Page 51 of Friends with Benefits

“And how is that husband of yours?”

Evie’s laughter is buoyant, light,breezy. Grandma Pep is relentless.

Also, terrible at FaceTime.

Currently, she’s speaking to her grandmother’s chin. “Theo is good. We miss you.”

“We miss you, too.”

“EVELYN,” Grandpa Mo bellows, off-screen, in the driver’s seat of the RV. “I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PACKAGE.”

“Mo.” The phone hovers high enough that Pep is now a chin and a lower lip. “Did it arrive, Sweets? The package? The tracking code glitched. As you’re well aware, technology hates me.”

Evie flips her camera to show the unopened package on her nightstand. “I have the package.”

“Wait for Theo to open it.”

“Grandma.”

“It’s a wedding gift.”

“Grandma.”

Evie called Pep and Mo two days after she married Theo,the moment they indicated they were back on the grid after their Tahoe escapades. She was transparent with her grandparents about the situation. Evie needed health insurance to take the fellowship. Theo has great health insurance. That’s it.

Sounds practical, Mo said.

Pep chuckled.Okay, Sweets.

She was more than prepared for Pep’s reaction.

Her grandmother believes that Evie and Theo are “endgame,” a term that Evie taught her while binge-watchingGil-more Girlstogether for the first time. A massive mistake. What started as an offhand comment, one that she effectively muted during her Hanna and his Caro years, became a constant refrain once she was single, as they were both single and, quote, “barreling toward thirty” (they’re twenty-seven!).

So.

Peppy Bloom is goddamned delighted by this development.

Her laughter is one of Evie’s favorite sounds. “You’re welcome. Anyhoo, talk sound to me before I lose you!” Her grandparents are on the road again, approaching the California-Oregon border. Service on rural roads is super spotty. “How’s your first—”

The bottom half of Pep’s face is frozen on Evie’s screen.

She’s gone.

Evie sighs and peels off her clothes before face-planting onto her bed andughing into her pillow. As much as she wanted to vent to her grandmother, a not-so-small part of her is relieved she doesn’t have to admit that so far, being Sadie Silverman’s fellow is not a dream. How naïve was she to think that this fellowship would be different from any of her past experiences?Give her time.Evie’s time is valuable, too. And she’s exhausted. Her bones are tired and this fatigueinfuriates her and terrifies her. If she’sthisexhausted without stepping foot in the studio… can she even do this? Can her body handle it? Or is this just going to end in another shattering heartbreak?

She points and flexes her toes.

Feels the dull ache that radiates from her right ankle.

A joint movable due to metal.

Evie’s processed this injury, the screws connecting bones together, the loss of dance in her life. But the thing about grief—whether it’s over a person, a place, a passion—is that it never ends. Not really. She acknowledges it in theSHIT TO UNPACK WITH JULESnote in her phone, then reaches for the package on her night table for a distraction, ignoring Pep’s request.

Wait for Theo.

She opens the box.

It… is filled with sex toys.

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