Simone:Jack. Your house. All night.
April:I felt bad for him.
Simone:Ask him to stay.
April:He’ll be more comfortable at a hotel.
She was pretty sure. Fewer kids to distract him and all that.
Simone:He told you this?
April:He didn’t have to.
The phone in April’s palm rang. Simone, of course.
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she let it ring two more times while she moved to her window and pulled back the curtain. Sure enough, Simone stood there in her robe looking extremely expectantly at her friend. She pointed to her phone.
April was not curled with eye makeup. No, she had returned to her yoga pants uniform with her hair tucked into a high bun instead of her low ponytail.
“Hey, Simone,” she said into the receiver as she watched her friend through the glass.
“Jack needs a place to stay,” Simone said, with no preamble orgood morningordid you sleep well?“You should offer him your hospitality. It’s the hospitable thing to do.”
Perhaps. And it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of offering her hospitality more long-term to Jack. Actually, she’d had dreams of offering her hospitality to Jack all night. Dreams that did not involve missionary and her mattress. Well…not only her mattress. Also the sex pillows—bolsters. She’d had some ideas. Excellent ideas.
She shivered.
“Even assuming that Jack is staying in town longer”—which she was pretty certain would not be happening—“he’s not going to be comfortable here.”
She had kids in every crevice. She had laundry in all the others.
“He was giving you the eyes last night,” Simone said, all low and sultry.
April glanced at the ceiling.Giving me the eyes?“I have no idea what that even means.”
Though, she did have aslightidea.
“Hewas looking at you like you were not just a work project for him.” Simone pursed her lips and nodded.
“Hewas having an allergic reaction to the cat.” April turned to sit on the bedspread. She’d made her bed that morning, too, and she wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. Reestablishing a good habit was not something she needed to make a fuss over.
“I should also note that you were making eyes at him, as well,” Simone continued.
Gah.HadApril been making eyes at Jack? Yes, she was attracted to the guy. He was the kind of guy a girl who was into guys got attracted to. Even Mayonnaise was attracted to him. You didn’t see Mayonnaise inviting him to live with her on her dog bed, though.
“I will ask Jack what his plans are,” April conceded. “And if he needs a place to stay because Kitty is convalescing a cat—”
“You will offer your house. Because if you don’t, then I will, and I think he’d rather stay with you than with us.”
“Where would you offer him?” Because every room in Simone and Yelena’s house was currently in use by them or one of their children.
“We have a sofa,” Simone said, like she was explaining something that shouldn’t need explanation. “But it’s totally ridiculous that he stays on our sofa because Kitty is housing a cat who may or may not have a family and you are too stubborn to offer him his very own room.” She paused, clearly for dramatic effect. “A room that he has already slept in.”
Guilt seeped through April’s pores. The kind of guilt that happened to a woman because she knew her best friend was not wrong.
“I’ll talk to Jack,” she said. “Not to ask him to stay,” she added quickly.
“Then what are you going to talk to him about?” Simone asked.
