“What?”
“Ignore everything on the sports channel today,” Chris says urgently.
I rub the bridge of my nose. “If you’re talking about that article on me retiring, I already saw it.”
“Oh.” He pauses. “Well, carry on then.”
“Is that the only reason you called?”
He interrupted my speech—sure it was a terrible speech, but it was getting somewhere—for that?
“Yeah. I thought you’d freak out if you saw.”
He’s not wrong.
“Aren’t I great?” Chris boasts. “Where else would you get a best friend like me?”
Guilt intermingles with my annoyance. Chris has been my best friend since we both got our butts handed to us by the older kids on the playground. Those bozos demanded we relinquish the swings when we were there first.
“No way,” a young Chris protested.
“You’ll have to take it from us,” I said.
And take it from us they did.
I not only earned a black eye that day, I also earned a lifelong and loyal friend.
“Next time, just send a text,” I grumble, but there’s no real harshness to my tone.
“Why? Am I interrupting something?” he teases.
Yes.“You’re not. I’m just?—”
“Ah!” A shriek sounds behind me.
Glass shatters on the floor.
“What was that?” Chris says.
Slamming my thumb on the ‘end call’ button, I whirl around and find Riley standing in the center of the kitchen. She’s frowning at the floor while the mug is in pieces at her feet and a pan is overturned on the counter.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I ask wildly, checking her over for injuries. She’s in one piece and nothing seems to be bleeding.
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
Riley huffs in annoyance. “The handle on the pan broke while I was pouring the water into the mug. It fell on top of the cup and the cup fell on the floor—it’s alright. I’ll clean it up.” The stubborn woman starts walking, in her bare feet, toward the shattered pieces.
“Wait right there,” I say firmly.
“But I?—”
While she’s arguing, I barge ahead. Slipping an arm around her waist and the other under her knee, I pick her up and tuck her close to me.
Riley’s jaw drops and she lets out a gasp of surprise.
“Your feet are bare,” I growl, noticing the way her toes wiggle when I call attention to them. “You could get hurt.”
