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“I meant that are you sure you’re ready for the hell Suzie is going to unleash on you for dating her best friend. Because she’s going to want to be a part of it, you know. Every time you two have a disagreement, she’s going to be right there with a barrel of advice you didn’t ask for. She’s so excited that I’m actually scared for you.”
“It won’t be so bad. I have a plan of action.” Carly’s hair was now a hot mess. I shook it loose again and started over.
“Let’s hear it.”
“I’m going to ignore her.”
Sam burst out laughing. “Good luck with that, my friend. It’s my experience that ignoring her only makes her louder.”
He wasn’t wrong. But honestly, Suzie was the least of my worries. If anything, she might actually prove to be an ally. Nora was a flight risk, but maybe Suzie could keep her grounded. I turned my attention back to Carly’s hair. It was a braid, more or less. “You’re all done, honey.”
“Thanks, Uncle Michael,” she said in a sing-songy voice. Then she turned to kiss my cheek. A strand of red hair slipped from its braid.
Would wonders never cease. My niece was finally warming up to me.
“I think I’ll go refill my coffee.” I picked Carly up by her waist and deposited her on the couch. “Be back in a minute.”
“Right.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Coffee. That’s why you want to go upstairs.”
I ignored him. It was good practice for dealing with his wife.
Nora and Suzie were still at the table. Suzie was shaking her head, but Nora was sadly eating a donut. Oh, hell. No one should be sad while eating a donut.
I gave my sister an accusing look. “What did you do to her?”
“What are you talking about? Everything is fine.”
“Everything is not fine,” Nora said mournfully. “I thought this was lemon, but it’s Boston crème. I hate Boston crème.”
“I told you, you don’t have to eat it. Put it down.” Suzie shook her head again.
“I can’t. It’s a donut.”
My laugh was pure relief. “Give it to me. I like Boston crème.”
She handed it over. “You have terrible taste.”
I couldn’t resist a setup like that, and now that our secret was out in the open, I didn’t have to. I leaned in, kissing the dab of chocolate off her lips. “I don’t know about that. I think you taste pretty good.”
“Gross,” Suzie said happily.
“Shut up, Suzie,” Nora said, just as happily.
They grinned at each other.
Thank god. Everything was going to be okay. Not that I had really harbored any doubts, but it was a relief all the same. There was no world in which Nora would choose me if it meant losing her best friend. That would make two strikes against me, and I was certain her marriage had left a scar deep enough that she wouldn’t stick around for a third.
“We should get going. Michael’s taking me hiking again. He’s teaching me—” She turned to look at me. “What are you teaching me today?”
“How to make a tarp into an emergency shelter.”
“Just in case it comes to that on Hart Mountain,” Nora told Suzie.
Seeing Suzie’s horrified expression, I said, “It won’t. You’d have to make a lot of bad decisions before it came to that.”
“Trust me,” Nora said drily. “Bad decisions are my specialty.”
“So you’re really going to try to climb Hart Mountain?” Suzie asked. “Wow.”
