Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Daphne gasps in pure horror. "Who could hate California?"
Alexander smiles, endeared. He starts to speak but stops himself.
He looks at Daphne closely, finding something in her dark eyes. Something he doesn't share with me.
What the fuck?
What could my boss possibly know about my wife?
Whatever it is, I pretend I know. I pretend I'm married to my long-term partner and not my sister's best friend. I pretend I made this choice after careful consideration. And not on the high of fan-fucking-tastic sex and the thrill of discovering more of Daphne.
That's what he wants, isn't it?
Someone who follows his head, not his heart.
I smile back as if I understand his meaning. I throw out a joke. "Maybe someone who hates avocados."
Again, Daphne gasps with pure, honest horror. "Could such a person really exist?
A laugh falls from my lips. "I don't usually think of her as a California girl. But she is in so many ways. She loves the ocean and the easy access to kale and oranges."
"Does kale grow in California?" Alexander asks.
"In some places," Patricia says. "In the winter."
"We love to eat it though." Alexander laughs. "I can't say I jumped on that trend. Trish is always trying to get me to eat more vegetables."
They share a knowing look. A look that comes with decades together. The love and comfort of sharing your life with someone.
I want that.
Usually, I don't. I expect to find it. I assume I'll end up here. But I don't want to spend my life with anyone, much less a specific person.
I want this with her. I want to tease colleagues in my backyard and complain Daphne pushes me to eat spinach and end the workday too early.
No. That doesn't fit us.
I'd push her to eat spinach, and we'd both work too many hours.
"Cassie didn't like avocados when she was a kid," I say.
Daphne nods. "Right. I tried to block that out of my mind. Gosh." She taps her chin. "I might need to rethink our friendship."
"Fair," I say.
Alexander and his wife watch politely.
"Cassie is my sister," I offer. "And Daphne's best friend."
"Oh." Alexander's expression gets knowing. "I didn't realize you let things get complicated."
His wife laughs.
What the hell?
They note our clueless expressions, trade another knowing look, and finally decide to throw us a bone.
"It was much more complicated for us," Patricia says. "I was his brother's best friend."
Daphne looks to the man in the orange sweater.
Patricia shakes her head. "His other brother. And I didn't realize he had a crush on me."
"Alexander or the brother?" Daphne asks.
"Both of them, actually." Patricia blushes. All of a sudden, she's not a refined married woman. She's a young woman who didn't know whether or not she should follow her heart.
When I blink, I see the two of them, thirty years ago. Teenagers dressed in their parents' finest clothes. Dancing at some cotillion on the pier. They were young and in love once, the way we are.
Love.
The one thing I've never been able to accomplish.
I don't shrink at the word. It feels right. It feels as big and beautiful as the Pacific Ocean.
Is it really possible I've fallen in love with my sister's best friends?
Is it really possible I've fallen in love in a week?
It sounds silly in those terms, of course.
But when I say is it really possible I fell in love with my wife—
It sounds silly in a different way.
My head spins as Patricia relays the story to Daphne. Once upon a time, she and Alexander's younger brother were best friends. The sort of platonic best friends people say don't exist.
A girl and a guy who do everything together, who have sleepovers and trade secrets, and have absolutely no interest in love.
That's what she thought anyway.
And since she kept coming around to the house to hang out with his family, she developed a crush on Alexander.
One summer, they all spent time by the pool. She spent every afternoon asking him to apply her sunscreen or trying to lick ice cream from a spoon seductively. But it was almost Labor Day, and he hadn't figured it out yet, so she confessed her crush.
The same day, his brother confessed his love for her.
For a while, she thought it was hopeless, and then his brother moved on to someone else. And she and Alexander started seeing each other in secret.
Then out in the open.
There was a happy ending for all of them. The brother is married to someone else now. They have three kids, and they live in California. In Newport Beach, actually.
"But I swear the city isn't named after us." Alexander laughs. He looks to the barbecue. "I forgot to ask if either of you is a vegetarian."
Patricia laughs. "You always do. But we're always prepared. We have portobello mushrooms, zucchini, and veggie burgers."
"No one wants those veggie burgers," he says.