“What about Abby?”
“What about her?”
“How are you going to keep Abby interested in you?”
“My charm and good looks.” She smirked at Ricki. “I’m a chick magnet. What can I say?”
“Right.” Ricki handed the rope to Blythe. “Hook yourself in.”
“You don’t believe it?” Blythe took the rope and threaded it through her harness like she’d seen on YouTube. “Have you checked out my posts lately?”
“I try not to,” Ricki deadpanned.
Blythe knew it wasn’t true, but she wouldn’t argue. “Well, if you had, you’d see I’m more popular than ever.”
“Apparently, dating someone else brings out all the ladies.” Ricki’s voice was full of sarcasm.
“I knew it.” Blythe pointed at Ricki, who was only a few feet from her.
“I might have checked out one or two.” Ricki pushed Blythe’s finger away instead of moving. Probably because stepping back would put Ricki on the roof’s slope. “Looks like we might have a catfight between Sweet Cyn and Femme4Boiz.”
“Ah, Cyn’s my friend. She’s just playing.”
“If you call aggressively flirting playing. I can’t believe Abby likes it.”
“I have to hound her to read some of the comments, and I literally have to sit on the phone with her when she responds to a few. Followers hate it when creators ignore them. A few comments and a lot of likes keeps them coming back.”
Ricki reached for the rope hanging from Blythe’s harness and pulled on it. At first, the aggressive move startled Blythe until she realized Ricki was ensuring it was safe.
Blythe took the rope from Ricki. “Are you done checking me out?”
“You wish,” Ricki responded with an eye roll. “Do you know this Femme person? She seems a bit…uh…intense.”
“Intense is an understatement.” Blythe chuckled. “I know her a little better than I want to.”
Ricki glanced up from the rope she was coiling. “What does that mean?”
“Let’s just say she’s sent me a few pictures that’d make you blush.”
“And you haven’t blocked her?”
“Are you kidding me? Every time she and Cyn go at it, our views skyrocket.”
“I’m sure Abby loves that.”
“Stop projecting.” Blythe put her hand on Ricki’s shoulder. She didn’t want to argue with Ricki, especially knowing Ricki had another lousy week at work. “She wouldn’t have been doing interpretive dance book reviews if she wasn’t interested in attention.”
“That’s a lot different than having her relationship plastered all over the internet. And to be scrutinized by your followers. Some are plain repulsive, and the comments about her are brutal.”
“Did you read what they say about me? BookNerd123 takes every opportunity to point out Abby is way too good for me.” Blythe grinned. “Hey, have you set up a new profile on TikTok?”
“Very funny.” Ricki rolled her eyes. “You should practice before Abby gets here if you insist on doing this stupid stunt.”
“Let’s do it.”
This was Abby’s third trip to Berwyn and her second driving. Last weekend, she’d left her job an hour earlier than usual. It had been a miscalculation since it put her in rush hour traffic. By the time she’d arrived at Ricki’s house, her nerves were frazzled. Blythe and Ricki had talked her down, but still she feared she’d shown the worst side of herself.
Today, she’d left work at her regular time, hoping to miss the worst of the traffic. Actually, she’d left a few minutes late since Madeline insisted on giving her a sex pep talk.
