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She’s shorter than I thought she’d be. Her consistent no-nonsense tone even when she’s joking on our Discord calls seems as though it shouldn’t quite fit into such a petite frame. Then again, all Marcella’s anger doesn’t seem like it should fit inside her body, either.
The man catches up, his gaze drifting over the strings of hung fairy lights designating the party area between the pool and the butterfly garden.
Brigid smacks him in the stomach. “This is my husband, Cody. He likes sports, snakes, and when I put my feet against his back in the dead of winter. Become friends.”
She’s gone before I blink, streaking across the lawn toward Marcella, and Penny, who appears to have fifteen marshmallows in her mouth.
I hum. “Well, it feels like I’m in middle school again, being forced to hang out with the kids of my parents’ friends.” I extend my hand. “Finnegan Marsh. Nice to meet you, Cody.”
“Likewise.” He takes my hand, shakes it once, then stuffs his back in his pocket. “I don’t suppose I need to explain that I know nothing about sports and don’t much care for snakes?”
“What about the cold feet?”
Something gentle touches the firm line of Cody’s mouth as his attention homes in on his wife. “A necessary evil.”
As it turns out, Cody likes stars. He met Marcella during an astronomy elective in college. She introduced him to Brigid when her friends came to visit, and the rest was history. He fell hard and fast, so before Brigid could head home, he asked for her number.
They made long-distance work for three years.
Then he moved to be with her.
It’s almost jarring to hear how simple it’s supposed to be. No bribery. No forms. Even if I weren’t in the position I am, I don’t think I could do it.
I like knowing too much about my investments before I take a chance on them. I doubt I’d ever be able to make such a lifelong decision without analyzing the risk before feelings could get involved. I’ve always believed that relationships feel too much like shady business deals.
With people, you never know what you might expect, who you can trust. You either outline your expectations in excruciating detail, thus confining your relationship to terms and conditions, or you prepare to be hurt.
The rare exceptions so far have been my parents…and now Marcella.
Despite our contractual agreement and her position as my assistant, the only terms are that she’s obligated to be herself and treat me as she would treat a significant other. Shunning that law almost entirely, she’s blunt about her needs and her limitations, treating me with the most honesty anyone ever has. I don’t have to guess about whether or not I can trust her even when I have no idea what she’s going to do or say next.
The woman’s a wild card in a flawlessly stacked deck.
As dry and calculative as she is, it’s hard not to fall in love with her.
She…
It hits me halfway through Cody pointing out how Jupiter should be rising in the next few hours.
He’s going on about the visibility of the planets throughout the night and into the morning, but my attention is squarely on Marcella. In her pretty dress. With her glittering makeup catching firelight.
She’s talking with an older couple I assume to be her parents.
She’s eating a marshmallow she just finished roasting.
And I…
I’ve been thinking about her this whole time.
I’ve been thinking about how hard it is not to fall in love with her this whole time.
As though I’m not already head over heels.
Chapter 19
You’re lying.
– Marcella
