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I could keep guiding her to bed, but I was exhausted.

Selfishly, I wanted her to myself, even if it was only while she was asleep.

“You’re so fucking stubborn,” I muttered. “Never change.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I tugged her closer. I reached for my phone, which I’d put on the coffee table, and set my alarm.

Maybe all I would get were sleepy moments in the dark of the night, but I’d take them all the same.

19

JADE

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Mollie Wilson: Growing season is gonna end soon! I still have some farm-fresh tomatoes left before the warm weather winds down . . .

Comments:

Hu Gh: It never cools off like it used to!!!

Dale Garrett: How much for a bushel?

Mollie Wilson: Isn’t that for apples? Besides, they’re weighed by the pound.

Dale Garrett: You know what I meant!

Hu Gh: I’ll take an ass load.

Kerry Winsor: NO. Please don’t mention asses. Please. I beg of you.

Hu Gh: Why are you all so dramatic? You act like I posted it here or something . . .

Thursday night, I walked into our girls’ night with my head held high. I’d said no to Gabriel and I hadn’t sleepwalked into someone else’s bed. I was doing exactly what I should be.

“How are you doing?” Piper asked.

All the other women leaned forward, clearly curious.

I didn’t have to worry about their judgment. “Thanks to Mollie, Wren, and Grace, who all got me thinking straight. I’m doing the right thing. Yesterday, Gabriel invited me to breakfast and I said no.”

“Wow,” Piper said. “Good for you.”

“I helped with his daughters, and that’s the extent of what I’m doing. See? I don’t think you guys have to worry about me.”

What I didn’t need to mention was how much I regretted not going to breakfast. I thought about the diner for hours after I said no, and I wondered what it would have been like if we’d all gone.

“Maybe we can talk about other things then,” Wren said. “Like the fact that I finally got an answer from the STM grant.”

That made all thoughts of Gabriel vanish from my mind. “Yeah, I saw your post. Do you know why they finally started back up?”

She shook her head. “Nope. All they said was they were sorry for the delay.”

I hummed as I thought about it. I’d talked to Marjorie and Henrietta, but they were both duds too, so my list was even shorter.

Since summer was ending, plenty of people were busy.

I knew Kerry was running around to get Tommy’s school supplies bought as well as sending him to swim lessons. She’d been in the Facebook group, but not as much as normal.