Page 121 of Share with Me

“Until you get married.”

“That’s not even in the horizon.”

“That’s probably what we should’ve done. Then I wouldn’t be second-guessing my marriage now.”

Brinley sat up. “Zoe.”

“Quincy snores. He slurps his soup. And puts his foot in his mouth all the time.”

“That’s all?” Brinley asked. “I’m sure there’re worse things than that. Like infidelity, drugs, serial killing, whatever.”

“I guess if you put it that way, it puts things in perspective. He is crazy about me or he seems to be.”

“The McMillan passion, huh?” Brinley wondered. “It lasted for seventy years for Otto and Yun.”

“Good point.” Zoe had to get up again to go throw up. “I think I’m going to bed afterwards.”

“Feel better. I’ll be praying for you.”

“Thanks, sis!”

Brinley checked the time on her iPhone. Almost six o’clock Paris time. That would be about noon on the Georgia coast. She wondered what Ivan was doing. They had texted and called each other almost every day. She thought that Ivan was very interested in her. She thought he wanted to explore their relationship further.

But after talking with Zoe, she had to make sure.

Three weeks.

That wasn’t nearly enough time for Brinley and Ivan to know each other, was it? They were attracted to each other, but was it love?

What was love?

What did real love look like?

Then again, they had talked to each other almost everyday. Three full weeks of communication. More than some couples did all year long.

Brinley texted Ivan. “You there?”

He texted back right away. “Didn’t want you to think I wanted to call you all the time, but I do. Did I say all the time?”

Brinley was still processing what Ivan had texted when her iPhone chirped.

“Hey.”

One word and it made Brinley’s heart flutter. She wished Ivan had an iPhone but he didn’t. So to talk with him they had to Skype. She turned on the app. “You look like you just came out of the shower.”

“I did.”

“How’s the wrist?”

“Still painful. I won’t know the full extent of the damage until I get out of this cast.”

“It’s the second of January today. Hey, only three and a half weeks left before they saw that thing off. Hang in there.”

“I know. The twenty-eighth can’t come soon enough. You’ll be back the following week, right? On the third of February?”

“That’s the plan. If Dill needs me to stay in town a bit longer, that’s the way it goes. I want a smooth transition so they won’t call me back.” Brinley had a feeling it shouldn’t be a problem, but one never knew it with Dillon.

“I hear you. Whenever you get back here, we’ll celebrate. I’m taking you out to dinner.”

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