“Are you kidding me? I can’t get enough of you.” Ricki took Abby’s hand. “I fell for you the first night I met you. Sitting in my room and looking at books with you, I knew I was in trouble.”
Abby stared at Ricki, waiting for her to make a joke. When she didn’t, Abby ran her hand down Ricki’s arm and laced her fingers through Ricki’s. They’d spent the past three weekends together, and Ricki hadn’t told her this.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
Ricki nodded. “I spent the next two months in turmoil, wanting you so badly but knowing it was wrong. You should have been in my brain.” Ricki chuckled and shook her head. “No, it was a scary place. You didn’t want to be there. I hated myself for how I felt.”
“Why?” Abby squeezed Ricki’s hand.
“I was betraying Blythe. Betraying you. I tried everything to right myself, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Isn’t that the saying?”
Abby nodded.
“But every time I tried to put distance between us, you and Blythe kept pulling me back in.” Ricki looked down at her lap. “And I wasn’t strong enough to stay away. I convinced myself that if I spent more time with you, the attraction would fade. That I’d get over you.”
Abby grinned. “You’d see all my flaws and run screaming in the other direction.”
Ricki returned Abby’s grin. “Yeah, something like that. But then I discovered you were perfect.”
“Stop.” Abby playfully slapped Ricki’s arm. “So being around me was torture.”
“The best torture imaginable.”
Abby groaned. “That may have been the most disturbing, yet sweetest line ever. You’re such a romantic.”
“What can I say? I’m complicated.”
“Aren’t all literary sorts complicated?”
Ricki smiled. “Blythe would agree with that.”
At the mention of Blythe, Abby’s stomach roiled. “Are you sure she’s going to be okay with me?”
“This is why I drove all the way here. I knew you’d fret the entire drive if I wasn’t here to distract you.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Blythe’s Blythe.”
Abby tilted her head. “Meaning?”
“Blythe will be fine. You and I will be a wreck. She’s bounced around the house all week, planning what we’re going to do.”
“Ugh, she’s going to keep us running all weekend, isn’t she?”
“Undoubtedly.” Ricki grinned. “She’s been scribbling notes everywhere.”
“Planning content?” Abby put her hand over her face and chuckled. “The errant ex-girlfriend returns for a visit. Ugh, she’s going to work it, isn’t she?”
“I thought you’d already figured that out.” Ricki put her hand on Abby’s shoulder. “Are you okay with that?”
“I fell in love with her best friend,” Abby said. “I’d say I owe her a viral video or two. Or two thousand.”
Ricki laughed. “You’re a good sport.”
“No. I’m just wildly in love, and I have Blythe to thank for it.”
Color dotted Ricki’s cheeks. “Shall we get going?” She motioned toward the ignition.
