Page 3 of The Kiss

Erin's front door was open when I got there, which meant the afternoon was still in full swing.

The TV was on too loud. "It's my turn to pick!" That was Jordan. Then Holly, twice as loud: "You picked last time!"

"Mama!" Hazel launched off the couch and hit me at full speed. I held her for a second, kissed the top of her head.

Hazel and Holly met at a playground our first week in Boston. I sat on a bench while Hazel worked up the nerve to talk to someone, and by the time I looked up they were inseparable. Erin showed up ten minutes later with Jordan on one hip and Peyton in a stroller. They lived a few streets over. We'd been friends ever since.

By the end of August, Hazel was at Erin's house almost every afternoon. When school started, Erin offered to bring Hazel home with her kids so I wouldn't have to worry about pickup.

"Janine!" Erin called from the kitchen. "How was the shift?"

"Go finish your show, bug." Hazel squeezed back in between Holly and Jordan on the couch.

I found Erin with Peyton strapped to her chest in a carrier, chopping something for dinner. I don't know how she did it. Four kids all afternoon, dinner already started, and she never once made me feel like picking up Hazel was a favor.

"A child called in a house fire." I pulled out the stool across from her and sat. "She was alone. The firefighters got to her in time."

"God."

"She's fine. She's with her mom."

Erin looked at me. She knew me well enough to see what I was carrying and well enough to let it go.

"How about you?" I asked. "How was your day?"

"My brother is driving me insane." She went back to the chopping. "I've invited him to three things this month. Three. He's turned down every single one."

The complaint was familiar. Erin's brother was recently divorced, and from everything Erin told me, he'd responded to the divorce by burying himself in work. Every extra shift, every overtime slot. Erin had been trying to drag him back into the world for months, and the world kept losing.

"He just sits in that apartment." The chopping got louder. "Works and works and won't let anyone in." She caught herself, shook her head.

"How's the play coming?" I asked.

Her energy shifted, the frustration folding into a smile she was trying to hold back. "Cast is set. We got the single mom and the single dad. The two the other parents have been rooting for all year."

Erin had been PTA president since Holly started kindergarten. This year's project was a STEAM lab for the school, and the fall play was the big fundraiser.

"Do they actually like each other?"

Her mouth turned up slowly. "They do. They just haven't figured it out."

I laughed. "Look at you. Matchmaker."

"I'm gifted." She leaned across the counter. "If you'd let me, I'd find someone for you too."

I tilted my head and gave her the look.

Erin raised both hands. "Fine. Fine. Offer stands."

Hazel appeared in the kitchen doorway with Holly behind her for backup. "Mama, Jordan threw a pillow at my head."

From the living room: "I didn't throw it!"

"He threw it," Holly confirmed.

Erin didn't look up from the cutting board. "Jordan, what did I say about throwing things in the house?"

Silence.