Page 86 of The Lipstick Flip

“Place looks nice,” Si said through a mouthful of nuts. She settled on a stool and glanced at the cabinets. “Good call on those undercabinet lights. You got ’em just right.”

“That was Noah, actually.”

She made another noise that maybe meant Noah was for the birds too.

Footsteps came on the stairs, and a moment later, Noah reached the kitchen. His hair was dark with water, and the hollow of his throat was pink, and the bathrobe—which he called a kimono—barely reached the middle of his thighs. I thought maybe the best thing to do would be give Si a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and take Noah back upstairs and fuck his brains out. He looked at me, snorted, and then turned a big smile toward Si. “Oh my God, hi! We’re so glad you’re here.”

Si grunted, and she accepted a kiss on both cheeks from Noah.

“How are you feeling? Howie said the doctors are really happy with your recovery.”

“I told the doctors it hurts when I walk, and it hurts when I talk, and it hurts when I breathe,” Si said. “And do you know what they told me?”

“Don’t answer,” I said. “This is the wind-up.”

“Oh God,” Noah said, “let me guess: do more PT.” He took a breath.

“They said if it hurts when you do that stuff, don’t do it anymore.”

Noah’s eyebrows went up. And then he laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” I said. “It just encourages her.”

“It was funny,” Noah said.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“At least one of you has good taste,” Si said.

“Good taste? You spend half your day googling ‘dad jokes for lesbians.’”

“Somebody’s feeling salty,” Si said with a look at me. Then her gaze slid to Noah. “I wonder what changed.”

For some reason, Noah was the one who blushed. “I’m so sorry you weren’t able to be here for the holiday tour. I took a lot of pictures that I could show you.”

“I saw Howie’s video,” Si said. She was still just looking at Noah. It was the way she looked at a two-by-four before she turned on the table saw.

“And Howie told me about the house,” Noah said. He was talking fast, the color high in his cheeks, and he kept looking over at me. “How you invested so much of your money in it, and you were going to sell the house, and Howie was going to pay you back. I know the fact that we decided to, um, stay here makes that complicated, but we’ve got a plan for that. We’re going to use the house as collateral for a small business loan, and that’s how Howie will be able to pay you back.” Si still hadn’t said anything. Noah swallowed. Looked at me. Sounded like he was almost begging when he asked, “Right, Howie?”

“I already told her,” I said. I gave Si another look. She had more silver in her hair than I remembered. She still looked tired, which was what I’d thought when I’d seen her on the porch. But there was something else there. Something harder. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Noah said with a weird laugh.

“What’s going on,” Si said as she scooped out another handful of nuts, “is I’m going to spend a few minutes catching up with your husband, while you go get ready for your party, you pretty little thing.”

One glance at Noah’s wide eyes made me say, “No way.”

But he said, “Howie, it’s fine.”

“I don’t think so. Si, look—”

“Howie,” Noah said, his voice tight. “It’s fine. Go get ready for the party.”

“Go on, sweet cheeks,” Si said without taking her gaze from Noah.

I took a few steps up the stairs.

Noah made an impatient wave, but he was still locked in on Si.