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From her boss.
She groaned. “I wasn’t thinking. I should have been thinking.” But once the kissing had started, her ability to think had fled altogether.
“Holy macaroni, look at her face,” Mairi said. “It was that good? Who would have thought Duncan knew how to put a look like that on a woman’s face? I, for one, am stunned.”
“Will you behave?” Agnes tapped her toe in a sure sign she was losing her patience. “She can’t kiss her boss. That path leads nowhere good.” She glared at Donna. “Don’t. Do. It. Again.”
“I’m not stupid. If Duncan has anything to give, it will only ever be physical. His heart belongs to Fiona.” And she was okay with that. Honestly. She’d known it was the case from the moment she’d stepped into the mansion. A love like Duncan’s for Fiona could never be replaced. There was no room inside him for anyone else. That’s why she’d been brutal with herself where he was concerned. She refused to feel anything for him, other than pity, and maybe a dash of caring. That was it. Nothing more. “He just asked so nicely.”
“And that’s all it took?”
For a second, Donna was worried Aggie was going to have a heart attack. She climbed off her stool. “Maybe you should sit down for a minute.”
“Just don’t tell her to calm down,” Mairi said. “She doesn’t take that well.”
“Look,” Donna faced her sisters. “It was only a kiss. It’s over now. You heard Duncan. He’s my boss, and this complicates things. He just kissed me because I was the only woman here.” She swallowed hard but wouldn’t let them see how much that hurt. She’d gone into that kiss with her eyes wide open. “Of course he’d turn to me when he started to feel...needs again. I’m the one he’s used to. It will pass.” And then she would have to watch him kiss another woman like he’d kissed her. Maybe it was time to look for another job.
“I don’t have a problem with you kissing Duncan,” Mairi said. “He’s sexy, in a lives-alone-in-the-wilderness-building-bombs-and-planning-conspiracy-theories kind of way, but that isn’t enough to sustain a relationship. You’d be much better off with a nice geeky boy. I have a few I’m still trying to match up. You can join my dating agency, and I’ll let you have your pick.” She smiled hopefully.
Agnes shook her head. “You just want to get another name off your list. This isn’t about Donna. It’s about you making another match.”
“It’s totally for Donna’s benefit too,” Mairi argued.
This was getting out of hand. “I don’t want one of your lonely-heart geeks, and I don’t want Duncan either. I’m perfectly fine on my own. Mr Right will turn up eventually, but at the moment, I don’t have time for a man in my life. I have enough problems to deal with.”
A hand-drawn troll appeared behind her sisters. Liar, liar, pants on fire, it said.
Donna ignored it. “This...” She waved a hand to encompass pretty much her whole life up until that moment. “This is just a phase. Everything will go back to normal soon.”
There is no normal, Gandalf said from beside the easel. Really, you should know that by now.
Katniss Everdeen, her latest sketch in the pages of The Hunger Games, appeared beside Gandalf and looked up at Tolkien’s wizard. Do you need me to take him out? I will if it’s for the good of the people.
“That’s great,” Aggie said, “but what else are you going to give the guy if he asks nicely?”
That was it. She was done with unwanted advice and sarcasm, from real and imaginary people alike. “Out. Everybody out.” She pointed at her drawings too. “All of you leave now.”
“Donna,” Agnes said as she looked around. “Who are you talking to? Have you snapped? It’s the pressure of this ball, isn’t it? I knew it would be too much for you.”
“Oh,” Mairi said as she pointed at a painting. “That’s your underwear set.”
As one, they turned to stare. And there she was, splashed across a massive canvas. It showed her standing in front of the studio windows. The beams of light hit her skin in a pattern that made it glow. She looked beautiful, otherworldly, ethereal.
For a long time, they all stood staring at it.
Agnes wrapped an arm around Donna’s waist and pulled her into a hug. “I understand,” she said softly. “If someone saw me like that, I’d kiss him too.”
“It’s just a painting.” But Donna’s voice shook.
“That isn’t just a painting.” Agnes stroked Donna’s hair.
Mairi looked around Agnes to snag her attention. “What the hell. Just go for it. Have some fun, Donnie, we’ll be there to pick up the pieces afterwards. You can count on us.”
“I know, but this isn’t fun.” No, it had the potential to break her heart. If she let it. “It was just a kiss,” she muttered.
And her sisters enfolded her in a group hug.
***
