Page 49 of This Spells Love

I turn my attention back to Kiersten, who hands me the box of doughnuts with the explicit instructions to “eat one, then spill.”

I pick up a pink-frosted round one and bite. The summer strawberries explode in my mouth. I can taste happiness. “Oh mygod, this is incredible,” I moan, before finishing the rest in three bites. As I lick the remaining frosting from my fingers, I think about the best way to broach the next topic.

“Do you believe men and women can be friends?”

Kierst grabs her coffee from the tray and moves up to a more comfortable seat on the couch. “Yes,” she replies, then removes the lid and blows. “I married Trent because he was my best friend. It just happens to be a bonus that he’s an animal in the sack.”

“Gross.” I grab a pillow from the couch and whack her with it. The pillow narrowly misses hitting her coffee, which earns me a glare because while Dax sees his coffee as an almost religious experience, my sister considers hers a drug that enables her to function.

“There are things that, as your sister, I do not need to know. But my question was not about being married to your best friend. I’m wondering if you believe that a man and woman can be true, platonic friends, without sex stuff ever entering the picture.”

“Of course I think it’s possible,” Kiersten says. “Why do you ask?”

I think back to the rooftop conversation. “Last night Dax said something that implied the Dax in my timeline might be in love with me.”

I expect a wisecrack back. Or some sort of rib about how not every guy who wants to hang out with me is secretly in love with me. Instead, she sets down her coffee and looks at me thoughtfully.

“Well, do you think he is?”

“No,” I answer before my brain has a chance to process that the real answer might bemaybe.

“He’s never said anything,” I clarify. “Never implied that hehas any other feelings aside from friendship. The night before I wound up here, I was very drunk. And not wearing pants. And I’m pretty sure I told him I loved him and then kissed him and he just left. Poof. Took off. Zero moves made from his end.”

Kiersten narrows her eyes. “You don’t think that had to do with the drunk part?”

She’s not getting it.

“He dates other people. He was probably going to have sex with this hot, sexy vet before all”—I wave my hand emphatically around the room—“this happened.”

Kiersten raises a skeptical eyebrow as she lifts the lid to the doughnut box. “And you’re not in love with him?”

“She is.”

Again, Aunt Livi answers before I get a chance to.

“I’m not,” I say to both her and Kiersten.

“You’re not what, poodle?” My aunt looks at me with wide, innocent eyes.

“I’m not in love with Dax. He’s not in love with me. No one is in love with anyone else.”

Aunt Livi nods her head in agreement. “Of course, sweetheart. We’re not doubting you.”

I throw up my arms. “Well, why did you just say I was?”

Aunt Livi squishes her eyebrows together. “I must have been talking to the books. It happens sometimes. Ignore the old bat. I’m probably going senile.”

My aunt is far from senile.

“I have known you for twenty-eight years, Gems.” My sister injects herself back into the conversation. “And I’ve never once seen you talk about someone the way you do this Dax guy. You are either trying to figure out how to see him again or talking about the last time you saw him. All signs are pointing to smitten. But what I can’t figure out is why you’ve never dated this guy inyour timeline. You guys like all the same things, and he’s dreamy. I’m failing to see the problem.”

“He’s my best friend. I don’t think of him like that.”

“Yes. You’ve said that. But there must have been a point when he wasn’t yet your best friend. You’re telling me you never considered…”

I don’t know if the rest of the sentence isdating himorfucking him. Either way, the answer is, “It’s complicated.”

She pulls a second doughnut from the box. “Explain away. I’ve got time.”

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