“When did you become such a snob?” She stuck her tongue out at me and went about retrieving two wine glasses from the dish drainer.
Since Ben Tyler introduced me to all of his fabulous wine. I kept that thought a secret. I didn’t feel comfortable telling Emma about the last two nights or how Ben and I had started a friendship built on late night conversations and good grapes.
It felt wrong to say those words out loud. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for spending time with him.
During my entire marriage I had kept my distance from the opposite sex. I had never been tempted to be anything less than faithful to Grady and I had never wanted to give off the wrong impression.
It seemed a little strange that over the past ten years, I had never been alone with another man for long periods of time.Unless it was Trevor, but he didn’t count.
It felt awkward to admit my new friendship with Ben to my sister.
No, that was wrong. I didn’t feel awkward… I felt guilty.
This friendship felt like a betrayal to Grady.
Nausea washed over me and I tried to ignore the disappointment that fizzed in my stomach. Disappointment because I’d let Grady down.
And disappointment because I would have to give up Ben and his good wine.
It shouldn’t be hard though. We’d spent two nights chatting; there wasn’t a whole lot of foundation there.
“Liz!” Emma shouted and I jerked back to the present. “Are you okay?”
I looked up and met her stormy blue eyes. I smiled weakly and tried to reassure her with a confident expression. “I’m fine.Just thinking.”
“About Grady?”
Actually, for the first time in a long time, it was not about Grady. And that was more reason to end whatever this was with Ben.
Not that it was anything.
God, why did I keep doing that?
“Should we eat?” I knew that was a deflection, but I also knew my psych-major sister would allow it.
“Yes, I’m starving!” she groaned.
We settled in around the island and dug into the random appetizers I’d set out. Our mother had never been a very good cook, so Emma and I had learned to pick at food, rather than sitting down to full meals. With my own children, I tried to be better about serving complete dinners. But whenEmand I got together we fell back into the routine of our childhood.
“Me too.”I loaded up my plate with hummus, crackers, jarred bruschetta and some bread. I took a sip of the sugary sangria and decided I wasn’t that much of a snob.
“So Katherine took all of the kiddos?”
I nodded around a bite. “She picked upLuceandJaceright after naptime. She plans to keep them through lunch tomorrow.”
“That’s nice of her.”
“The kids were really excited.”
“It’s kind of weird though, isn’t it? I mean, it’ssoquiet here.”
“Yes! I could not wait to have the night off, but now that they’re gone, I can’t stop missing them! There’s something wrong with me.”
Emma laughed and shook out her hair. “There is nothing wrong with you, Elizabeth. You’re just addicted to children. Okay… maybe that’s not exactly normal. But I’m sure with a little therapy and maybe we can get you some Xanax and-”
“Okay, stop!You big brat.”I gave her a dirty look and tried not to smile. “We just haven’t been apart very much over the last few months. I’m not used to having the house to myself.”
“Well, we’d better make the most of it!” Her blue eyes twinkled with the possibilities. “Should we turn on some rap music and dance around in our underwear? Or ooh! We could pop some popcorn and watch terrible TV that you would never turn on when your children are home!”
