make out session in the garden was quite what either one of them had in mind.
Before she had a chance to make a move to slow things down, Joss did.
“That was intense,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers.
It took her a moment to catch her breath, but Minnie managed a nod. “I think intense is the right word.” She slumped a bit against the wall. “I think we should probably go inside.” She hoped he didn’t read more into that than she meant, but she wasn’t certain this was the time or place for that conversation.
Definitely not the place.
Minnie hoped they would run in to someone in their walk back to the apartment that would interrupt any potential discussion and shelve it for a later date.
She wasn’t ready for that conversation or anything else for that matter. Not yet.
The distraction she wound up with probably wasn’t the one she would have chosen.
As they neared Joss’s apartment, another door opened, causing Minnie to stop in her tracks.
Gideon saw them first, but Kari was putting something in her bag and ran into his back.
“What...?” She looked up and froze as she saw Minnie. “Um, hi.”
Minnie dropped her gaze to the floor.
Gideon spoke next. “I understand congratulations are in order.”
“Thanks.” Joss still held her hand. “Where are you two headed?”
“Family dinner. Didn’t you get the text?” Gideon pulled his phone out. “I thought it went to everyone.”
Joss took his phone out. “Yeah. I guess I missed it.”
Probably while they were making out.
He dropped the picnic bag outside the door to his apartment. “I’ll take it inside later.”
The four of them walked down the hall in silence, until Minnie stopped in her tracks.
They all turned to look at her, confusion on their faces.
“Why don’t you two go on? I need to talk to Kari.”
The looks on their faces changed from confusion to caution. Gideon looked at Kari who gave a slight nod. Both men started down the hall. Minnie hoped Kari knew how to get where they were going.
Neither one of them said anything until their husbands were out of sight.
“Look, I can be poli...”
Minnie held up a hand to stop Kari’s words. “No. First, I need to apologize.”
Kari looked even more surprised. “What?”
“I need to apologize to you for how I acted and treated you last summer. At best, I wasn’t kind, but you never repaid me the way I would have expected. I appreciated that then, and I do even more now. But I want you to know that I’m sorry. I’d like to apologize to Mama Josie and Mrs. Steinert, too, if you’d help me get in touch with them.”
Kari blinked and leaned her back against an open space on the wall. “Wow. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.”
“I can tell you more about why I acted the way I did some other time if you’d like, but I knew then there was no excuse for it. I know we may never be friends, or at least not anytime soon, but I’d like to think we could at least be pleasant with each other.”
The other woman smiled at Minnie. “I would like that. I told Gid on the way home that I hoped we could be civil.”
“I know it’s hard to imagine, but at some point, I’d love if we could be more than that. I know it’ll likely be a long time coming, though. I’ll have to earn back your trust.”
Kari pressed her hands back against the wall and pushed herself off. “It will take time, but I’m more than willing to give it a shot. Maybe we can have lunch sometime soon and get to know each other better.”
They started to walk down the corridor. “I’d like that.” Minnie grimaced. “I hope you know where we’re going though, because I haven’t figured any of it out yet.”
“Really?” Kari looked at her, puzzled. “How long have you been here?”
“Just a few days. I stayed in Joss’s apartment in town until then.”
“I didn’t know he had one.”
“Most people don’t. I don’t think Caleb knew either.”
Kari stopped. “You know, I need to apologize to you, too.”
Minnie turned to look at her. “You do? Why?”
“I didn’t say any of it to your face, but I said some not kind things about you to Gid, and Mama Josie, and definitely to myself. Even a little to Rosie. I’m sorry. Even though you hadn’t been kind to me, there was no call for me to be unkind