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I threw her a you’re not funny look. “It wasn’t a sleepover. And hello? His daughter was with us the entire time. What kind of people do you think we are?”
Dani jumped up on the counter. She too looked like she had been up for hours. Was she wearing lip gloss? “I would say, from the looks of it, you’re lovers.”
I tossed a coffee filter at her. “Who says words like lovers? We’re friends.”
“Kissing friends,” Kinsley chimed in.
I cleared my throat and flipped the water on. “Friends can kiss.”
“Oh, we heard,” Dani claimed.
I turned and stared at them with my mouth agape. “You were spying on us?”
“I wouldn’t say spying.” Kinsley grinned. “It was just hard not to notice Jonah’s groans of pleasure.”
“We were afraid we might have to rescue Whitney when we heard you gasp a few times,” Dani playfully added in.
Did I really gasp? I didn’t remember that. My cheeks reddened. “So, we were a little overzealous last night.” It had been forever since we’d kissed. And a long time since I’d kissed anyone. Man, had I missed it. Especially his kisses.
They burst out laughing.
“You’re both immature.” I finished filling the coffee pot with water.
“Don’t be mad,” Kinsley said. “It’s just you’ve never brought a boy home before.”
“He’s a man, thank you very much.”
“A man you tell all your secrets to.” Dani folded her arms.
“What do you mean?” I poured the water into the coffee maker.
“Just that we heard you tell Jonah about your appointment with Dr. Morales. Why did you keep that from us?” Dani’s tone bordered on hurt and proud.
I set the coffee pot on the counter and sighed. “I didn’t want anyone to make a fuss over it or get too many peoples’ hopes up. And, you know, I would miss all the pamphlets you keep leaving for me around the loft.” I tried to weave some lighthearted sarcasm in there.
They rushed me unexpectedly and put me in an Ariana sandwich.
“Look at you bringing home boys, dressing like an adult, and going to therapy,” Dani said in a way that let me know she wasn’t too upset I’d kept my appointment a secret from them.
“You must really love Jonah,” Kinsley said, “if you’re willing to go to therapy.”
I did really love him. “It’s not for him, exactly. Unless you count scaring him away once and for all when I find out I’m certifiable.” And when I tell him some other ugly truths about my past.
Dani leaned back. “From the way he looked at you this morning, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
Kinsley let go of me. “Yeah, what was all that about this morning? His daughter seemed awfully determined.”
“That’s one word for her.” I chuckled. “But she doesn’t fit in very well with her peers and I’m going to help her work on that today.”
“You like her,” Dani said as a statement, not a question.
“I do. She’s an interesting girl, but there’s something about her that tugs on my heart. Makes me want to help her be happy.”
“I think we can all see some of ourselves in her,” Kinsley wisely observed. We had all been on the outside in more ways than one during different times in our lives. I think we all still felt that way in some ways.
Dani grabbed coffee cups for all of us. “I guess it proves that it doesn’t matter how rich or privileged your parents are, they can still screw you up.”
I leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.”
Kinsley swiped her favorite pink mug from Dani. “It makes you wonder how anyone survives.”
Dani handed me my cup. “I’ll tell you how we survived—we survived because we’re fighters who have each other’s backs.” She looked me squarely in the eyes. “You have to fight for Whitney.”
“I plan on it.”Chapter SixteenWhitney was happily building a dinosaur model with one of my friend’s daughters in the corner of the studio. Grandma stared thoughtfully at her while she helped me cut glass for a custom project I was working on.
“She and Tabitha seem to be getting along well,” Grandma commented.
“They do, don’t they?”
I thought it was a stroke of genius on my part to ask Kara if Tabitha could have a playdate. I had known Kara for a long time. She’d been bringing her kids here for years on fieldtrips. She was a strict believer in homeschooling and had raised the smartest kids I had ever known, until I’d met Whitney, that is. Although, I would say Kara’s five kids were more socially adept than Whitney. Tabitha was Kara’s youngest child, at eight years old. She was also kind, brilliant, and loved dinosaurs. I’d been listening to her and Whitney chatter for over two hours while they built a large wooden replica of an Amargasaurus, which, according to the girl geniuses, was a sauropod, and only one skeleton had been discovered of the rare dinosaur, in Argentina.
