“Not at the Raccoon. Later, when he drove me home.” Her face tingled and burned. She must be beet red.
“Oh, yeah, he did take you home,” Claudette said. “You were toasted. Justifiable after the way Sean?—”
“I’m glad he dumped me. I wasn’t right for him.”
“Whatever.” Mila waved that comment away. “Breaking up with you two days before Christmas was heinous. You can forgive him but I won’t.”
“Me, either.” Claudette’s green eyes glittered with indignation. “And so what if you kissed Adam after he took you home? You were drunk. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You probably confused him with Sean.”
Now it was her turn to laugh. Totally inappropriate, but… mistake Adam for Sean? Not in a trillion years. Sean’s kisses were adequate. But when Adam had taken control of that kiss?—
“Trace?” Mila peered at her. “You okay?”
“Not really. Talking about it is embarrassing.”
“Hey, it’s just us.” Claudette smiled. “No judgment.”
“I know, but?—”
“I’m confused.” Mila picked up her tea but paused before taking a drink. “If you initiated the kiss, why did he say he’s the problem?”
“Because that’s just him. You know how he is, always taking responsibility even if it’s not his to take.”
“He does that, but I’m wondering if… I mean, this is my brother and I can’t believe that he’d… but the way you’ve been ghosting us, I?—”
“He’s blameless. He helped me up the stairs because I was wobbly and then I kissed him like there was no tomorrow. I went all out, so naturally he’s a normal guy, so?—”
“You twodid it?” Claudette’s eyes widened.
“No! No, we didn’t. We just…” She gulped. “Came close.”
“Ah.” Mila took a deep breath. “This is making some kind of sense, but not really, because if my brother’s saying this is his fault, then I guarantee he would have done something the next day to smooth things over.”
“He sent me a nice long letter.”
Claudette giggled. “An email? What a dorky?—”
“An actual letter, handwritten and mailed.”
Mila’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s so… businesslike.”
“He was uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable.”
Claudette was still grinning. “Did you write him a long letter back?”
“I texted him and said I was fine, everything was fine. No worries.”
“That’s just super.” Mila took a long swallow of her tea. “And since then you two have done nothing but worry. I wish you’d said something a long time ago.”
“I should have, but he’s your brother and I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about me sharing that episode. Yesterday he said it was my choice if I wanted to but it wasn’t his place to tell.”
“I’m still confused.” Mila looked at her over the rim of her mug. “You’ve known each other for more than twenty years. This seems like a minor incident between old friends, but instead you’ve each been brooding over it for weeks. What’s up with that?”
“Um… we can’t seem to get the toothpaste back in the tube.”
“Oh!” Mila looked over at Claudette. “You nailed it.”
“Sure did! I know what it means when two people can’t stop looking at each other, which is what you and Adam were doing all through dinner, Trace.”
