kiss, but that was the extent of their contact.
“What’s going on with you?” Mim asked suspiciously as she and Josie peeled mounds of potatoes for dinner.
Ava, fully convinced the Y-chromosome was incompatible with culinary skill, had chased all the men outside to play flag football with the kids. Josie looked out the kitchen window as Jack allowed her nieces and nephews to tackle him to the ground. She couldn’t help smiling.
“What do you mean?” she asked her sister.
“You and Jack. You barely speak to him. You won’t look him in the eye. You guys have been friends too long, Josie. I remember when he used to come over here with his Superman cape and you’d be Wonder Woman. Did you have a fight?”
“No.” Josie dumped her potato peelings into the garbage and looked up at her sister. “Mim, you know sometimes relationships change.”
Mim’s brow furrowed. “Yes.”
“And Jack and I have been friends forever. But we’re not kids anymore. We’re grownups.”
Now Mim put down her paring knife and gave her younger sister a hard stare. “Yes.”
Josie wanted to tell her sister. She really did. She wanted to giggle over her relationship with Jack like they’d used to do when they were in high school, talking about their crushes. Mim would be happy for her, and yet, Josie hesitated.
She watched as Jack bent to show little Sam how to throw the football, and tenderness filled her. Surprising tears filled her eyes at the depth of her feelings. She swiped at her eyes, embarrassed to be acting so corny.
“Jojo, what’s wrong?” Mim sounded concerned. “Why are you crying?”
Josie laughed. “Oh, Mim. I’m not. It’s just that—”
Mim frowned and took Josie’s hand. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. Are you pregnant?”
“What?” Josie spluttered. “No!”
“Sick?”
“No, Mim. Listen—”
Mim sighed. “So it is a problem with Jack.”
“It’s not a problem, Mim.” Again, Josie opened her mouth to tell her sister that she and Jack were lovers. Before she could, the back door swung open and the troops tramped into the kitchen, declaring they were starving and needed food.
Ava, who’d been busy arranging the tables and chairs to accommodate all the extra people she’d invited, swooped in to prepare lunch and direct traffic. The chaos swirled around Josie, and she sighed. Her news would have to wait for another time.
She caught sight of Jack, his dark eyes twinkling as he snatched a leftover piece of roast beef from Ava’s platter. He caught Josie’s eye, and they shared a smile before Ava distracted him with a scolding.
With so much going on, Mim didn’t have time to cross-examine Josie again. The day passed too quickly, especially when guests started arriving in the late afternoon for what her mother called a pre-Seder nosh.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much food in my entire life.” Jack nodded toward the living room, where the coffee and end tables had been loaded with trays of snacks.
“Sure you have. At your mother’s house,” Josie countered. She stepped out of the way as the children, who seemed to have multiplied, thundered through the house.
“Oh, yeah.” Jack grinned. “Want something to eat?”
Josie put a hand to her belly. “I’m saving myself for dinner.”
“I’ll be glad to help you with dessert.” Jack bent low to whisper in her ear.
Josie’s entire body hummed at the sensation of his lips brushing her ear. She nudged him with her elbow. “I’ll bet.”
He chuckled and nuzzled her neck. Everything else in the house, in the world, faded away. Josie leaned against his broad chest and drank in his scent with her eyes closed. When she opened them, he had stopped smiling and stared at her seriously.
“What?” she asked.
He pushed a tendril of hair away from her eyes. “I just like looking at you.”
“Aunt Josie?”
She looked down to the small boy at her leg. “Hi, Sammy.”
He held up an action figure that had lost a leg. “Fix?”
“Sure, honey.” She fiddled with the broken toy, then handed it back. “All better?”
Her nephew nodded then lifted his arms in silent command. Jack picked him up. Sam showed Jack the toy.
“Aunt Josie fix.”
“Your Aunt Josie is pretty amazing isn’t she, Sam?”
Sam smiled. “Mazin’!”
“Do you want to know how much I love Aunt Josie?”
Sam’s small face scrunched with thought. “How much?”
“To the moon and back, little guy.” Jack’s eyes caught hers again.
“Me too,” Sam said, struggling to get down. He scampered off.
“Walk with me outside,” Jack said quietly, just as Ava’s voice reverberated throughout the house.
“Dinner time!”
“After dinner,” he amended.
“It’s a promise.” Josie squeezed his