Carry Her Heart by Holly Jacobs

gray realm, where the only absolute was there was no absolute. Every rule had an exception. Every situation had multiple outcomes.
    Anthony joined in the fracas on occasion.
    I was a bystander, but I liked watching how all three of them thought. Anthony was a step-one-then-step-two sort of thinker. He seemed to get thrown if someone interrupted that process.
    Muriel was a jackrabbit, hopping from one tangent to another, then hopping back again.
    And Josiah was . . . a quoter. He cited books and articles to back up his points.
    To be honest, I had no idea what points they were each making most of the time, but it was fascinating listening to them all. Stepping, quoting, and hopping around a case.
    “We’re being rude,” Muriel finally said. Both men stopped talking and she continued, “I’m sorry, Piper. If you put a bunch of lawyers together, this is what happens.”
    I shook my head. “Really, I was enjoying the conversation. Watching how you all thought and formulated your arguments was fascinating.”
    “Uh-oh,” Anthony teased. “We’ve been together long enough for me to know that means we’re all about to become fodder for Piper’s next book.”
    “No. Not any of you in specific. But watching your thought processes—how different they all were—might inspire something in the future. Now, if I were John Grisham, your actual arguments might have been of more use, since he writes so much legal fiction. When you’re writing about teens, legal facts aren’t normally required.”
    “If Grisham had been here, he’d have joined in the debates,” Muriel assured me. “Most attorneys can’t resist a good fight.”
    The rest of the evening the topics were ones I could contribute to, though their lawyerly love of arguments continued to show through as we all debated Star Trek versus Star Wars . I loved both, Anthony loved neither, Muriel was Star Trek, and Josiah was Star Wars .
    The lines were fairly well drawn.
    I was still laughing about it when Anthony pulled his car into my drive. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been involved in such a fierce fight,” I said.
    “I didn’t realize they were both such fans of the genre.” He added, “I’m sorry for springing the dinner on you.”
    “I don’t do springing very well,” I told him. “Next time ask first?”
    He nodded. “I’ve never been involved with someone for this long. I obviously don’t have much experience in what’s appropriate.”
    “Even if we’re together thirty years from now, asking first would be the way to go.”
    “Wow, our first fight,” he said with a chuckle. “I think we weathered it fairly well.”
    “No, I’m pretty sure the Star Wars, Star Trek debate has to count as our first fight. Even if it doesn’t, let’s say it was because it will make a more interesting story in the future.”
    “You’re right about that,” he said with a hint of laughter in his voice. “Two fights in one night and we survived.”
    “We did.”
    He leaned over and kissed me. When he drew back he said, “I’d ask to come in, but I’ve got to be at court first thing in the morning.”
    “No problem. I’ll talk to you soon.” That was the nice thing about dating Anthony. We both respected each other’s schedules.
    I opened my door but Ned called out, “Hey,” before I went in.
    “Hey, yourself,” I called back and let the door slam shut. I waited and Ned came over and joined me on the porch. “How was your date?”
    “Nice. We were at Muriel and Josiah’s.”
    “A gaggle of lawyers at dinner.” He shook his head. “I bet that made for some interesting conversations.”
    “Well, there was some lawyerly talk. And by talk I mean debates. They were out of my league. But then they discussed science fiction.”
    “And you held your own in that arena,” he said with a surety that came from knowing and sharing my love of the genre.
    “Oh, I did,” I assured him.
    “I thought Anthony wasn’t a fan of science fiction,” he