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Lily shrugged. Her ponytail bobbed a little, and she adjusted her seat in the oversize chair. Her pajamas were thin purple pants and a matching tank top. She looked angelic with her ivory skin and big blue eyes.
“I know I need to let go and let him grow up. Being with Colt is so great for Alex, because he has a man he can look up to. But they want to take him for two whole weeks next month. Colt is doing some promotional appearances for the circuit and Alex is over the moon excited to go with him and Jenna.”
“Sounds like it’d be a good thing,” Whitney said. Not that it was her business, but the girls were including her, and she couldn’t help but get caught up a little.
“Yeah, it would be. Just… Two weeks without my little kiddo.” She sighed and laughed at herself. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You’re going to get out and have fun,” Penny said. “Maybe meet a man.”
Lily took another long sip of her pitcher. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do,” Penny persisted. “You’re hot! And I don’t even want to know how long it’s been since you’ve gotten any.”
Lily shook her head. “Too long.”
“Yeah, so think of this as a mini vacation coming up for you. It will give you a chance to really relax.”
“Speaking of relaxing,” Lily said, turning her stare on Whitney. “The town’s golden boy has been looking a special kind of relaxed lately.”
Whitney’s cheeks heated just a touch, and both Lily and Penny giggled.
“I…ah…huh?” Whitney took another drink.
“Oh no!” Penny laughed. “Don’t think you can’t dish about what’s been going on with you and Ryder. I’ve never in his life seen him look so pissy while smiling at the same time. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!”
Pissy and smiling?
“Is that a good thing?” Whitney asked.
“Hell yes, it is,” Penny said. “My brother walks around like he owns the damn place, because he kind of does. But what a lot of people don’t know is that he also carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
Lily nodded and slurped up another hefty straw full of margarita. “Yeah, it’s been hard for him. Trying find someone genuine, that he can actually have fun with, is difficult.”
Fun. Well, Whitney liked to think she was fun. But she was also not permanent. It poked on the knot in her stomach, though, thinking that Ryder really couldn’t find someone that liked him for him. It was his own fault for putting on that damn front all the time.
Except he hadn’t with her. At least not when they were alone. That was what Whitney liked the best about him. The real side, not the ultra-polite persona. Sure, manners were fine and good, but the real Ryder had soul and depth, and a raw passion that she’d never met a match to.
“Do you like him?” Penny asked.
Whitney glanced down at her drink. She hadn’t had girl talk like this since her sister passed, and honestly, things with Ryder were getting complicated, because she was feeling more than she should. Here, with Penny and Lily, she wanted to give in and remember what it felt like to have a sister. A friend. Not to mention, she could use some advice.
“He irritates me. Confuses me.” She glanced at Penny, but she didn’t seem to take offense to Whitney openly speaking about her brother that way. In fact, she seemed thrilled by it. So she went on. “But there are other things I like about him.”
“Details!” Lily said.
Penny held up her hand. “But not too many details since he is my brother and…gross.”
Whitney laughed. “Noted.” She took a sip of her drink and settled into her side of the couch. “Well, he does this one thing that’s really annoying,” she admitted.
Both women leaned in, as if hanging on her every word.
“Is he an ass?” Penny asked.
“Does he snore or something?” Lily added.
“No
,” Whitney hesitated. “He keeps trying to…date me.”
