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“Uh—” Her pretend boyfriend looked a little spooked. “We did some hiking,” he finally said.
“Right. Hiking.” Lyric patted his shoulder. “AndThatch took a fall. Off some rocks. So we have him all wrapped up with ice packs.”
“What?” Kyra quickly handed Lyric a full wineglass and turned to Thatch. “Are you okay?”
“It’s no big deal.” He backed away from the off-duty nurse practitioner. “My ribs are sore, that’s all.”
“They’re pretty bruised from what I could tell,” Lyric said sweetly. Her friend would never let him off the hook without a full checkup.
“You don’t want to mess around with bruised ribs.” Kyra approached him again. “Let me take a look. You’ll run into all sorts of problems if you’re not breathing right.”
“I’m breathing fine.” Thatch sidestepped her and accepted a beer from Aiden. “It’s your night off. I’m not going to make you work.”
“But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get a checkup at the clinic tomorrow morning. I’m sure Kyra won’t mind stopping by on a Sunday morning for a friend.” Lyric beamed her smile directly into Thatch’s annoyed glare. She was only playing the part of the concerned girlfriend. And a checkup was in his best interest.
“That’s not nec—”
“I can be there at nine if that works for you.” Kyra reached for her phone, which was sitting on the counter. “Actually, I won’t take no for an answer. I’m putting you on the schedule right now. You really need to take care of yourself. Especially having such a physical job.”
Ha.If her friend thought construction was a physical job, wait until she found out about Thatch’s new hobby. Though he likely wouldn’t disclose the real source of his injury, even to a medical professional.
Down the hall, the door clattered open.
“Hey, everyone!” Tess called. “Sorry we’re late.” She appeared in the doorway with Silas behind her. “We were chatting with Minnie. She came to watch the girls.”
“And before that Tess fell asleep on the couch,” her husband added. “I didn’t have the heart to wake her up.” Silas brushed a kiss across his wife’s cheek.
Weren’t they adorable?
“She needs all the rest she can get.” Kyra handed Tess an Italian soda.
“I’m getting enough rest,” their friend assured them. “What with Silas, Morgan, and Willow doing pretty much everything for me right now, I have plenty of time to nap. This man is a saint and lets me sleep in every morning.” She peered adoringly at her husband.
Aww.Lyric couldn’t be more thrilled for her friends. That was what a marriage should look like. Not the nightmare she’d endured. But she wasn’t thinking about Luke. That chapter in her life was over.
So why couldn’t she seem to close the book?
“But enough about me.” Tess sashayed over to where Lyric stood. “I need to know all the deets about you two. When did you guys cross over that friend line?”
“Why don’t you tell them?” Thatch nudged her to the center of their circle—the last place she wanted to be standing right now.
“Oh. Well.” A laugh bubbled out. “It wasn’t too big a deal.” She sipped from her wine, her mind racing. “We, um, well, I guess it was at the Christmas party.”
“That’s right!” Kyra gasped. “I seem to remember you two were dancing quite a bit that night.”
Yes, they had been. And then they’d taken a break to get a drink by the bar before meandering near the fireplace,where Thatch had asked her out. And for a split second she’d wanted to say yes. Her cheeks had been warm and rosy, her heart buoyant from dancing and laughing. But peering up at him that night, she knew she’d never be able to give him her heart. Not her whole heart anyway. And he deserved more. So she’d said no.
“You were at the Christmas party…” Kyra prompted.
“And then we, uh, kissed under the mistletoe.” It was the only thing she could think to say. Instead of telling them what had really happened. That she’d quickly left the party after Thatch had asked her out.
“How’d we all miss that?” Aiden asked, handing Silas a beer.
“Everyone else was a little busy.” Lyric snuck a glance at her pretend beau. He was awfully quiet.
“So then you started going out on secret dates?” Silas rubbed his wife’s shoulders.
“Mm-hmm.” Before Lyric could change the subject, Tess jumped back in.
