I am better. My nap did the trick earlier. “I feel back to normal.” I point to my arm. “Hives are all but gone.”
“Glad to hear it.” I walk ahead of her, leading her to the kitchen. “Wine?”
“Not tonight, thanks.” She shakes her head. “Water is good. I should hydrate.”
“Oh?”
Handing her the water, I watch her drink half of the glass.
“Laura let me go home early enough to get a bike ride in. It was hot. So, now I’ve got to replenish with lots of water.”
She’s starting to worry me. With my hand on her lower back, I nudge her into the living room. “Have a seat. You should rest.”
She snickers. “I’m fine.” Still, she sits.
“As you mentioned, it’s too warm for the patio just yet. Maybe after we eat.” Now, I’m just standing above her staring at her. I feel like I need to say something. “About last night.”
She holds up a hand and shakes her pretty head. Her hair is wavy tonight. And as shiny as ever. “No need. You were under the influence.” She smirks. “You were cute.”
“Cute?” I scoff. I’m not cute.
“Yep. Adorable.”
That’s worse than cute. Just then, the timer goes off telling me I need to take the foil off the lasagna. After that, it’ll bake another twenty minutes or so. From the kitchen, I yell, “You want to eat your salad now or wait until it’s all done?”
“Let’s wait.” She’s standing at the kitchen island. I didn’t even see her approach. When she slides onto one my bar stools, I feel a sense of comfort. I like her here, in my space. Hell, I like her.
I prepare the garlic bread as she tells me about her day. Mostly about her ex-mother-in-law’s death. “Travis has sent me ten text messages and tried to call a dozen times.” She sighs as she sips her water.
“Did you answer?” Fuck. I hope she says no.
“Twice. I couldn’t while we had customers, so I let the others go to voice mail.”
“What the hell does he want?”
“Nothing.” She rolls her eyes. “Everything. He wants me to help plan the funeral.”
I stop what I’m doing and glare at her. “You refused, yeah?”
“I haven’t gotten the chance. That was one of the messages.”
“What about the woman he’s with now? The pregnant one?”
“Barbie?” She shrugs. “Who knows? The thing is, I don’t get why he’d ask me in the first place. That woman was awful to me. I didn’t wish her dead, like Laura did, but I’m not the person for him to lean on right now.”
“You don’t owe him shit. Not an explanation or the help.”
She raises her glass and says, “Agreed.”
Pulling our salads and bottles of dressing out of the fridge, I place all of it on the table. The one that Jackie set for me. Next, I slide the garlic bread into the oven to toast as the lasagna finishes.
“It smells delicious.”
“Thanks.” I should fess up. “Jackie made it. I was too wiped out from the medicine, so she came over and built it for us.”
“That was nice of her.”
“You’ll like her.”
