Page 32 of Friends with Benefits

“… can we swing by the house first?”

“Really?”

Theo nods. “I need to pick up something.”

“Oh.”

It’s so unexpected, Theo’s request, that it doesn’t even make Evie’s top ten list of possibilities.The houserefers to his childhood home, a Spanish-style ranch in Lamanda Park, where his father still lives. Theo avoids it. Uses language that distances himself from it.Thehouse. Nothishouse. Evie doesn’t avoid it. Every Sunday morning, she swings by with Lucky Boy breakfast burritos—a weekly routine that started shortly after Lori’s death. In the beginning, Jacob told Evie to fuck off and slammed the door in her face. She left the burrito on the porch. But she kept coming back. Eventually, he let her in.

First, they just ate together in silence.

Then they watched old episodes ofMonk,Cold Case, whatever was on cable television.

He didn’t mention Lori by name for two years.

But now?

He cooks for her, and they talk. Every Sunday, Jacob asks about Theo. Afterward, Theo always asks how Jacob is doing.Call him, she nudges gently. As far as she knows, he hasn’t. Sometimes it pisses her off that she’s still the intermediary between Theo and Jacob. How they live in the same city but may as well be on opposite sides of the planet. She knows itwas never great, their relationship. She saw how Jacob tried to mold Theo into a version of himself, a successful commercial real estate developer. She knows that it wasn’t easy for Theo to have a father who, on a fundamental level, didn’t understand him. Losing Lori only further drove a wedge between them, and it’s just so sad how broken they are—because Jacob Cohen may be flawed but at least he’shere.

At least he cares enough to try.

Five minutes after Theo’s out-of-character request, Evie pulls over at the curb in front of the house and puts Phoebe in park. Jacob isn’t home. His silver Buick isn’t in the driveway. It’s intentional, the timing. She understands what this means. “Is this a rescue mission?”

Rescue missions happened regularly after Lori died.

Evie and Theo sneaking into the house to retrieve artifacts, memories of her.

Theo nods. “Mom’s rings.”

Evie short-circuits, her heart leaping into her throat. “What?”

“We don’t have rings. What couple shows up to get married without rings, Evelyn?”

Theo says this simply, like it’s so obvious, before he’s out of the car and heading toward the house andno, no, no. It’s a valid point. Needing rings. But there’s a T.J. Maxx down the street. The idea of Theo sliding Lori’s ring onto her finger? Of carrying such an important piece of her around?No.It’s way too much. Evie wants a ring that’s as fake as this marriage.

It needs to be fake.

She follows him into the house to tell him this, but he doesn’t even make it beyond the front door.

“Fuck,” he whispers.

Evie is used to the state of the house—the stench of weed,the dust that covers the furniture, the lack of available surface area. Piles of papers stacked on tables, outerwear draped over every kitchen chair, boxes filled with miscellaneous trinkets, collections of vintage dishware, comic books, Beanie Babies.

It’s hard to let things go, Jacob once told her over Sunday morning breakfast burritos.

Evie’s hand finds Theo’s, their fingers interlacing.

She squeezes.

Because it’s a lot.

Theo squeezes back, then lets go. Pinches the bridge of his nose and breathes. “Let’s start upstairs. I’ll take their bedroom. You check mine?”

Theo sayingtheir bedroomcracks her heart in half. “Okay. But Theodore? I can’t… her rings…” She hears the emotion in her voice but doesn’t want him to be the one comforting her so she swallows it. Refuses to allow her eyes to water. “I’ll rescue them with you. But I don’t want… Ican’t. You should save them. For a real proposal.”

Theo’s eyes meet hers.

He scratches his neck. Then says, so softly, “I think she’d like it? You holding on to them in the meantime.”

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