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“I won’t be here. I’m heading up to my parents’ cottage for an end-of-summer vacation.”
Poppy went to her parents’ cottage every summer. She’d never missed it, so it didn’t surprise me she was leaving.
“What about you?” Poppy asked Maya.
“Liam and I are renting a bed-and-breakfast on the outskirts of town for a week. We figured we could use a little time away from my ‘rents.” She winked.
Liam was still staying with Maya’s parents. He had planned on getting an apartment with Joe, Maya’s brother, until Everly stepped back into the picture and they moved in together. He’d just started on the force a little after Christmas and was still saving for a place.
“Are they getting to you or are you having a harder time sneaking around?” Poppy questioned.
Maya let out a laugh. “Well, obviously they know we are together. However, they don’t want us ‘doing it’ under their roof,” Maya said, using air quotes. “My dad was very specific with that.”
Poppy and Everly both let out a laugh. “Little do they know you two have been sneaking around since the beginning. When is he planning to get his own place?”
“He said he was going to look again soon. There has been little available that is affordable in the last couple of months. Of course, my parents are thrilled to have him staying with us.”
“Of course they are. You can’t get pregnant if you aren’t ‘doing it’.” Everly said, using air quotes again and winking.
Everyone at the table laughed, while I poured some hot sauce on my eggs and took a bite of my bacon.
“What are you doing, Bexley?” Maya questioned.
“About?”
“The summer festival?”
I shrugged, taking a bite of my lightly buttered toast. “I don’t think I’m going to go.” I sighed.
“Why not?”
Once again, I shrugged. “I don’t know, don’t feel up to it. Plus, none of you guys will be there.”
Maya looked over to Everly. “Aren’t you and Joe going?”
Everly shook her head. “No, Joe has something to do for work that night, some special project that he can’t talk about, and I have to run the support line that night at the office. It was supposed to be Clara’s turn, but she is away at a conference.”
Maya shrugged, giving Everly a look that she probably thought I hadn’t seen, but I had. She’d been doing this every time I’d been around, which had been little. I mean, you hit and kill someone with your car and see how often you want to leave the house.
“Please stop doing that,” I mumbled.
“What?” Maya questioned, shoving a forkful of food into her mouth.
“Stop acting as if I can’t see your expressions. You are sitting right in front of me,” I barked.
The girls all stopped eating and looked at me. I’d been a little less tolerant of things that never bothered me before. The expressions being one of them. I’d changed in so many ways in the past few months, and I knew it worried my friends.
“I think Maya is just worried about you, as we all are,” Everly said, taking her therapist tone.
She’d been doing that a lot too when I was around. That ever-so-calm voice hoping to not have me blow up at something one of them said. Every single one of them looked at me differently.
“I’m fine.” I huffed.
“How did that date go?” Poppy asked, trying to change the subject.
I thought back to what she was talking about and shook my head. Maya had suggested I try using one of those dating apps after the accident. She’d bugged me about it so much, I finally allowed her to build me a profile and help me pick some guys. I’d known it was going to be a mistake.
I let out a sigh. “It was a nightmare. Won’t be doing something like that again.”
