“You’re late.”
“Uh-huh.” I try to play it off.
Harlowe’s mouth twitches. “Bandage change take longer than expected?”
Heat creeps up my neck. I knew I should have kept that tidbit to myself when we were texting earlier.
“Something like that.”
Before they can jump into the inquisition I know is coming, Marcy, the owner, greets us with her warm smile. “What can I get my favorite gals today?”
We rattle off the order she knows by heart, but when we go to pay, Marcy brushes us off. “It’s taken care of.”
“She did not!” Briar says a little too loudly.
“Texted me twenty minutes ago,” Marcy confirms.
“Mommy taking care of us from another continent,” Sloane jokes
And oh my, it’s a thing of beauty to hear it come so easily from her. There was a time where she kept all of us at a safe distance.
Anytime we go out, Tessa always insists on paying, even when she can’t physically be there. It’s ridiculous, but she won’t hear it.
Slipping a twenty into Marcy’s tip jar, we step to the side to wait. Not a moment is left unfilled by chatter as we catch up on the last two weeks.
Once we have our drinks in hand, we put the coffee truck behind us and head for the quiet riverbank.
The girls waste no time firing questions at me about how Emmett ended up in my loft.
I answer each one until they’re satisfied.
“Wait. So you got home yesterday and Emmett was just there?” Harlowe asks, lifting her coffee to her lips.
“Uh-huh.”
Briar narrows her eyes. “Okay . . . but why do you look like you need a cigarette?”
My neck prickles with warmth.
“Caring for him outside of the hospital felt different.”
Three grins spread across their faces.
“Tell us more,” Briar sings.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I say too quickly. “He’s just . . . intense.”
“Intense how?” Sloane asks.
I hesitate. “Like the kind of person I can’t get involved with unless I’m prepared for things to get messy.”
Sloane’s gaze flits to me, brows pinched. “He’s not your usual type.”
“I don’t have a type.”
Briar snorts. “You absolutely do. The kind where you can control the outcome.”
I bristle. “That’s called being smart.”
