Page 45 of Here's to Yesterday

I blow out a breath and open my eyes back up. “Thankyou.”

“Anytime. Now—” she pulls me up along with her “—tellme.”

I throw away the paper towel, and we go back to scooping ice cream andcake.

“It’s…complicated.”

“What isn’t?” shemumbles.

“That’s not fair. You and Hudson weren’t complicated at all. You fell in love and BAM! Happily everafter.”

She sighs dreamily. “Yeah, it was like that, huh?” I nod. “But it’s not always pretty. I mean, you saw ustoday.”

“You argued for like four hours. Tops. You two never fight. Youflow.”

“We disagree on lots of things. Hudson is an ass sometimes, and I’m a crazy bitch. Wanna know our secret? We let shit go. Neither one of us likes to focus on the bad crap. We’ve had enough of it in our pasts. We know how fast you can lose someone you care about. Working on the here and now, always looking to tomorrow, that’s what’s important tous.”

I consider what she says, and I guess I have to agree. I focus too much on yesterday. I need to start concentrating on thefuture.

“Anyway. This isn’t about Hudson or me. Let’s un-complicate this shit here and now. Let me in, Maurie,” she says, elbowing me lightly and wiggling her eyebrows at me. “You know youwanna.”

“Fine,” I grumble. “Tucker was the first one I noticed. When you were over there getting their drink orders, I was checking them out. I had no idea it was Hudson’s table, but I was definitelyinterested.”

“In Tucker,” sheclarifies.

“In Tucker.” I nod. “Something about him has always called to me.Always.”

She screws her lips up. “That I can see. So, how’d you end up withTanner?”

I start to speak when sheinterrupts.

“Let me guess—yourparents.”

“Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.” Rae being Rae, she fakes the roaring of a crowd and fist pumps.She may be a loser, but she’smyloser.“They were all I could think of every time I looked at Tucker. He stuck out to me, but all I could hear were my parents picking him apart and saying all their usual bullshit to me abouthim.”

“So you settled,” shefinishes.

“Yep.”

Rae grimaces and flatly says, “That’s…stupid.”

“Yep.”

“So. Nowwhat?”

“What do you mean, ‘Now what?’ I live with my choice. I break up with Tanner because it’s not working, and I can’t keep faking it. Then I cut my losses and move forward. Theend.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Rae says with obviousexasperation.

“What?”

“You! You’re gonna give up on someone who makes you feel likehedoes? I don’t think that’sfair.”

“And I don’t think it would be right of me to break up with one brother and then jump into bed with theother.”

“The heart wants what the heart wants, Maura. End of story,” she says haughtily, practically throwing the ice cream back into thefreezer.

She thinks that’s going to work? Telling me the heart wants what it wants and trying tomakeme be with Tucker won’t work. At all. I’ve had enough people making decisions for me in mylifetime.

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