Page 128 of Choosing Us

“To have you? Of course.”

“No, Ryan. To have us.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Savannah and Theo’s new home is a beautiful blend of modern with classic, and the controlled restraint of color that leaves plenty of space for Savannah’s big personality to fill the room.

Not that Theo is a wall flower in his own right.

They are awesome. I love them as a couple, and I’m lucky to call them friends. I haven’t always had the best experiences with lawyers, but Theo isn’t like any lawyer I’ve ever met, then again, neither is his sister, Pippa.

“And the trainer said it will take some time for her to get used to us, but honestly, for her first week home, I think Lumi is doing amazing!” Harlow gushes as she shows us more photos of their adorable puppy they kind of gave each other. I’m a dog person, so I totally get the obsession. Plus, Lumi’s face is very squishable, and I’ve already invited myself over to meet her after book club today.

I choose a cozy club chair and settle in close to the roaring fireplace. “I’m so glad I was finally able to attend in person. You are all beautiful on my screens, but it’s so nice to see you in person.”

“Screens? What screens?” Stacy, Savannah’s former neighbor and our book club’s resident clucking mother hen, narrows her eyes at me. She’s across the room, but she does not miss a single thing.

I shrug. “It depends on the location, really. If I’m at my home base, I’ll usually just put it up on one of my larger monitors.”

“Where’s your home base?” Willa asks, but instead of replying, I just wink at her.

Willa’s daughter is twelve, so she should be used to dealing with vague non-answers, although I know I can trust Willa. She knows how to keep a secret. I don’t usually tell people where home is for a reason—the biggest being their own safety.

Not that my home isn’t safe, but if they know where I live, it puts them at risk if the wrong people find out. Even my mailing address is a PO box in two towns over. It’s safer to be vague and mysterious, and I will always choose safety for the people that I have chosen to have in my life.

“How large do my face and wrinkles get, Sophia?” Stacy thinks her snark scares me. She has no idea the dangers I have personally faced, so her barking reminds me of a little designer dog tucked into a purse at brunch.

It’s adorable, really.

“Your beauty is blinding, no matter the screen size, Stacy,” Savannah jumps in before I could reply with something a little sharper, but her route is better for a social gathering. When I was originally invited to join Vivian and Savannah’s book club a year ago, I didn’t think I’d get into it as much as I have. I’ve only missed two meetings in the last twelve months, and that was when it was literally impossible for me to safely show up on a screen or potentially have them see where I was. They don’t get a full explanation, though, and I just say I don’t have a signal.

Which is a lie—I always have signal—but they don’t need to know that.

“Soph, can I get you something else to drink?” Savannah offers and I just lift my extra-large iced coffee to her.

“I’m good. This is enough caffeine for a horse, so it should hold me over for our discussion.” I grin at her disapproving expression.

“That sounds like too much. I’m going to get you a water.”

Okay, so Stacy isn’t the only mother hen in this group. Maybe that’s why I love book club so much, it’s not just the books—which I do enjoy—but it’s the women that have become more than friends, they feel like family.

And that’s sacred to me.

“Sophia, can you help me connect my phone to their TV so I can share the photos from our trip?” Pippa hands me her phone, and a few clicks later, I hand it back after she’s casting to the television over the living room fireplace.

Pippa’s mouth drops and she looks from her phone to me. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

I take a small bow. “Thank you very much.”

“Show us the photos, and then we can dive into the book discussion,” Vivian calls out from the kitchen as she carries another tray of food.

Another reason I love book club? They have the best snacks—every single time.

Pippa and her husband, David, adopted their twins this summer, but this was the first time they had taken Calliope Jane and Fitzgerald Theodore, also known as CJ and Fitz, to London to visit her brother, Van. His company is headquartered in London, and while Van had been stateside to meet his new niece and nephew, it was the first international trip for the family of four.

“It was really sweet,” Pippa continued while showing us photos from her phone casting to the TV. “Van was so proud to introduce the babies to his friends. He hosted this little baby shower slash dinner party.” In true Smith-Harrington fashion, the little dinner party is fully catered and decorated to the nth degree. It’s sweet to think of this tech guru going gaga over four-month-old babies that will never remember this, but Pippa will.

“That’s incredibly sweet of him,” I say as she shows us a video of Van holding CJ and Fitz in each arm and walking around with them amongst his friends. “Where was the party?”