“Is he okay?” Presley asked.

“He’s great,” Abby said. “He wants to go ahead with his top surgery, so we had to have a family discussion about all the details.”

“Wow,” Carrie said softly. “That’s a big deal.”

Abby nodded. “It is, but it’s also the next logical step, at least for him. He’s been moving toward this since he was fourteen, and the surgery—or rather the effect of the surgery—is important for him and for his sense of self.” Abby looked at Mari. “My son, Blake, is transitioning.”

“He’s lucky,” Mari said softly. “He’s lucky to have you, all of you. I…I wish…”

Carrie gave her hand a squeeze.

“It’s not exactly the same thing,” Mari said, tearing away another layer of self-insulating protection, “but my family has pretty much exiled me since I told them I was a lesbian.”

“It is the same thing—or at least, it’s all part of the same fabric of difference,” Abby said gently. “I’m sorry to hear about your family’s reaction.”

“Thanks,” Mari said. “I’m glad for you and Blake. He sounds a lot braver than I was at his age.”

“Me too,” Carrie muttered. “I was still trying to convince myself I actually liked kissing boys more than girls.” She grinned. “I quit that after a year of kidding myself.”

Mari smiled at her gratefully. She didn’t feel quite so clueless knowing everyone hadn’t known about themselves forever.

“Is Flann doing the surgery?” Carson asked.

“That’s part of what we talked about this morning,” Abby said. “Blake wants her to do it, and Flann is very experienced with the procedure. Glenn will assist, so I know they’ll have a good team. It’s pretty straightforward, and we’re all comfortable with it.”

“Well, I’d let those two operate on me anytime,” Carrie said in a suggestive voice.

Abby raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid at least one of them is off the table.”

“Ah, well,” Carrie said with an exaggerated sigh while shooting a glance in Mari’s direction, “I guess I’m totally out of luck, then.”

Mari pretended she wasn’t blushing.

“And I’ve already got my Rivers sister,” Presley said. “So there go all the hot, sexy ones—”

“Okay, I’m still here,” Carson said loudly. “Sisters, remember? And I already know how gorgeous they are. I had to grow up in their footsteps.”

Carrie patted her knee. “Believe me, if you had been headed in that direction, you’d have been fighting off the girls.”

Carson laughed. “Yeah, I’m the outlier. Well, I don’t know about Margie at this point, but I’m the boring straight one.”

Everyone laughed and Mari let herself be drawn into the closeness, the easiness of being who they were, the acceptance of difference. And when her image of a sexy woman didn’t conjure any of the Rivers sisters, she didn’t resist. Just for a minute.

“Speaking of gorgeous women,” Carrie said, “I believe I hear a truckload of them on their way.”

A big dusty black pickup truck rumbled into the far end of the yard, the doors swung open, and few seconds later, Harper, Flann, Glenn, Blake, and Margie clambered out and trooped across the yard.

“What did Lila make for breakfast?” Margie called, hopping up onto the back porch.

“Too late,” Carrie said. “The bread basket is empty.”

“No,” Blake and Margie shouted at the same time.

Laughing, Carrie pointed to the screen door. “Cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins. There might be one or possibly two left.”

Margie and Blake slammed into the house. Flann leaned down and kissed Abby as Harper slid over by Presley’s rocker.

“Is everyone done with the planning?” Harper asked as she cupped Presley’s nape, long fingers stroking her throat.

“You know, we could probably find some chores for you to do,” Presley said, sliding her fingers over Harper’s. “It’s really not fair that you just need to show up and look handsome at the wedding.”

“Hey,” Harper protested, “I’m helping my mother with the guest list. Believe me, that’s work.”

“An excuse,” Presley said, “but a good one.”

Mari lost track of the playful back and forths, too busy watching Glenn brace her arms on the railing and lift herself up onto it in a quick fluid move. She perched at the edge of the gathering, watching, laughing occasionally, now and then making a comment. As much as she was a part of everything, she was also alone. An island. Her solitude called to Mari in some deep place and she desperately wanted to be beside her, to ask her…anything—how her night was, if she’d heard about Blake’s surgery, if she thought the clear blue sky was as amazingly beautiful as Mari found it.

Glenn glanced over and met Mari’s gaze. The pull on her consciousness was so fierce, Mari swore Glenn knew what she was thinking. She couldn’t even pretend her next move was against her will, not when she rose, skirted the ring of rockers, and leaned against the railing on Glenn’s far side, out of earshot of everyone. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Glenn said.

“I can’t believe everybody was piled into that one pickup truck. Why didn’t you all bring more cars?”

“I’m designated driver for anybody who needs a ride after the barbecue today. Well, the kids won’t be drinking, but the others might want a beer or two.”

“I could do that,” Mari said. “I’m on call tonight, so I won’t be drinking. If you wanted to have a drink.”

“I can take it or leave it,” Glenn said. “But thanks.”

“If you change your mind, just let me know.” Mari started to move away and Glenn caught her hand. She stilled, every muscle in her body instantly frozen midmotion, lest she move too far away and the contact disappear.

“If you want to ride over to the barbecue with me, I can get the kids to ride with Carrie. Flann and Harper will probably ride over with Presley and Abby.”

“Thanks,” Mari said. After all, that’s what friends did, right? Enjoyed each other’s company. “I’d like that.”

For one endless moment, Glenn’s hand tightened around hers before slipping away. “Good. Me too.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Are you about ready to head over?” Glenn asked when Mari returned to her side during a lull in the animated exchanges about caterers, menus, tents versus no tents, and the advisability of elopement. Currently the latter was off the table.

“Whenever you are,” Mari said, “but I should check with Carrie first. Make sure she doesn’t need me. I came over with her earlier.”

“Sure. No rush.” Glenn was content to sit with the sun on her back, listening to her friends plan the future and watching Mari slowly becoming one of their group. She had an easy way about her, joining in the conversations where it was natural, easing back from the personal exchanges, and absorbing the good-natured teasing that flowed between siblings and old friends in all directions indiscriminately. When Mari laughed, her face glowed and her pleasure rippled over Glenn’s skin like warm currents of summer air. She wasn’t just beautiful then, she was indescribable.

“Did you eat?” Mari asked.

“Eat?” Glenn flailed, still lost in the image of Mari with her head thrown back, red lips parted on a full-throated laugh. It wasn’t hard to imagine her fingers trailing down that sleek throat, her mouth covering those full, moist lips. “Breakfast, you mean?”

Mari laughed. “Exactly. You know, the stuff you ingest when you wake up in the morning. In addition to that excellent coffee that…actually, did you have any this morning without my personal delivery?”

Glenn winced. “I’m sorry to report I had hospital coffee this morning. Not bad, but no comparison.”

“Why?” Mari frowned, sorting through her memories of the on-call schedule. “Wasn’t Adams on last night with…Baker, wasn’t it?”

“Uh, as a matter of fact, yes,” Glenn hedged. “Adams was on last night. Baker too.”

When Glenn shifted a little uneasily on the railing, an unusual action for her, Mari took note. Glenn never appeared uneasy, but Mari had an idea she knew why. “And…are we getting to the part where you were there too?”

Busted. Glenn sighed. “I might have stopped over for a quick check on the student and…then one thing or another happened.”

Mari nodded. “Friday night. It was busy?”

“Pretty steady,” Glenn said, relieved that Mari didn’t seem aggravated that she’d gone back to the hospital and wasn’t going to take her to task for it. Nice to not have to defend herself. “I was helping Baker with a knee tap on a young guy with a traumatic synovitis and one thing led to another and by the time it got quiet it was after three. Didn’t see much point in leaving then.”

“Probably not.”

Glenn didn’t add there was hardly any point, really, in her leaving the hospital much after sundown, just to go back to her apartment and read until she was tired enough to sleep. She could do that in the on-call room and frequently did.

“Did you get a run in this morning?”

Surprised that Mari seemed to know her habits so well so quickly, and even more surprised that she liked it, Glenn nodded again. “Just after sunup. Getting too damn hot to run later in the day.”

“Obviously, you have forgotten your Texas roots,” Mari said, knocking shoulders lightly. “Isn’t it hot there all the time, regardless of whether the sun is shining or not?”

Glenn grinned. For the first time in a long time, mention of her past and the home she had steadfastly put out of her mind didn’t bother her. “Your eyeballs burn even at midnight.”

“See there? This weather shouldn’t bother you at all.”

“Definitely not the desert, I’ll give you that.” Glenn looked away. She hadn’t meant to bring that up. Uncomfortable that the past simmered so near the surface all of a sudden.

“Not nearly as bad as that, I imagine,” Mari said quietly, dropping her hand onto Glenn’s knee for just an instant, an innocent gesture of comfort that exploded in the pit of Glenn’s stomach with the force of a grenade. Her spine burned all the way up to the base of her neck, but the shock was pleasure, not pain. “You’re right. This is nothing like there.”