AllFreeNovel
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“I know. It’s our little piece of heaven. There’s a bit of a breeze off the lake today, do you want to eat on the screen porch?”
“That sounds great. Where’s Grace?”
Kat reaches for a pitcher of tea and motions for me to follow. “I just put her down before you got here. If she gets up while we’re still talking, Nick should be back by then.”
I turn to her, confused. “Back? Is he off today?”
“Yes. He’s on call this weekend. He took our friend, Huggie, out on the boat.”
“You have a friend named Huggie?” I giggle.
“Well, his name is George Hughes, but we all call him Huggie.”
We sit down at her table, set with the prettiest vintage mismatched pieces and water goblets. She pours some tea before placing the blown glass pitcher in the center of the table next to a vase of peonies.
“This is beautiful, Kat.”
“I’m glad you like it. We’re far enough out that it’s not often I get to entertain. So, I wanted to pull out all of the fun stuff.” She laughs.
Reaching for my glass, Kat pushes the pretty ceramic sugar bowl my way, and I shake my head as I drink mine unsweetened. “How’s everything with you and Nick?”
“It’s great.” She snickers. “But you know good and well, I didn’t coax you to join me today to talk about me. I want the scoop, Poppy.” She uncovers a pasta salad and places a serving spoon inside.
“Not much to tell,” I reply, scooping a helping of the chilled salad on my plate. The smile I’m trying to tamp down must give my fib away.
“I see that.” Kat laughs. “Now, spill it.”
“I finally went out with Broadie.”
She sits blinking at me like a dog waiting patiently on a bone.
“And it was the best night of my life.”
“What?” She gasps. “And I’m just hearing about this?”
I laugh. “Oh, Kat. It was amazing. I’m afraid nothing will ever top it.” I grimace at the statement. I’m sure this thought must be on repeat in my mind, whether I want to admit it or not. “He took me to the museum before we went to dinner. Then he took me shopping.”
Kat’s mouth drops open.
“Okay, wait. Before you go thinking this was something from the Richard Gere playbook, our dinner was in a strip mall restaurant. And shopping wasn’t on Rodeo Drive. It was in a bookstore.”
Kat cups her cheeks, hanging on my every word.
“It was so thoughtful. He’d gone out of his way to make sure the entire evening included things he knew were special to me. It never felt flashy or over the top, like he was trying to impress me. He was so kind and attentive.”
“And?”
I put a forkful of pasta into my mouth. “And, what?”
Kat puts both hands flat on the table in front of her. “I’m patiently waiting for the good stuff.”
My cheeks immediately heat, and a broad smile crosses her face.
“I said it was the best night of my life.”
Katarina does a silent jig in her chair before looking back at me. “So, you two are an item?”
“What? No.”
