Page 74 of Let Me Show You

“Late night?” she asks, and I nod.

Since the weekend, Noah and I have stayed up texting or talking on the phone, so neither of us has gotten much sleep. I won’t see him again till Friday night when he comes over for movies and popcorn. He promised Owen they could watch Star Wars. I hope to explain that he’ll be seeing a lot more of Noah. While Owen doesn’t need to know the details of my dating life, he’ll have to keep this secret to himself—for a little while at least.

Besides Gemma and Everleigh, only Belinda, Jerry, and my parents know. And I’ll keep it that way to protect my son. Of course my best friends were ecstatic and excited for us. I’m close with my mom, so I wouldn’t be able to lie to her even if I tried. Eventually, I told her the truth that Noah stayed at the new house and explained how we ended up together. She knew my marriage to Gabe was rocky and had mentioned me dating again, though at the time, I wasn’t interested.

She’s always liked Noah and is happy for us.

Ultimately my in-laws will find out, and though they won’t accept it, they’ll have to get over it. I would love it if they could welcome Noah into our lives permanently, but I’m not holding my breath.

Fortunately, there haven't been any more threats to Noah, so hopefully whoever had a vendetta against him has moved on. “Meeting. Ten minutes. Conference room,” Cheryl pops her head in and reminds me.

“Great,” I mumble, then take another long drink.

“My, my, my…either you’ve bought a super-charged vibrator, or you really are gettin’ regular dick. You could hardly walk Monday.”

I nearly cough and spew my coffee. “You watchin’ me or something?”

“Not much else to do here.”

“Your job,” I emphasize.

She shrugs again. “So you gonna finally confess who’s giving you a good ole pussy beatin’?”

My eyes widen as I push off the table. “I’m going to my meeting.”

“If you need an ice pack for your fanny, just holler.”

I force back a smile as I leave. She’s seriously a handful.

After lunch, I suck down another cup of coffee before going to the waiting room to grab my next customer.

“Katie,” Brittany calls from the lobby.

Just great.

I wave. “Hey.”

Though I continue to walk, Brittany catches up to me and stops me.

“Hey, real quick. Can I ask you somethin’?'' There’s a fake sweetness in her tone.

“Sure.” I stand straighter.

“I’m not tryin’ to get into anyone’s business, but I just wanted to make sure you and Noah Reid weren’t dating.”

I furrow my brows. “Excuse me?”

She licks her lips. “Well, we made plans for him to play ball with Anthony, but some rumors are swirling that you two have history. Didn’t wanna step on any toes if you’re a thing.”

Well shit. What rumors? I’m tempted to ask, but I keep my poker face.

“Noah and I are just friends,” I say as if I’ve rehearsed it a hundred times. “We’ve only ever been friends.”

She releases an exaggerated breath. “Okay, phew. Then I don’t have to feel guilty that we exchanged numbers last weekend.”

I force out a smile. “Nope, guess not.”

“To share a little gossip about myself, I’m hoping he’ll ask me out on a date. Wouldn’t we be the cutest couple ever?”