“Brooke,” I said. “And she isn’t a Barbie.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“She’s pretty, but so are you.”
Wren scoffed.
“And Christy loves you for different reasons.”
“But… what if she decides she doesn’t?”
“Do you really think that’s going to happen?”
“Yes!”
I waited.
“No.” She glared resentfully. “Why d’you have to be so damned reasonable?”
“It’s what I do.” I thought of something and smiled. “Except when I don’t. Like… when you were playing matchmaker.”
“God, you were so hardheaded and obnoxious. Worse than Trip on his worst day!”
I grinned. “Sounds about right.”
“I know what you’re doing,” she said.
“Oh?”
“Trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?” I asked mildly.
“No.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
She huffed.
“Brooke isn’t the competition,” I said. “Christy loves you both.”
“She has a strange way of showing it.”
“Listen, she isn’t selfish—”
Wren shook her head in agreement.
“—but sometimes she doesn’t think things through.”
“No kidding.” She paused and then continued in a calmer tone, “You’re right. But… why’d she have to invite her now? Things were finally getting back to normal. Well, as normal as they ever get with her.”
“Miss Chaos?” I chuckled. “Yeah, you can say that again.”
“I don’t know why I love her, Paul,” Wren said, and my throat tightened at the raw emotion in her voice. She sighed at another thought.
“What?”
“I… don’t know if I can explain.”
I waited.
“Remember back when we first met? Well, after you and Kendall broke up.”
“Yeah, mostly.”
“My mother really wanted us to start dating.”
I nodded. “She was worried you’d… um… be like her.”
“A lesbian?” she said with a bitter laugh. “There, I said it. But sometimes I worry that maybe I am like her. I love Trip, but it’s different. It… isn’t as intense. I love Christy so much it almost hurts to look at her.”
“She’s the sun,” I said. “We’re just planets in her orbit.”
“And now there’s another planet, even prettier.”
“Brooke’s always been there,” I said quietly. “She was on the other side of the sun.”
“You’re really good with metaphors,” Wren said out of the blue. “You’d be good in advertising.”
I shrugged, agreement and indifference.
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re better at architecture. And I hope you realize how much Trip likes working with you. You drive him crazy sometimes, but he talks about you all the time. I think he’s even jealous of how you get women so easily.”
“I don’t know about that,” I demurred.
“He was really annoyed about that new couple.”
“Carter and Kim?” I shrugged. “I’ll ask them if—”
Wren shook her head. “Don’t tell Trip, but they aren’t my type. I can’t explain it.”
“No problem,” I agreed.
“Thanks. And thanks for last night. Today, too.”
“What about it? Today, I mean.”
“What you told Trip. To be cool. When he met Brooke.”
“That was his idea,” I said.
“For real?” She laughed, soft and affectionate. “He thinks I don’t know he has a thing for redheads.”
I didn’t deny it.
She relaxed and sighed. “I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“He feels the same.”
“I know. And… he let me keep my girlfriend. Not to mention you and all the other people we swing with. That was hard for him, but he did it for me.”
I nodded.
“He totally enjoys it now,” she laughed. “Like your parents! They’re really cool, by the way. I wish mine were more like them.”
“Funny you should mention that,” I said. “I’m worried they might be more like your parents, my dad with his mistresses and my mom with her special friend.”
“Uh-uh. Your parents are solid. Trust me. Mine have always been… I dunno… separate. They love each other, but it’s platonic with them. Your parents are different. Your dad doesn’t have mistresses.”
I silently agreed. He had conquests instead, which wasn’t much better. Still, they didn’t turn into long-term relationships. Not that I knew about, at least.
“Yeah, he likes younger women,” Wren continued. “God, does he ever! But he’s devoted to your mom. Besides, she and Susan are different than mine and Lydia. I don’t know if I can explain that either.” She huffed in frustration. “And I’m supposed to be a communications expert!”
“Relationships are complicated. And they’re all different.”
She nodded.
“Yours with Christy isn’t any different because Brooke is here,” I said. “She’s always ‘been here,’ so to speak. She and Christy never really broke up after high school. They were apart for months at a time, but they still talked. And they saw each other on breaks. So they always had a connection.”
“I know,” Wren said. “And I even understand why she invited her. I mean, why now.”
“Oh? Enlighten me.”
“She’s been planning it for a while. Maybe not consciously—that isn’t how she works—but in the back of her mind. She’s known for a while that you’re The One. And she wants Brooke and me in her wedding. So, she wants to make sure we get along… before we meet for the first time at the wedding itself.”
“Holy crap,” I said quietly. “I never thought of that.”
“Mmm hmm. She’s good at manipulating people. She’s subtle, too. Not like me, a bull in a china shop.”
“You’re better than that,” I said.
“But not like her. And… it’s why I love her. I really don’t know what I’d do without her. You and Trip are replaceable.”
My eyes bugged, and she laughed.
“Oh, relax. You know I’m kidding. Trip’s exactly what I want. You too, in a weird way. You’re like my cousin or something, except we can have sex.” She paused and thought about all we’d said.
“I think you’re right,” she continued after a moment. “Christy’s the sun. She keeps us in her orbit.” She shrugged. “I guess I can live with another planet. Brooke. There, I said her name. She can even be Saturn.”
“Why Saturn?”
“It’s the prettiest. While I’m Venus. Not as pretty, but closer to the sun.”
“True.”
“This is a really good metaphor,” Wren said all of a sudden. “You’re Earth, a little farther away, but the source of life. For Christy, at least. Trip is Mars. Brooke is Saturn.”
“Hold on,” I teased, “I’m supposed to be the sci-fi nerd.”
“Trip reads it too. He isn’t a nerd, not like you, but still…”
“Okay, then,” I laughed, “who’s Jupiter? Not to mention Uranus and Neptune? And Pluto?”
“Who cares? We’re the important ones.”
“Mercury’s important.”
“I said it’s a good metaphor,” she laughed. “It isn’t perfect. And… do you really want more planets in her orbit?”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Wren inhaled a deep breath and looked wrung out from emotion. Still, she smiled when I ducked and looked into her eyes.
“Better?” I said.
“Yeah, I think so. Brooke isn’t so bad. And I’d give anything for her looks.”
“You’re not so bad yourself. And you do things she can’t.”
“I cook, you mean?”
“Yes and no. You take a few simple ingredients and turn them into something wonderful. Sometimes it’s food, sometimes it’s a relationship.”
Her eyes welled with emotion and she smiled. “Thank you. That means a lot. And… I do love you. Maybe not like Christy or Trip, but still…”
“I love you too,” I said.