Kylie: I’m with Rory. Save the damn goats; they don’t deserve that!
Casey sent back a voice note, repeating what Lisa had taught her.
Casey: Is that right?
Lisa: Yes, hon. Good job!
Casey: Hold on, let me tell that man!
Monroe: What did he do?
Casey: Nothing. I got my period, and everything is pissing me off. I gotta take it out on someone.
The girls all sent voice notes, cheering Casey on.
With a spoonful of churro ice cream in her mouth, Lisa reached for the phone when it pinged again, but she nearly choked around the creamy dessert when she saw it wasn’t the girls’ chat.
Ryan: Are you busy?
Lisa: I am if this is one of those “You up?” booty-call questions. I know where that leads, Ryan.
Ryan: I’m calling.
And not three seconds later, she nearly threw her phone in shock when it rang in her palm. She looked panicked as his name lit up the screen.
She waited. And it rang.
It then stopped.
But started ringing right away.
She removed the spoon from her mouth, set it down, cleared her throat, and adjusted her hair as if he could see into her cozy living room. With her nerves on edge, she then responded.
“Hello?”
“You were gonna ignore me, weren’t you?” he sounded amused.
Yes. “No, I was just surprised. Why are you calling?”
She noted that the time was ten p.m.
Ryan dodged that question and asked one of his own. “What kind of day have you had?”
Small talk.
Lisa was great at small talk, so she tucked a leg underneath her butt, cradling the half-pot of ice cream in the crevice her legs made. She was not a woman who would ever waste ice cream, and not because a good-looking boy was calling her. She was no longer fifteen.
But as she heard Ryan’s silken voice, smooth as a fresh cask of whiskey, she felt some of her teenage hormonal nervousness return.
“It was a long, productive day.” She shared, then added with a smile. “This biker I know has texted me all day, like he thinks I want to know the details of his day.”
His rough laugh tickled her ears, and Lisa had to switch to speakerphone, laying the phone on the table, so he didn’t hear her rapid heartbeat.
She shoved a mouthful of ice cream between her lips.
“Did he annoy you?”
“No, it was...cu.” About to call him cute, Lisa thought better of it. “It was funny. Did you really nearly run into a squirrel?”
