“I hope you don’t mind me crashing breakfast,” Karlie said. “Max had the morning off. He offered to watch the kids so I can take a break.” Her brother Max had met his wife Karlie when she was a student and he served as a campus police officer.
She had watched as her brother had fallen hard for the vivacious co-ed that fall semester. They had gotten married the summer she graduated from college before she started law school. Nine months later, they had their first kid.
Max claimed seeing her run around in her bikini their entire honeymoon had just made him more potent. Gross! She loved Karlie like a sister and adored her nephew and niece. She now worked for the law firm where her best friend’s husband was a partner.
“You can’t stop grinning. What’s his name? Quick, before your mother catches wind,” Karlie whispered in her ear.
“What makes you think I can’t just be having a good day?”
“Oh sweetie.” Her sister-in-law was from Texas, so she got called sweetie anytime she had done something questionable. “The only thing that can make a woman grin so hard her cheeks might crack is a really good orgasm. Or several,” she added with a whisper like they were sharing a conspiracy. If only she knew.
“Who is having good orgasms?” Chiara’s mother asked, stepping out of the bedroom.
“I swear the woman has ears like a bat. It’s hereditary,” Karlie said as Chiara tried to stifle a laugh. “No one, Elena. I was talking about getting a dress made out of organza, the material,”
“Because you know, Italian men give the best orgasms,” Elena continued.
“Preaching to the choir.” Karlie held up her hand, receiving a high-five from her mother-in-law. It was such a weird relationship between mother and daughter-in-law.
“Eww! I don’t even want breakfast now. I just threw up in my mouth.” Chiara would argue that Irish men seemed to dole them out pretty effectively, as well, but that seemed like an argument for another time. Karlie laughed, looping her arm through Chiara’s.
“Come on, I’m treating both of you to the best crepes in town this morning. Actually, Max is treating us all.” Karlie laughed her usual infectious laugh making the other two soon join in.
Locking up the house, they settled into Karlie’s sedan as they wove through town to her favorite French bistro. Chi loved these mornings when she could just relax while catching up on what was happening with her family’s lives.
In the back of her mind, she still had to figure out how to handle the tall, handsome Army officer. He was, most likely, still losing his shit somewhere on the other side of town.
After they had stuffed themselves to maximum capacity, Karlie drove them back to Elena’s house. With lots of hugs and promises to do it again soon, Chiara finally dropped into the seat of her car, pointing back toward her apartment.
She could use a nap before tonight’s shift when she had to face Liam again. Or maybe he would simply hide for the rest of his trip. No, the Donnellys never hid from anything. Pulling into her complex, she was confused to find Karlie pulling in behind her.
“What are you doing?” Chi asked, stepping out of her car.
“I’m finding out what exactly is going on with you. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to rush home to wrestle the kids when it’s Max’s turn.”
“Nothing is going on.”
“Please,” Karlie said, rolling her eyes. “You spent half of breakfast staring into space with a goofy look on your face.”
“I don’t have a goofy face.”
“I didn’t say you had a goofy face, I said you had a goofy look.” Chi let out a sigh as she led Karlie upstairs to the small efficiency apartment. “You’ve done a great job with this place, Chi. It’s really cute.” Chiara had worked hard at making it look like a home, hanging up a few pictures and decorating as much as she could.
“So about that,” Karlie said, waving her hand at Chiara’s face. “Should I call Sam?”
Sam had been Karlie’s best friend since their freshman year of college. She had fallen for Dean, the substitute adjunct professor of her law class one semester. After a rocky start, they had run off that summer to get married. Dean was now a part owner of Donnelly’s which had allowed Parker to successfully expand.
Sam and Karlie, along with Parker’s wife Astrid, had accepted her into their friendship from the moment she started college. They had all been slightly older than Chiara, but that never seemed to matter. They had become her best friends, and she owed them all so much.
How any of that reconciled with the fact that she had just screwed one of their little brother’s brains out, she had no idea. One of these days, payback was going to be a bitch.
“You might as well. That way nothing’s left out in the translation.” Chiara sat at one end of the couch while Karlie called her best friend. At least Astrid was still out of town.
When Sam arrived fifteen minutes later, they all sat down, waiting for Chi to dish. “So, it’s not a big deal. You know I’ve been kind of in an emotional slump since I found Brad.”
“Yeah, we know all about the douchebag,” Sam said.
“Is that what we’re calling him? The douchebag?” asked Karlie.
