then gives her forehead a kiss. It’s an act that’s so mundane, one I’ve seen my father do with my mother countless times while passing her in the kitchen, but it still makes me envious. I wish I could be so at ease with someone that kissing them becomes an automatism, a given. My parents have been a prime example of love that’s as natural as breathing, and seeing Aaron finally live the same thing only makes me sadder that it might never happen to me.

Wren walks to the main house with Woody, then whistles for Molly to come inside with her. After spinning two times around a tree, the dog finally listens. Aaron chuckles at the sight of Wren, who was clearly getting ready to trudge through mud after Molly, heeled boots be damned.

“So, married life still good?”

Everything in Aaron’s face softens as he keeps his eyes on Wren and says, “Yeah, man, it is.”

We both start walking toward the row of fir trees that lines the beginning of the farm. Even if he loves his life in the city, I’m sure Aaron misses the calm of this place sometimes. I sure would. Nothing like a walk through the forest, where branches crunch under your feet and birds’ songs keep you company, to decompress.

“Good. I’m happy for you,” I say.

He turns to me. “What about you?”

“Do I have a wife I don’t know about?”

“Dumbass. I mean anyone new?”

I shake my head. I’m not even sure why he uses the word “new.” I haven’t had someone in my life since before I left town at twenty. Chrissy was the last. There’ve been plenty of girls around me—more than I’d like to admit—but never for more than for a few nights in a row.

“Interesting,” Aaron says.

“What?”

“Well, a little birdy, aka my mom, told me she’s seen you spending some time with the cabin girl.” He waggles his dark brows.

“Nah, that’s…” I search for words to explain what Lexie is to me, but it’s surprisingly difficult. She used to be a girl who hated me. But now? It’s kind of fuzzy. It’s been a while since I’ve spent as much time with someone apart from Aaron and Lil, and while it was often luck that brought us together at first, now I’m pretty sure we do so knowingly. “It’s not like that,” I decide on.

“What’s it like, then?”

“She’s a friend, I think. Not a hundred percent sure.”

Aaron pauses his gazing around to give me a weird look, then asks, “Did anything happen between you two?”

I kick a large rock away from the path. “God, no.”

“Why are you saying it like that?” He snickers. “Never saw you make that face about a girl before.”

WhydidI say it like that?

It’s not like I wouldn’t have looked at Lexie that way if we were in another context. But with the way our relationship started, and then with the time we’ve spent together afterward, giving away candy and messing with each other in the gym, I couldn’t see her as someone I could have a one-and-done with. Maybe at some point I could have, but not now, when I’ve seen so many sides of her that getting together would definitely mean something.

“It’s just not like that between us.”

“So thereisan us,” Aaron says.

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