Page 66 of Heat Advisory

As much as I wanted the job, I wanted the woman nestled up next to me even more. That was both a joyful realization and a scary one. It left me feeling both content and also scared.

Because if Cora left, she would burn me so deeply, I knew there would only be scars left behind.

20

“A cumulonimbus cloud is like a regular cloud, but on steroids.”

—It’s science

Cora

It was a few days after the wedding, and I needed my sisters. I needed advice, and I couldn’t go to Morgan because she would totally be biased. But I also didn’t even know where to begin.

My sisters knew I had crushed on Jay when I was younger, that he was now back in my life and interested in me. How did I explain that we fell into the lie of being engaged, and that had now spiraled out of control and I didn’t know what to do?

I didn’t have the answer, but I needed them, so I decided to just bite the bullet and start the conversation.

Me:

I love how fresh my bathroom smells when I kill a spider with an entire bottle of Febreze.

There. That sounded funny but would get their attention, and hopefully I could find a subtle way to change the subject.

Hazel:

Are you ok?

Me:

Yeah, the spider is dead, so it’s all good.

Hazel:

That’s not what I meant. You never randomly text us with something like that.

Anna:

What’s wrong?

Iris:

Emergency sister FaceTime call!

Gale:

Give me two minutes. I’m feeding Bob and Larry.

Something told me she would need a bit more than two minutes to feed the llamas, because they were a handful.

I took a deep breath, knowing this would be exactly what I needed, even if it made me nervous as hell.

Nearly ten minutes later, my phone rang in my hand, and I swiped to open the group call.

“I’m driving so you can’t see my face, but I’m here,” Anna said, causing me to look at the others on the call.

Gale was at home, Iris was at her office, and Hazel appeared to be at the grocery store.

I gave them the rundown of what had happened at the wedding—all of it.