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Chapter 14
A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.
I open the door to find all four of my sisters standing on the stoop. “What are you doing here? I was just on my way to Fall Into A Good Book for book club.”
Lies. Lies. Lies. I was just on my way to thinking up an emergency to avoid book club. My sisters never skip book club since the meetings are always held at Aspen’s bookstore, but there’s no way I’m sitting in a room with my sisters and the gossip gals after going on a date with Mav.
Especially since said date ended with the lamest goodnight kiss ever despite how much I could feel Mav wanted me. Men! Way too complicated for their own good.
Gah! What am I thinking? I don’t want a steamy goodnight kiss from Mav. It was one date because I lost a bet. We aren’t back together. But you want to be. I mentally slap my head to force out any thoughts of Mav and me as a couple. I am not living in la la land.
“She’s pretending we don’t know she was planning on ducking out of book club,” Aspen announces before marching inside. Ashlyn, Lilac, and Ellery follow her in.
“Come on in, why don’t you?”
“Thank you,” Lilac says in all seriousness.
“I was being sarcastic,” I tell her.
She huffs. “I’m aware.”
I’m not certain she’s being truthful – my sister is part robot after all – but I let it slide. I’ve got bigger issues at the moment. Such as why are my sisters invading my house? Time for some evasion tactics.
“Where’s Willow?” I ask Ellery.
“Where’s Willow?” she mimics. “Does no one care about me anymore? Am I merely a vessel for a tiny human being whose sole capabilities are sleeping, screaming, and dirtying diapers in the most disgusting ways you can imagine?”
“There’s no beer in your fridge,” Aspen hollers from the kitchen where she’s searching my refrigerator.
A cork pops. “There’s wine.” Ashlyn holds up a bottle of red.
“I guess we’re drinking wine,” I mumble as I gather wine glasses.
“None for me.” Ellery motions toward her breasts. “These things are shooting milk for the baby.”
I fill a glass with water and hand it to her. “Or do you want a soda?”
She sighs. “I would love a soda, but Cole would lose his ever-loving mind if he found out I drank one. Here’s a tip. Never let the father of your baby read a baby book. Never. He’s an architect, not a doctor, but he thinks he’s an expert on babies now.”
“I think it’s attentive of Cole,” Lilac says. “He’s interested in you and the baby. You should be happy he’s not ignoring you.”
Her words make my Spidey-senses tingle. “Is someone ignoring you, Lilac?”
She frowns. “No. But I have been too busy to meet up with any of the men with whom I have arrangements lately.”
Lilac’s idea of romance is having romantic liaisons with men during her lunch break. There’s no dating, no sharing of a meal together. I don’t think she even talks to them. It’s no-strings sex and nothing more.
“Too busy? Is your work busier than normal? Is the biomass project not going well?”
My brainiac sister is in charge of setting up a biomass energy source outside of town. The idea is to provide more clean energy to Winter Falls.
“The project is on schedule.”
“Then, why are you too busy to meet up with your paramours?”
She purses her lips. “They are not paramours. No one is married or in a serious relationship.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Explain why you’re too busy to meet with your sexual partners.” Sexual partners. What a boring phrase. I hope there’s more passion in the execution than in the description.
