back a laugh. “Thanks, boys, it goes over against that wall,” she said, sweetly, and a little bit of laughter slipped out.
Tango caught her eye and grinned as he passed.
“…Dad wishes…” Aidan was saying.
Ava shot him a wicked smile and said, “What was that, Kenny? Something about kids these days, and back when you were young? Time for your afternoon cigarette and Raisin Bran?”
Aidan set his end of the sofa in place with a huff of annoyance, all drawn up and ready to lob another easily-dodged jab at his sister.
Mercy trooped in the door, said, “Think fast, bro,” and chucked a sofa pillow at him.
He turned too late, and it hit him square in the face.
Tango died laughing, doubled over and everything.
Leah couldn’t contain her own giggles anymore, clapping a hand over her mouth to smother them.
Aidan squawked indignantly. “Why the fuck was that big monster carrying pillows while I’m throwing my back out?”
Mercy grinned. “Just admit you suck at rock-paper-scissors and get over yourself.”
Verbal jabs turned to physical ones, and then the two brothers-in-law were tussling right there on her freshly-unrolled rug.
Ava stood up and rolled her eyes. “Don’t break anything,” she admonished them, and picked up the box marked “Sheets.” Tipped her head toward the hall. “Let’s make up the bed while they get it out of their system. Otherwise they’ll never settled down.”
“Aw, babe,” Mercy complained, as they left the room.
“Don’t break my brother,” she called back over her shoulder. “Or else you’ll have to apologize to Sam.”
“Ow,” Aidan exclaimed. “Dude, help.”
“Not a chance,” Tango chuckled.
“I feel kinda bad,” Leah said, as they left the melee behind and stepped into the master suite. It was her favorite room in the apartment, with its own en-suite and a large window that overlooked a walking trail and bit of green space behind the building. The bed was already there, the frame and mattress; she had a desk, and a tall wardrobe cabinet – that one Mercy had helped carry in. “I should have hired movers.”
“No, you definitely shouldn’t.” Ava set the box down on the floor at the foot of the bed. “What else have those goobers got to do?”
Leah laughed. “Remember when you were pine-city over Mercy? And now he’s just a goober.” She sighed theatrically. “How fast young love fades. Replaced by gooberness.”
Ava chuckled. “Mom used to say that all men were basically little boys in grown-up clothes, and honestly, she was right.”
“Isn’t she right about everything?”
“Tell her you said that and you don’t have to bake her cookies.”
They pulled out the fitted sheet, spread it between them, and moved to opposite sides of the bed to tuck it into place.
It was a little bit amazing how they slid right back into their old friendship. It had never ended, not really, but when Leah had followed Jason to Chicago, they’d fallen out of the habit of daily communication. Texts, and emails, and photos still happened; but they hadn’t helped co-host a bake sale, or studied together, or spent an aimless afternoon in front of the TV with popcorn and nail polish. They hadn’t had proper girl time, and she’d worried, a little, if things would go back to the way they had been – a dumb worry, it turned out, because they fell right back together like always, their friendship a familiar groove into they which they slipped, well-oiled, productive, comfortable.
They got the bed made, and by the time they returned to the living room, the guys had gone back down to the U-Haul for the next load. There wasn’t much left: she didn’t have a kitchen table, or chairs, or dishes, or glasses, or…anything for the kitchen, really. Maggie had said she was on it, and though Leah had protested, and hated the idea of accepting charity, there was no stopping Maggie Teague once she’d latched onto a cause.
“Pizza?” Ava asked, already pulling out her phone. “I’m starving.”
“Oh. Well.” The sky was darkening beyond the windows, a dusky purple-pink. “I’m sure the kids…”
Ava waved her off. “Mom’s fine with them ‘til later, she said. You still like pepperoni and mushroom?”
“Yeah.”
Tango and Aidan brought up the last boxes and then said they had to get home to their wives. Leah thanked them, surprised to get hugs from both of them – until she was pressed quick and close to their cuts, smelling the leather, and smoke, and asphalt scent that had heralded all her childhood slumber parties over at the Teague house.
Aidan tugged on her ponytail as