My father forgets the food he’s chewing as he gapes at her.
“The second is to learn about yourself.” She touches the Heinz. “Your first crush has been crushed. You’re sad, but most of all, you’re angry. Angry enough to not let it happen again,” she explains. “To not give yourself over so much this time. To not give up your power to be his booty call at midnight and there waiting whenever he decides to show up.”
She’s describing us, I take it.
“Number two is where you finally learn what you’re capable of,” she continues, tucking a loose strand from her ponytail behind her ear. “You start getting demanding. You grow bold, not afraid to start calling some shots. You’re also not afraid to be greedier in the bedroom, because it’s about what you want and not what he wants. Number two is to be used. In a way.”
My dad clears his throat, and I laugh to myself as I drop my fork and give her my full attention. She said bedroom.
“What the fuck did she teach you?” he mumbles.
But I want her to keep going. “And number three?” I ask, picking up the A.1.
“Love.” She snatches the bottle away. “When the lessons of your weakness with number one and your selfishness with number two sink in, and you find a medium. When you know who you are and you’re ready to welcome everything he is, and you’re not afraid anymore.” She puts the bottle back in its place. “You still might not have a happy ending, but you’ll engage in a healthy relationship and handle yourself in a way you’re proud of.”
“And you think your mother is the one to listen to?” Dad replies.
“She was a failure as a mother,” Tiernan points out. “But nothing else. It’s the only advice she ever gave me, actually, so I kind of hang on to it.”
It actually isn’t terrible advice. I’m so glad I didn’t marry my first. Or my fifth. People learn about themselves through sex. It’s true. And sometimes it may take a lot of living to become the person you want to be. I’m happy my future wife won’t have to experience the complete prick I was at seventeen. I was much worse. Like a lot worse.
“Well, sounds like you already know what you need to know,” my dad tells her. “Why go through three men to get it?”
“Some lessons can’t be taught,” she says, taking a bite of the steak Kaleb gave her. “Just learned. Don’t you think?”
I watch in amusement as he can’t fucking respond, because she’s right. Sometimes people have to make their own mistakes and feel the pain.
She takes her empty beer and stands up. “Anyway, nothing to worry about,” she assures him. “I have zero interest in relationship drama, and even if I did, we’ll be deep in snow for months very soon. The perfect chastity belt.”
She walks over to the garbage, tossing her empty bottle and reaching into the fridge to grab another.
Our eyes follow her, barely breathing as we watch her lean over in her three-hundred-dollar jeans to find a new bottle.
I shift in my seat, the sudden bulge between my legs swelling.
“Yeah,” I murmur sarcastically as I lift my bottle to my lips. “Because there’s no danger here whatsoever.”
Dad shoots me a look.
Pretty sure he knows by now that it’s going to be a long fucking winter.
Tiernan
“What’s this?” I dart my eyes up to Noah before taking the bag he’s handing me.
We’ve been running to town every chance we get over the past few weeks, anticipating the end of our cheeseburger and milkshake runs. I also needed to hit the pharmacy today to stock up on everything under the sun that can remedy what might hit me up on the peak this winter, when I won’t be able to go to town for what ails me. I’m prepared for headaches, sinus issues, joint pain, back pain, cramps, allergies—not that I currently have those, but you never know—and I’m about to be all stocked up on my birth control.
I debated going off, but… I guess it’s just best to stay on my routine.
He shrugs. “I’ve never gotten a girl a birthday present,” he says as I peer into the bag. “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to wear it.”
I reach in, pulling out a T-shirt and baseball cap. We stand in the corner of the store, waiting for my script to be filled, and I set the bag on the floor, fanning out the shirt.
It’s light blue with the town’s emblem on the breast, and I turn it over, seeing the same Van der Berg Extreme logo covering the whole back. It’s just like Noah’s, only his is white.