“No. And the fact that those words would even come out of your mouth hurts, Mer. She’s a college friend. I worked in the same lab as her and her husband. Well, he was her boyfriend in college, but now they’re married.”

She doesn’t reply but I can imagine her cheeks darkening in embarrassment, and I’d be lying if I said that her little fit of jealousy wasn’t a balm to my ego. I’ve done my best to keep myself busy since she’s been gone and remind myself that I trust her and she’ll be home soon.

But apparently she doesn’t trust me.

“I’ve made lots of friends over the years, most of whom you don’t know. Just like I don’t know all of your friends. Am I to assume that you’ve fucked every man you’ve met in the past ten years?”

“Of course not,” she replies. “Is this where I say I’m sorry?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. Jax told me not to jump to conclusions, but when he said he heard a woman’s voice in the background it pissed me off.”

“Maybe it was my sister. Or one of the many Montgomery girls. Are you going to always be this jealous, M?”

“No, it was just a knee-jerk reaction because I miss you and I want to be the one there with you. Also, the thought of her with her hands on you made me want to commit murder. The bloody, violent kind, not the poison your food kind.”

“She did talk about her vagina,” I say and laugh when Mer growls. “Do you honestly think that I’d screw up what we have the second you leave town for a quick lay?”

“No.”

“I love you so much it hurts to breathe, Meredith. You know me better than that.”

“I know. Like I said, it was a knee-jerk reaction.”

“I think we need to talk when you get home, sweetheart.”

“I’m really sorry,” she says. “Why haven’t you ever talked about her before?”

“Because I don’t see her often. She and her husband are workaholics.”

“Oh.”

“How was work?” I start the Jeep and pull into traffic now that the jealousy storm has passed.

“Long day.” She sighs. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’ll pick you up tomorrow. You land at two, right?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to pick us up. We can grab a cab.”

“I’ll be there.” I sigh and push my hand through my hair wishing I could hug her and reassure her that everything is okay. “No more jumping to conclusions, okay?”

“I’ll work on that,” she says. “Who knew I was this jealous?”

“Not me. You never even got like this in high school.”

“Weird,” she whispers.

“The video Jax sent me was amazing.”

“Thanks.”

“Mer?”

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“No. I feel like an idiot.”

“You’re a pretty idiot.” She finally laughs and I smile in response. “Call me later when you’re ready for bed.”

“What if I call you naked again?”

“Will you send me pictures?”

“No.”

“I’ll talk you into it.”

“Sure you will. I owe you big when I see you tomorrow.”

“You don’t owe me anything, but we’ll be having that talk.” I pull into my driveway, surprised to see my sister sitting on my front porch. “Sam’s here. I’m gonna go see what she’s up to. Love you, baby.”

“I love you too.”

I slam my door and pull my sunglasses off as Sam types furiously on her phone.

“Good to see you finally showed up,” she says as she tucks her phone in her jeans and stands to hug me.

“Did we have plans?”

“No, I surprised you.”

“You’re weird. You can’t be mad at me for not being here if you came over without calling.” I pull her hair and dodge a punch to the shoulder then lead her inside and back toward the kitchen. “What can I do for you?”

“I just came over to see your adorable wittle face.” She pinches my cheek then laughs when I chase her with a damp sponge out of the sink.

“Seriously, what’s up?”

“I have issues.”

“This is not a newsflash, sis.”

“Bite me.”

“Ew.”

She crosses to the fridge and opens it wide, surveying the contents. “I’m hungry.”

“There’s some left over pizza in there,” I reply and lean back on the counter, waiting for her to get to the point. “Where’s Leo?”

“At the studio,” she says and sniffs at the loaded pizza. “Why do you eat mushrooms?”

“Why is everyone questioning my choice of condiments today?”

“Because you eat gross things.”

“What is going on, Sam?”

She takes a bite of the pizza, chews for a few seconds, then spits it out in the garbage. “How long have you had that in there?”

“About a week,” I say with a smug grin.

“Ew. You’re trying to kill me.” She glares at me as she guzzles some water and then opens a bag of Fritos and shoves a handful of the salty corn chips into her mouth as she hops up onto a stool at the breakfast bar.

“Make yourself at home.” Sam has always cracked me up. She can be such a hard ass, but she can be a mother hen too, especially to Luke and me.

“Talk about Meredith.”

“What would you like to know?”

“What’s going on with her?”

“She’s my girlfriend, Sam. I think that was pretty obvious when you saw us at Will’s house.”

She nods and chews on more chips. “She looks good.”

“Yeah, she does.”

“She has balls.”

I nod and grin at my sister. “She stood up to you.”

“Like I said, she has balls.” She shrugs and sips some water. “I have trust issues, though.”

“You have trust issues with everyone.”

“That’s not true. I trust you. Leo. The family, even the crazy Montgomerys.”

“Look, I know that you have your reservations, but I’m a grown man, Sam. I got this.”

“She hurt you,” she whispers and stares down at her bag of chips. “You were a mess for years.”

“I’m not a mess now.”

“I don’t want that to happen again, Mark.”