Love in Slow Motion

18. Quinn

18 QUINN

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. What the fuck did I just do?

What the fuck did I just do ?

I help Sabrina get the boat back into the boat house and tied off, but as soon as it’s secure, I make an excuse and take off for the house, my phone already out by the time I reach Chase’s bedroom. I lock the door and then close and lock the closet door behind me, too. I can’t let anybody hear the phone call I’m about to make.

There’s no cell service, but thanks to Sabrina’s brilliance, I can video call Brooke through the wi-fi.

When she answers, she’s all smiles, the way she always is these days. Brooke has always been the sunny, optimistic one, but since she started getting railed regularly by the guy across the hall, she’s been downright perky.

“Hey, buttercup!” she says as she stirs whatever she’s making herself for lunch. “What’s going on?” She finally focuses on the phone and she squints at me. “Why are you soaking wet? Did you get caught in a storm?”

“The lake,” I say, and I realize I’m out of breath. That’s how fast I booked it up the hill to the house.

“Did you forget your bathing suit?”

“Would you just—” I lower my voice, realizing that shrill is probably more likely to be heard in other rooms. “Look, I did something really, really stupid, and now I don’t know what do.”

She stops tending to what she’s cooking and takes the phone with both hands. “Oh, God. Did you murder Chase? Did you hold his head under the water at the lake? I’m not gonna lie, ever since you said you were going to that house, I’ve been thinking maybe it’s not such a bad idea. Do you need help weighing down the body?”

It takes me a second to find words. “Jesus Christ, Brooke. No, I didn’t kill Chase. I kissed Reed.” She’s silent for a second, and I can hear whatever she’s cooking sizzling away on the stovetop. I point over her shoulder. “Is that going to burn?”

She spins around and shoves the pan off the burner. She flips the burner switch off and then spins back to me. “Oh, my God. Okay. Tell me everything.”

I shrug. “It’s sort of a long story, but the short version is that Reed and I have been sharing the bed downstairs in the basement so that I don’t have to sleep in the same room as Chase. And, I don’t know, things have felt…different. Anyway, we were in the lake today, and he started being sweet and looking really good, and I had a moment of temporary insanity, and I kissed him.”

Her mouth is hanging open. “Holy fucking shit. Okay, and then what happened?”

“And then nothing happened! The rest of the family showed up, and I ran in here to call you.”

“Geez.” She leans back against her counter. “Good for you, Quinn.”

Now my mouth falls open. “What the hell do you mean, good for you ? I can’t be kissing my ex-husband’s brother.”

Brooke’s face twists. “Why the hell not? You and Chase are divorced.”

“That is so not the point. Whether we’re divorced or not, it’s still a betrayal.”

Her face twists even more. “Who gives a fuck if you betray Chase? The man cheated on you. He betrayed you first. And it’s definitely not a betrayal if you guys aren’t married anymore.”

“But it’s a betrayal to his mom and his sister.”

At this, Brooke finally falls quiet. “Yeah, I could see how you could make that argument. But I gotta say, babe, I fully disagree on this one. Reed is just a guy, and it’s not like you’re proposing to him. You kissed him. Once.” She pauses, her eyebrows raising. “Unless…you know…you wanna kiss him again. Nobody could blame you. Reed Lynch is so many different categories of yummy.”

“I do not want to kiss him again.”

“Then why did you kiss him in the first place?”

I push myself back against the wall, shoving Chase’s shoes out of the way and resting my head back to think. “I don’t know. My brain is all confused. I mean, I’ve always liked Reed. We’ve been friends a long time. And I guess…you know, this whole trip is super stressful and Reed has been super supportive, so, I don’t know, it was just instinct.”

Brooke nods. “Well, maybe you should let that instinct lead you to a very satisfying dicking down.”

My head snaps up, almost smacking right into the shelf above me. “What? No. That’s not an option. And it’s not something I want either.”

Lies , a voice whispers in my head. So many lies. If you didn’t want him that way, why haven’t you been able to keep your eyes off him for the last two days? I ignore it.

“Listen, bestie,” Brooke says, setting me down on her counter and bending over to rest her chin on her downturned hands. “There is nobody who deserves good dick more than you right now. And there’s no way Reed is not serving up some top-notch dick.”

“Can you please stop talking about Reed’s dick?” I whisper, barely even able to get it out of my mouth.

“No,” she responds, point blank. “You’re about to disappear from these people’s lives. You might as well get a few good orgasms out of it before you peace out. Having sex with someone you know and trust is always way better than a stranger. You don’t want to have to wait until you get back to Boston to meet some guy on Tinder in order to get your jollies.”

“Even if I’m about to never see any of them again, I couldn’t do that to Madison and Sabrina. I just couldn’t.”

Brooke gets a thoughtful look on her face. “I understand. You’re too nice for your own damn good. Maybe we need to teach you how to care a little less about other people’s feelings.”