They were passing through the Saint’s security gate when Shannon turned to her. “Before I forget, was the hot dude I spied leaving here earlier Whelan? The guy who came to the hospital to ask me questions about Hudson?”
Traci blushed violently. “Yeah.”
Shannon waggled her eyebrows. “A friend with benefits?”
Traci laughed despite herself. This was the old Shannon, the one she’d missed so deeply.
“We’ll see.”
“Come on! The dude is hot, single, and age-appropriate. I would definitely climb that.”
“You can’t tell me there isn’t a man in your life, young lady,” Traci countered.
“Well… there is a guy. He’s a doctor at the hospital. Five years younger than me, which feels weird, but okay.”
“A younger man? Me likey!”
Shannon gave her a friendly arm punch. “We were keeping things on the down-low while Livvy was still living at home with me, but now, well, things have gotten interesting.”
“Oooh. So the two of you are playing doctor? And you’re the naughty nurse?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to.”
They’d crossed the causeway and were on the edge of Bonaventure, listening to the radio, humming along, like the old days. Traci drove by instinct.
“Holy shit,” she said, when she pulled the car up to her best friend’s house. “I didn’t even think to ask, and you didn’t say any different. You still live here, right?”
“Yeah,” Shannon said. “At least it’s paid for.”
“Do you still have that snack drawer in the kitchen that your mama kept stocked with Little Debbie cakes?”
Shannon laughed. “Now it’s protein bars and kale chips.”
“And that bathroom window we used to climb out of to go riding around after curfew?”
“As soon as Livvy hit fifteen, I replaced that window with glass block. And installed motion-activated lights. It didn’t stop her from sneaking out, but at least it slowed her down.”
Shannon opened the passenger-side door. “Gotta go. Been some kind of Sunday, huh?”
“Yeah. But mostly in a good way. Bye, Shan-a Banana.”
CHAPTER 60
Olivia didn’t answer the first time Shannon called her daughter that afternoon. So Shannon texted.
Please pick up. This is really, really important!
A minute later the phone rang.
“Mom? What’s going on?”
“It’s complicated, and I need to talk to you in person. Can you come over to the house?”
“Now? No. I’m in the middle of stuff. I need to wash my clothes and pay some bills…”
“It won’t take long. How about Riordan’s then? In an hour?”
