Kendra: Uh, yeah. Is this even a real question?
I laughed out loud and then looked around to see who had seen me grinning like a fool at my cellphone. Food was my way into Kendra’s orbit. I sent my assistant a list of groceries for delivery and canceled my last meeting of the afternoon.
Me: Come at six and bring wine.
Kendra knocked at my door promptly at six, and the dinner was already in the oven by then. I opened the door, and she rushed into my apartment.
“Oh man, I could smell the food from the elevator and hoped it was coming from in here. Chianti or Chardonnay?” she asked, holding up two bottles of wine.
“How about both? We can start with the white.”
I was halfway through opening the wine, and Kendra had rifled through my cabinets for two white wine glasses when Colby barreled in the door. Both my sister and Kendra entered a room and commanded attention. I sat back and wondered how they would get along.
“Nonna told me you were cooking. Did you forget my invitation?”
“Nope. I didn’t forget to invite you. Colby, this is Kendra. Ken, this is my sister Colby.”
Colby grabbed Kendra and hugged her. I saw a momentof panic in Kendra as my sister’s sudden affection surprised her.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Colby said, helping herself to a glass from my cabinet. “Sorry to interrupt your date. Chicken Parm is my weakness.”
Kendra’s eyes darted to mine, surprised. I shrugged in response, knowing that Colby was going to say whatever the fuck she wanted.
“And? What exactly have you heard about me?” Kendra asked.
“Is Jonathan still in the friend zone?”
I let out a gasp—Colby went right in for the kill.
“Is that what he told you?”
“Don’t be alarmed, but he was texting me the night you got sick.”
“He what?” Kendra’s gasp was audible.
“Uh-huh.” Colby lifted the cover of the pot on my stove and stirred the pasta. My face burned as I hoped Kendra could see the apology in my eyes. “He asked if it was too late for him to get out of the friend zone. So is it?”
Kendra squirmed in her seat and nervously sipped her wine.
“Well, no, it’s not. But I guess I’m confused. I couldn’t exactly tell whether Hawk was that interested in me.”
“Jonathan, are you playing hard to get?” Colby looked back and forth between us, and Kendra smirked as she nodded.
“Cole, please,” I said, dying inside.
“He got hurt, Kendra. He probably told the story about how that nightmare of a woman tried to trap him in therelationship. But he got hurt because she used him. He never knows if people are genuinely interested in him or trying to latch on to our family for money or clout.”
Thank Christ the oven timer went off. But if Colby was spilling all my details this quickly, she liked Kendra.
TWENTY-ONE
kendra
I feltterrible about Hawk’s discomfort while Colby interrogated us about our relationship. And when the oven timer went off, the bell literally saved us.
“Are you going to the Winter Ball?” Colby asked.
I nodded, my mouth full of the best chicken cutlet I had ever tasted. “Are you?”
