Family Ties

But what for?”

“Well, I figured out what you wanted with Wren, and why you weren’t jealous, and…”

“Duh! I was really mad at you. But… now I’m not.”

“What happened to change your mind?”

“Something you said.”

“Yeah. We were talking about those girls you dated before me, the ones with the religious hangups.”

I nodded that I remembered.

“Well, when I realized you want to sleep with Wren too, I got upset and jealous. I wanted to hit you. The only thing that saved you was how innocent you looked while you were sleeping.

”

“Thank God for that.”

“What did you decide?”

“What do you think?” she said without heat. “I thought about it a lot. You know, like you said: I tried to be honest with myself.”

“I won’t say I’m not scared,” she admitted, “but I’m not jealous.” She fell silent and thought it through again. “Once I got over the initial shock, I started thinking about you and Wren together… with me.”

My eyebrows flew up.

“Mmm hmm. It was… pretty steamy.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I’m not ready.

But it was fun to think about. And then you—!” She laughed. “I was thinking about the three of us, getting more and more worked up, and your penis decided to say hello.”

“I told you, you get hard a lot. Well, you must’ve known what I was thinking, ’cause you sure reacted.”

“You’re so proud of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Of course. But I’m proud of you too.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she cautioned. “I just said I wasn’t jealous, not that I want you to hop into bed with Wren. Besides, I don’t think Trip would like it.

”

She laughed softly. “How long’s it been since then? You know I stink at math.”

“A month and a half,” I said with a grin. “A little more, actually. Seven weeks.”

“It doesn’t seem like a long time when you put it that way. But…”

“We’ve been through a lot since then.”

“I know. I… feel closer to you than I’ve ever felt to anyone.”

“You mean it? Closer than even Gina?”

“Even Gina,” I assured her. I tried to put my thoughts into words. “Gina and I… started on the same page, I guess you could say.

We already had a lot in common, so we didn’t have to explain things to each other. It’s different with you and me.”

“You can say that again.”

“You and I are growing into each other. That’s important.”

“My mom thinks so too. That’s one of the things she said she noticed about me.”

“Mmm hmm. How much I’ve changed since I met you. Your mom said the same about you. We were talking about it in the car on the way to the grocery store.