Renfaire Fantasy 1: Catching up with Kelly (Patreon)

“But, I can barely boil noodles!” Emily protested, throwing her hands out. “What do—what do you expect me to do?!”

“Well, we need you to boil noodles for us,” Brian explained. “Then, we’ll be back from the store with everything else we need by the time you’re done.”

He put his hand on Emily’s waist to steady her as he maneuvered around her in the somewhat close quarters of his apartment’s kitchen—she seemed downright eager to be moved around by him, and his longtime friend shot him another one of those oh my God just FUCK ME looks. Biting her lower lip, honeyed eyes open wide at him and eyebrows raised. Emily corrected the position of his hand from her side to plant it firmly on her little butt with a smack, and Brian gave her a grin as he went through the cabinet with his other hand to grab the box of noodles from the back.

“I’ve never made lasagna,” Emily said in her most sultry voice. “Lasagna’s all layers and stuff, and then don’t you have to bake it forever? We could do something easier… just for tonight?”

“We could,” Brian said, checking the box of uncooked pasta to make sure they had enough. “But, I want lasagna and garlic bread.”

“Me too,” Kelly said, taking her purse from the counter and slipping it over one shoulder. “Emily—have higher standards. This is gonna be our big reunion dinner.”

“I’m twenty-two and always broke,” Emily threw her hands up in the air. “How am I supposed to have standards about what’s for dinner? And, what’s wrong with ordering pizza?”

“That’s literally why you’re always broke,” Brian shook his head. “Down there, lower cabinet. Grab a pot. What I mean, is—for the same cost as ordering breadsticks and a two-liter, we can make an entire big meal for four here.”

“But, then we have to actually make it ourselves, like some kinda animals,” Emily dropped down and started scrounging through the bottom cupboard. “This one? Big one, or biggish one? The pot with the long handle, or the one with little handles on both sides?”

“Emily—I dunno, just grab whichever one has a lid that fits,” Brian chuckled. “How do you not know how to cook?”

“I can cook just fine!”

“She lived with her mom, that’s how,” Kelly remarked.

“Yeah, what happened to ‘I can barely even cook noodles?’” Brian recalled. “Seem to remember just a few seconds ago you said—”

“So?!” Emily blew a raspberry at them, rising back up with a pot and a lid. “I’ve cooked for myself before, it’s just mostly a waste to. I’m little. I have little tummy. I’m not tryin’ to cook up a whole giant-ass serving of somethin’ special for just me.”

“Yep, yep,” Brian shook his head as he took the pot from her. “She’s all like I’m starving, I need an entire pizza, and then after two slices she’s like OMG, I’m literally dying right now. My stomach is gonna burst. I want my mommy!”

“Yeah?! So?! So what?!” Emily laughed, spanking a hand across his butt. “You would too, if you had a tiny tummy. Not everyone is just this, this big giant stupid ogre with a super huge cavernous stomach.”

“You have the oven preheating?” Kelly asked.

“Do now,” Brian remarked, leaning past Emily to turn the knob. “Oven is a go.”

“Oven is a go,” Emily parroted. “I still wanna come with you guys to the store. You just finally fuckin’ woke up, I wanna be with you.”

“I know,” Brian kissed the top of her head. “But, we’ll be gone twenty minutes, tops, and I want to have just a little bit of time alone with Kelly so we can talk.”

“Without me being all excited and annoying,” Emily huffed. “Fine. Fine, I get it. Sorry. I’m just—I’m just so hyped.”

“Please don’t burn down the apartment,” Kelly deadpanned.

“And I love that you’re so hyped,” Brian promised Emily. “Give me a bit, so Kelly and I can do serious talk—”

“—Serious, grown-up talk—” Kelly added.

“—And I can get Kelly to be all excited and annoying and hyped up, too,” Brian said. “Instead of sulking or guilt-tripping or anything like that. Then, we’ll all be on the same page. And have lasagna.”

“And garlic bread,” Kelly said. “I’m not exactly guilt-tripping, though. I just think we should… talk about some of what happened.”

“Which is already super out of character,” Brian teased. “Okay—hey, hey, kidding.”

“Okay, fine,” Emily rolled her eyes. “But—no banging. No running off and fuckin’, you save all that mojo for when you get back. Okay?”

“No promises!” Kelly muttered under her breath.

“Of course,” Brian laughed. “Emily, we’re not a couple of horny teenagers. We’ll save all that ‘til after Steph’s here, after we can all have a big dinner together.”

“Before dinner, before,” Emily corrected. “In this household we fuck before dinner. Better way to work up an appetite. Fucking after? Bad for digestion, to be honest. Pool rules, you always wait to—”

“Emily…” Kelly rolled her eyes. “Once we start fucking, we’re not gonna stop for hours and hours. Obviously. Probably the rest of the night, if it’s anything like last time. We’ll forget to eat, or the lasagna’ll get cold, or—”

“Necessary sacrifices,” Emily nodded gravely as she watched Brian set up the stovetop with water and the pot of lasagna noodles. “Again, this is why we should just cook something easy. It’s like I’m the only one who thinks this shit through!”

“Right, right,” Brian appeased her, giving her a hug from behind. “Love you, Emmie. Stir that every once in a while so it’s not all stuck to the bottom, turn the heat down to simmer once you’ve got it to a boil.”

“I know how to cook, stupid,” Emily squirmed in his arms until she was facing him. “Mostly I’ve probably cooked way more noodles than you ever have.”

“Not counting microwave?” Brian arched an eyebrow.

“Microwave counts—cooking is cooking,” Emily gave him a kiss. “You’re both kidding yourselves, the second Steph gets here, everyone’s gonna forget we were ever about to have lasagna.”

“No way, we’ve gotta win her over,” Brian gave her butt a squeeze with both hands. “Quickest way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.”

“Alright, alright, enough grab-assing,” Kelly said. “Brian, let’s go.”

*     *     *

“You okay?” Brian asked as he opened the car door for her.

Kelly paused and gave him a look for a moment before getting in. It had seemed like she was going to comment on what may have been the gentleman act bullshit action of getting a door for her, but in the end she held back whatever she was going to say. He felt a little sheepish about it already, because he’d simply done it without thinking—walking out of the apartment, her door was closer, while he was going to have to walk around the front of the car to get in the driver’s side anyways.

“I’m okay,” Kelly confirmed as he got in. “Really. I was less okay before, but you’re awake now, and Steph’s on her way, so. So, things are pretty okay, now.”

“I guess I mean…” Brian started up the car. “I don’t know what I mean. This is all weird to navigate, and I don’t know how things are working. Like, don’t mean to be super blunt, but—uhh, is there like, jealousy, when we’re all there inside and I’m practically fondling Emily? Or she’s all over me like she’s been? No criticism there if there is, it’d be completely understandable and all. Just want to figure out how this is gonna work, you know?”

“Yeah, it’s—not jealous, exactly,” Kelly answered as Brian pulled out of the parking spot and started to take them down the row of apartments.

“It’s not like relationship jealousy? It’s like… I don’t know how to put it into words. I’m not jealous, I’m just a little nervous. I think I will be, at times like this. When you and Emily are headed in this cute playful couple direction, and then I’m over here feeling… whatever it is I’m feeling, instead.”

“Was worried she was getting on your nerves,” Brian admitted.

“She wasn’t, not really,” Kelly shook her head. “I love her, too. I guess if I’m feeling jealous, it’s that I can’t just… be a goof. Like she can. I mean, I absolutely can, but I mean… she can do it without getting hammered. Ashley and I would get several times that stupid back in the day when we were having a blast and getting wasted, to where we were just laughing and speaking gibberish at each other like it was just hysterical. I should say I envy Emily’s ability to just be the way she is, to act like that, when she’s stone cold sober?”

“Ah,” Brian nodded. “That makes sense, yeah.”

“How do you think I should act?” Kelly asked. “I felt like I could’ve started teasing her about how she was being, but—I don’t know. I think she can be delicate in some of those ways. In like, normal situations I’d be kinda mean to her, dissing her or putting her down, intimidating her away from you. But then also now—I love her. The dynamic’s all… weird. It’s not a me versus her, I won’t ever impress you by one-upping her anyways, I… I don’t know. I’ve never been a team player, now I’m on a real team, and my not being a team person makes me feel like I’m the odd girl out.”

“So, it’s like, how do you exercise all your Kelly in these kind of circumstances?” Brian said as they turned out of the neighborhood and onto the street. “That kinda thing?”

“Yeah,” Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s easier to figure out when Steph’s there. Secretly monitoring temperatures of what everyone’s actually feeling, making sure everyone’s in the right mindset with each other. Nudging us back on balance if we’re skewing going off. I don’t know. Even if she’s actually barely doing any of that—in my subconscious she is, and she’ll always just… she make sure everything turns out okay.”

“Steph’ll be here tonight,” Brian pointed out.

“I know,” Kelly said. “And you—you don’t get jealous if Steph and I are intimate?”

“Nope,” Brian answered. “Might just be a psychological guy thing. I am like, zero okay with even thinking about any of you with other guys. However unfair that might be, that’s just how it is. With girls, though? Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Is that weird?”

“Probably not,” Kelly chuckled. “What all do we need from the grocery besides ricotta cheese?”

“An onion, maybe tomato paste,” Brian said. “Stuff for garlic bread, obviously; french bread, garlic butter. Gonna grab another thing of parmesan, what we have left in the fridge is like, a quarter of what I want to use. Probably grab some quick stuff to eat on the trip, if we’ll be out camping overnight.”

“Sounds good,” Kelly nodded. “We need tomato paste? You don’t use tomato sauce for lasagna? Because, we do still have a jar.”

“Eh, we can, I was thinking of having it a bit thicker, so it’s all held together a little better.”

“Sure,” Kelly said. “That works.”

“You make lasagna before?” Brian glanced over.

“Only like once or twice, years ago,” Kelly shook her head. “Actually, wait maybe not. I think those were always rigatoni or like, a ziti bake? Not technically lasagna.”

“Same principles, though.”

“Yeah. Well… kinda.”

They sat in silence for a minute as Brian made another turn towards the nearby grocery. Kelly watched the other cars on the road with an impassive expression. He didn’t check her out, but there was some level of looking about any time you drive as you check mirrors and watch your sides—Brian felt very aware that this brooding redhead with the bombshell body was there in his passenger seat. They were together, in a relationship, but maybe needed to spend a bit more time with one another before they really felt like a couple.

“So glad you’re back,” Kelly finally admitted.

“Yeah?” Brian asked.

“Yeah,” Kelly said, turning to watch him. “So much random shit going on, and I’m over here being my own usual mess, and—you and Stephanie fix me. All the head stuff I know I’ve got wired all wrong, it just all works right, when I’m with you guys. Or, it starts to.”

“I don’t know that I’d say you were broken, or anything like that,” Brian said. “You were just kinda… goin’ off in your own direction?”

“I was super fucking broken,” Kelly slipped into a half-smirk. “You were, too. Stephanie was broken. Emily? For sure. We all were, and then just… I don’t know how to describe it, without sounding super sappy? Falling in love just really fucking snuck up on me. Like, there was the attraction, and I wanted to call it love. Then, the uh, the infatuation, and I thought that was love. Then, you got hurt and you were there, but you couldn’t wake up, and—and—feeling all that. Having you hurt, you being there but not there, that… fear, that grief, the way I felt, that was love.

“Hah, just—I’m sitting here, wanting to even talk about it all,” Kelly shook her head. “When all the bullshit circling around the L word before just about made me physically recoil. I—Brian, I want to be with you. I just want to be with you. To have sex, to hang out. Cuddle, spend time with the other girls, I just want to be with you forever. With Emily, while we were in waiting, like, I love Emily, but living like that felt fake. With you back it’s getting real again, and I just… I just wanted to tell you that.”

“I think I feel exactly the same way,” Brian said, taking one hand off the wheel to offer her a hand. “Even—well, I guess the biggest fear I had was that you weren’t gonna be able to open up to me.”

“Yeah,” Kelly took his hand. “Yeah, because—that’s what should have happened. For all of us. With just me being a fucking mess. With you being closed off and burnt out from the whole Chloe thing you went through. But then, I guess you just add in a whole bunch of Stephanie to glue us together and then a dash of Emily for spice, and it—it works? When it probably shouldn’t?”

“Well,” Brian let out a dry laugh. “Then I guess there’s the magic stuff to weigh into that, too?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Kelly nodded. “I just hate exploring that side of the argument, ‘cause Emily always just sticks in there on that side of things and stays there whenever we get to talking. When it’s not even all about magic, not to me. It’s about… us. I dunno.”

“I can see that,” Brian said. “I do think magic for sure helped facilitate things, a lot. Like, you remember how Steph used to stutter? On that first day. We kept pulling her way, way out of her comfort zone, and I feel like normally a person doesn’t have that much kind of… elasticity? Of where they feel comfortable with things? Without kind of shutting down. And, it was the same with me.

“I should not have been in the right mind to be open to things or even get turned on,” Brian explained. “My head was not there at all when I first walked into AnimeCon, early Friday. Didn't want to even look at other girls, because I was… yeah, I was just completely burnt raw by the whole Chloe thing still. Anguish and agony, was emotionally reeling. Throughout most of that first day, the Chloe thing was still just kind of lingering there, at the forefront of every thought. That whole… trauma aspect should not have healed over as fast as it did.”

“It was the same with me,” Kelly agreed. “The selfish thoughts, the fuck the world and everyone in it attitude… well, I think I started changing a bit later than you guys. But, right there towards Saturday night? I was already almost a different person.”

“So, question is,” Brian paused as he turned off into the parking lot of the grocery store. “Is this mind control? Brainwashing? The charm stuff for sure had these big effects on us. Did it change our personalities? Wire us up differently? Influence us to have stronger compatibility with one another? Then, there’s the whole powers thing…”

“And, the answer is—I just don’t care,” Kelly decided. “For once in my life, I feel like I’m right where I want to be. Like things are right. I didn’t think it was possible for me to love, back before. So—so, I can’t let go of this.”

“I feel the same way, and that’s scary,” Brian said. “I feel like we could almost just handwave the hows and whys and just go with it, if not for—”

“Chloe, yeah,” Kelly frowned. “Because—would it be a good thing, or a bad thing, if the charm magic ‘fixed her?’”

“I think it would become one to chalk into the ‘yep, definitely mind control’ category, then,” Brian grumbled. “Which—yeah. What does that say about the rest of it, with us?”

“If there’s free will here, I choose to be with you and Stephanie and Emily,” Kelly said. “And, if not—then I love you all anyways, and it doesn’t matter?”

“I guess we’d have to,” Brian said with a dark look. “But, does that mean—”

“What I meant to say, was that…” Kelly cut him off. “That for me, this magic, these feelings, they’re not chains and shackles. They’re a lifeline that got thrown out to me. So, in my case, at least… Brian if I do ever let go of this lifeline, please just don’t even let me. Don’t let me go back to the way I was, who I was. Please. Don’t let me go.”

“Kelly—” Brian pulled into the nearest parking spot he could find and quickly parked. “I—I don’t know if it’s okay for you to even ask me that. Not if this magic stuff is, is somehow influencing your uh, your consent to all of this in the first place.”

“I know,” Kelly locked eyes with him. “And, I’m asking you anyway. Because, I know what a total fuckup I was, and I realize where my life was going.”

“You think I’m going to break the charm,” Brian realized. “The Focus or whatever that got us into all of this.”

“I think you’ve thought about it,” Kelly admitted. “I want you to know that I want to just stay charmed.”

“But—” Brian sighed, rubbing his hands down his face. “What you think now might not count, if it’s super influenced by the charm bullshit. Right?”

“If the alternative is going back to normal, influenced instead by my own self-destructive tendencies?” Kelly said. “Then, yeah. I still prefer the charm bullshit that magically fixes everything and lets us be happy together.”

“That’s…” Brian frowned. “I don’t think you’re in the right here, but you make it damned hard to argue the point?”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Kelly leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, then pulled the tab to open her door. “Let’s go grab everything, before Emily starts to think we’re held up in a mating press or something.”

Brian opened the car door, heaved himself out of the driver’s seat, and stretched. He felt good. Well-rested. It was amusing to think on what a strange feeling that was—feeling great wasn’t normal for him. Typically he would be tired from work, teetering between the apathy that comes with exhaustion and total burn out. Living with Chloe, especially towards the waning months of their relationship, simply stressed him out. He’d been blind to that, or too close to see it at the time. Rather than having time at home to unwind and decompress from a rough work shift, Brian had been attempting to use his shitty tiring work hours as a respite from dealing with Chloe.

Crazy to think about how things ended up, Brian thought to himself as Kelly came around the rear of his car and took his hand. How things got so bad, and then at the time I was still trying to think of ways to win Chloe back. Was I insane? Was I just too invested to realize it was way past time to just write all of it off as a loss, the whole damn relationship?

“You good?” Kelly gave him a look.

“Yeah, I just—yeah,” Brian chuckled. “Just got caught up in everything.”

“Yeah?” Kelly asked as they started down the parking lot towards the supermarket entrance.

“Yeah, it’s honestly just the comparisons,” Brian said. “How tiny little things you do sort of make me stop and realize how bad things were, back when I thought Chloe and I were together. We used to come here to shop.”

“Take it she didn’t hold your hand?” Kelly glanced down at their clasped hands and wiggled her fingertips to tickle against his. “What, was that some sort of sexist thing she didn’t want to be seen doing? ‘Cause she was a strong, independent woman who didn’t need no man?”

“Hah,” Brian shook his head. “It was—I dunno. Hard to describe. Holding hands wasn’t something she’d have even thought of? She’d have been deep into her phone, or uh, or making a point to have her arms crossed so I knew she wasn’t happy with me. Something like that. Her attention either wasn’t on me at all, or she was trying to… illustrate her displeasure? If that makes sense? With her body language and eyes and everything.”

“What a clown,” Kelly rolled her eyes. “Surprised she wasn’t more jealous or possessive, honestly. You’re a good-looking guy, I feel like you had fair odds on some girl noticing the way Chloe was treating you and making a move.”

“Well, I’m not that good-looking,” Brian laughed.

“Shut the fuck up,” Kelly scoffed. “Wait—no.”

Kelly tugged him to a stop just before the automatic doors of the grocery, turning him to face her and looking up into his eyes. She wasn’t much shorter than him, and when she demanded his attention, really locked onto him like this she was completely captivating. Brian couldn’t look away from her.

“Sorry,” Kelly took his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss. “I thought—I thought you were saying that in like a normal, fishing for a compliment kinda way. But, I’m realizing you weren’t. You’re saying that in a… I never get compliments, so when I do, they’re suspect sorta way. Brian, you’re good-looking. You’re sexy as fuck. Even just looking at you too long starts to get me worked up, gives me those distracting little tingles. You know? Chloe never really complimented you, did she?”

“Uhh,” Brian didn’t know what to say to that.

“But, she expected them or demanded them from you,” Kelly guessed. “Yeah… yeah, that sounds about right. How close am I?”

“Um,” Brian’s arms had been raised and unsure of what to do, but he finally rested them on the small of her back. “I was gonna say ‘uncomfortably close,’ but instead I think maybe… you’re very, very comfortably close, just right where you are. Right here. It might sound cheesy for me to say, but—”

“I’ll allow it,” Kelly blinked up at him with a serious expression.

“But, just—man,” Brian blew out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Sometimes it’s like I get so caught up in how much I want you, that it gets hard to even see how much I need you. Kelly—I love you.”

There was something incredibly satisfying about seeing those words stun Kelly, and then it was deeply gratifying watching a slow smile spread across her beautiful features and even a bit of a blush come in as blood rushed to her face.

“I love you too,” Kelly kissed him again, then swatted his chest. “Dork. S’not fuckin’ fair.”

“What’s not fair?” Brian asked, taking her hand again and leading her inside the grocery store.

“I don’t know,” Kelly griped with a lopsided smile. “That you can just… do that. Do that to me, with such a straight face like that. I mean—what the fuck?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Brian said. “You started it, though.”

“We should make out, right here,” Kelly proposed. “Bet Chloe wasn’t big on displays of affection, either. This is like—this is like cheat mode, it’s like I get free points with you just for not being Chloe and treating you like scum all the time. Just the normal, everyday, couple things I obviously want to do anyways have like, this big effect on you. Doesn’t even seem fair.”

“I feel like last time we started making out in public, this switch got flipped and you immediately wanted to escalate to banging in public.”

“No—no—that was totally different!” Kelly’s face was definitely red, now. “Wasn’t gonna let things go that far, here. It’s a grocery store, geez. We can be civilized and wait ‘til we get back out into the car. Right?”

“You’re blushing, Kell,” Brian observed.

“I’m not blushing,” Kelly denied. “Just—this is all going both ways, you know? Whatever effect I have on you, you have that effect on me, too, alright? People saying the L-word used to make me gag, because dropping L-bombs at each other was this super cringey puppy-love infatuation thing to me. But then, now when you say it, knowing that you mean it, that we—that, you know. I can’t just brush it off as a joke, anymore.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kelly gave his hand a squeeze. “And like—you can’t just bring up banging in public as a joke anymore, either. We’ve done that, Brian. It’s not a joke anymore, it’s like this persistent reality that could come to pass any moment we both let our guards down. You realize that, right?”

“I, uh, I actually don’t have any condoms on me,” Brian admitted with a sheepish look as Kelly took a shopping basket with her free arm and they started down the produce aisle.

“Great, just great,” Kelly teased. “That means it’s not even just the threat of spontaneous sex—now we have you rawdogging me down with a messy creampie just… hanging over our heads. As something that just might happen, if we’re not real careful. I mean, I’m on the pill, but Brian—”

“Alright, alright,” Brian shushed her. “Cut it out, I don’t need to be walkin’ around everywhere here with a boner.”

“Always did wonder how that worked,” Kelly remarked. “You realize that when you wear gray sweatpants like that, women can totally make out your junk already? You can’t exactly tuck your dick up into your waistband when you start getting hard—not without him peeking out the top. Right?”

“Onion,” Brian pointed her attention towards the open-air display heaped with onions.

“Christ, two-seventeen for one onion?” Kelly made a face. “Seneca’s a nice town and all, but all the prices here are stupidly high. One onion should be like, right around a buck, buck seventeen.”

“Bunch of rich people neighborhoods throughout the area,” Brian shrugged. “Gated communities, million-dollar homes. Price gouges just come with the territory.”

“I guess,” Kelly shrugged, grabbing an onion off the top and squeezing it. “Though, on the other hand—this is all actual nice produce, here. Normally back home, er, back where I used to live, you’d have to hunt through them for a bit for an onion that wasn’t already soft or gross. Squishy.”

“Half of the store here even is like, specialty foods,” Brian gestured across the supermarket. “Whole foods, gluten-free stuff, ‘healthier’ versions of all the normal stuff you’d need that’s less processed or has less preservatives or whatever.”

“Was Chloe into all of that?” Kelly asked, depositing the chosen onion in their basket.

“A little, yeah,” Brian admitted. “I made good money at my job and all, but sometimes those grocery costs’d start to really sting.”

“Well, I’m not too picky,” Kelly shook her head. “I think I used to be, but. Yeah. Living with Chelsea and them, actually working shit minimum wage jobs—they really teach you to appreciate being smarter with how you spend your money. Oh, I don’t know if we even told you, yet—I transferred. I’m part time at the Seneca Dollarydoos, now.”

“Really?” Brian found himself surprised. “Fuck, I keep kinda forgetting that a month just went by. Zipped on by before I even noticed, and you all were still going through every day and dealing with life and everything.”

“Sort of,” Kelly shrugged again. “Working did help some. Less time to mope around and just be sitting there waiting for you to wake up. And, your Seneca Dollarydoos isn’t bad at all. Just boring, they don’t get crazy busy like the old one I worked at used to.”

“Are we still going to try to get you together with Emily’s mom?” Brian asked. “As her protege, that whole idea? I really do think you could get somewhere with, you know, acting or modeling or something.”

“I uh—we—well,” Kelly grew uncharacteristically flustered. “The thing is. While you were out of it, I, yes I have spoken to Anne Garcia. Once. And uh, about that—Emily doesn’t even know yet, that I’ve talked with her mom. It’s complicated. Long story. I don’t think I wanna talk about it, yet.”

“Oh,” Brian blinked. “Okay. Didn’t mean to—”

“She knows,” Kelly said in a whisper. “About everything. The charm, the group. Everything. And, Emily’s mom doesn’t just know, she knows. That’s, that’s all I’m gonna say. And—uh, you didn’t hear it from me. Alright? Oh, look—dairy. Ricotta and then more parmesan, right?”

“Uhhh,” Brian said, taking a moment to process the bombshells that had just been dropped on him. “Yeah. Just. Wait a sec, should I talk with her? About all this?”

“Nope, nope,” Kelly shook her head. “Leave it be, stay out of that whole… everything. We aren’t touching that until, and I guess if, Emily ever wises up and starts poking around that stuff. Not even sure if that’s what’s really best for her. Christ. Just—look, not gonna talk about, it if I can help it.”

“Right, yeah,” Brian frowned, nodding along. “So, I guess then the real question is—do we need sixteen ounces of ricotta cheese, or should we go with the twenty-four ounce one?”

“Let’s just get the—” Kelly did a double-take at examining the containers, leaning in with narrowed eyes. “Fuck, why are these so expensive?!”

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