Page 58 of Chasing Kaylee Kringle

She huffed, and Rick grinned. “I win.”

“No, I’m just not going to argue with you about something so silly.”

“So I win.”

“You don’t win anything,” she muttered, pressing the button on the coffeepot so hard that he watched her finger bend back.

“No?” He leaned back in the chair, smirking. “Does that mean you’re still upset with me about last night?”

“I wasn’t upset with you,” Kaylee murmured. “It just still hurts to think about Elasia, and I’m trying to work through that.”

Her admission sobered his amusement. “Did Josie help you?”

“Yeah, she did actually.”

“What kind of a counselor is she?” he asked.

“She’s a professional cuddler.”

“Come again?”

“She counsels people while cuddling them. For people who have insomnia or PTSD, it helps.”

Rick stared at her, unsure if she was joking. “So she goes to strangers’ houses and hugs them?”

“Yes, they snuggle together, and she helps them work through their issues.”

“And this is a real thing?”

“Yes, you uncultured dork.”

“Wow,” Rick said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m just asking because I’ve never heard of anything like that before. And that guy who walked her home the other night knows this?”

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t really talk about it with anyone because she’s had people be weird in the past. If you consider that the human touch can have healing properties, it makes sense. When we feel lonely, what do we do? We reach out, call someone, and go to a bar to meet people. We want to be around others, but some people struggle with social interactions. Yet they still crave human touch. That’s the whole reason why they encourage babies and mothers to bond skin to skin in the hospital, because that is the first loving interaction that they have.”

“More power to her. I just don’t know if I could show up at a stranger’s house and hug them for an hour. What if they smell bad?”

Kaylee laughed. “I don’t know, you’d have to ask her. She doesn’t talk about her clients, and I don’t ask.”

“So what did you guys talk about?” Rick got up from the table, grabbed two mugs from the cupboard, and set them on the counter before leaning back against it.

“Why do you ask?”

Rick shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just curious if you may have talked to your friend about what happened between us.”

“And if I did?” she asked warily.

“I mean, are we talking good stuff or mediocre?”

“Are you asking me if I graded your performance for my friend?”

“Well, I-I wouldn’t put it that way, but I mean—”

Kaylee cut him off as he stammered. “What I told her was positive.”

“I’ll take it,” he said, grinning.

“Oh, I’m so glad you approve,” she deadpanned.