She finally places her mug on the table, giving me a moment of peace. “She’s fine. Terrorizing my neighbors.”
I let out a snort. “She’s probably been bored here with not many people around, so she went to you.”
“You see,” she pauses, smacking her lips, and I know the conversation will be going in a direction I won’t like, “I thought so too. Until I came here.”
“Why are you here by the way?” Anything to divert thecoming questions. Even angering my most beloved sister and telling her what to do or not. “Isn’t it your shift?”
“It is,” she snickers. “And I was going to see if you needed saving. Considering it’s almost a full moon.”
Inwardly groaning and regretting my decision to ever explain to her what I was doing in Jericho’s backyard on the first night we met, I pour myself a glass of water just to keep busy.
“But,” she clicks her tongue, making both of my eyes twitch, “looks like you didn’t need any saving. It looked more like he needed the saving, ya know.”
“Cheryl,” I growl.
“What?” she chuckles. “I’m just happy for you, that’s all. Can’t I be happy and tease you a little? I’ve been waiting for this for like ten years.”
“Six.”
She waves me off like an annoying fly. “Details are not important.”
“Says the cop,” I note with a raised brow.
“Not in this case, no.” She shakes her head a few times. “But, Nora,” Cheryl’s voice turns gentle, “I am happy. Truly happy that you finally decided to put yourself out there.”
“I didn’t put myself anywhere.” Annoyance from being totally cockblocked rises in my chest and is strong enough to project onto her. “And I’ve never taken myself from anywhere. It just hasn’t been on the list of important things to do. I’ve got other shit to worry about.”
I’ve touched a sour subject for her. Something I usually avoid doing. I guess I’m aggravated enough to upset my best friend on purpose. The corners of her lips turn down, the sparkles in her eyes stop twinkling.
“I’m sorry, Cheryl. I didn’t mean that.” A heavy weight of disappointment with myself settles in the middle of my chest.
“It’s fine. You’re right.” She slowly pushes the mug away from her, lining it up with the grooves on the wooden table.This calculated movement says enough about how truly upset she is.
She was a bit older when our parents passed away and took it harder than I did. Her rebellious stage started then and ended only when she was closing on twenty, meaning I had to be the one helping Grandma in the diner. This is why I took over—Cheryl had zero interest in anything to do with the family business.
And she has never forgiven herself for that and for leaving our grandmother and me on our own.
I walk up to her and place my hand on her shoulder. “Cheryl, you were right,” I admit with a sigh. “I was just fresh out of the hottest kiss in my life and didn’t know how to process it, so I lashed out at you.”
Her face brightens, and a wide smile stretches her face. “To be fair, I did cockblock you.”
“It’s probably a good thing.” I take a seat across from her. “He just moved here, and I’m not in a position to start a relationship.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s my neighbor, for one. Imagine how awkward it would be if it doesn’t work out.”
“And how convenient if it does,” she adds, wiggling her brows.
I can’t help but laugh because she’s right. “I’ll see if it repeats itself and go from there.”
“Would you like it to be repeated?” she asks, looking at me from behind the brim of her mug.
The wide smile stretching across my face is answer enough.
“Atta girl!”
We chat for a few more minutes before she gets called on the radio back into the station. I walk her to the door before I remember to repeat my main question.
