Page 100 of Forest Proximity
Ike chuckles, spinning his gavel around his fingers.
“Love it.” Diana’s red lips curl into a smile. “I’msohere for this.” She nods in approval.
Stevie finally tracks the thing that grabbed her friends’ attention. She pivots to look at my shirt. Her cheeks turn rosy. Instead of saying anything, her soft fingers trace a line down my forearm until she finds my hand. She laces our fingers together, brazenly tugging our joined hands onto her lap and resting her shoulder against mine.
Marlow raises both eyebrows, but she doesn’t look surprised by this development. She looks thrilled. This means Stevie’s going down without a fight. Marlow won.
Muffie finally emerges from her purse. “Oof.” She burps delicately, releasing a slow, soundless bubble through herwrinkled lips. “Anyone have any TUMS?” Then she spots my T-shirt and Stevie snuggling up to me. Her eyes narrow at Stevie. “Well, well, well. This oughta make for a short meeting.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Tina, the minute-taker, rushes in. “I got stuck behind that Anderton kid on my way here. Ike, we need some kinda ordinance about golf carts in the—holy guacamole.” Her mouth drops open, and she points at my shirt. “That’s going in the minutes. Shirtless Adam is wearing one of Stevie’s Bigfoot shirts. The man is officially whipped.”
Ike taps his gavel gently. It’s the gavel version of clearing his throat. “Tina—”
“Okay, okay.” She holds both hands up, then opens her laptop at the other end of the table. “I’m totally ready. Go.”
Ike scratches his beard. “Let's make this quick. This meeting of the Committee to Determine the Outcome of Bigfoot Versus Boyfriend will come to order. Let the minutes reflect that it is six fifteen, and the Red Sox-Yankees game starts at seven ten.” The man has his priorities.
Tina raises her hand. “Mr. Wentworth, would you like me to read the minutes of our last meeting?”
He doesn’t think about his answer. “No. There’s no time. In light of this”—he gestures to where Stevie is holding my hand, snuggled against me—“I move that we vote after both parties have a chance to make their arguments.”
“I second that,” Diana replies too quickly. She’s wearing a Yankees T-shirt, I finally realize. It seems I’m not the only man in the room who’s in love with a crazy woman.
Ike nods. “Marlow, would you like to make your argument first?”
She drags in a long breath, tightening her blonde ponytail and looking at Stevie apologetically. “By now we’ve all heard that Crispin guy’s accusations, but aside from that—”
“Actually, can I go first?” Stevie turns rigid, releasing a long, measured breath.
Marlow grins, giving Stevie the floor with a tilt of her head.
The room falls silent except for the quiet sound of Sammie crushing watermelons on my phone behind me.
Has Stevie decided I’m not worth it? Is she about to dig in her heels? For two ticks of the clock, I think this is it. The end.
Then her hand tightens around mine. “Crispin was right. I won’t deny it. I lost the bet, fair and square. Adam and I started seeing each other not long after the bet started. I figured out pretty fast that he’s ... Well, he’s perfect for me. I’m in love with Adam Sandoval.”
My chest tightens, and my eyes turn hot. Stevie isn’t looking to anyone for approval. Her brown eyes lock with mine, soft, sparkling, and full of an unnecessary apology. She doesn’t need to apologize to me. I have no regrets. I’d do it all again.
Ike cracks his gavel. “Order!”
Diana turns pink. “No one said anything, hon.”
Her husband shakes his head. “Well,I’mfreaking out,” he mutters.
“Me, too.” August finally chimes in. “It’s about time.”
The rest of the room is stunned silent, including Muffie, who shouldn’t be too mad. She’s about to come into some money. I squeeze Stevie’s hand. That’s a pretty big matzo ball she put out there. I can’t let her do this alone. When she squeezes back, I know I can do this.
“I’m Stevie’s boyfriend. I have been for a while.” Every pair of eyes lands on me in my “I Saw Bigfoot in Cape Georgeana, Maine” T-shirt, and I realize I’m only stating the obvious. Stevie deserves more. These people need to hear all of it. “And I love her.” I suck in a long breath. The words feel so right, I repeat them. “I love everything about her—her strong opinions, her laugh, her freckles, her total lack of self-awareness—”
“Hey!” Stevie gasps at the same time that Inger tips her face to the ceiling and mutters, “Praise the Lord.”
I’m not done. “And another thing.” I point at the image on my T-shirt. “This is me, so ... yeah.”
August leans around Stevie to get a look at what I’m wearing. He tilts his head back, laughing. “That was you?”
“Listen.” Stevie straightens, holding her palms up. “He was far away. It was getting dark. And, I mean, look at him.” She gestures to me. “He’s got the vibe.”
