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“Sit!” Erin said, rolling her eyes. “See, this right here makes you seem whiny. If you’re going to stick around, we should hang out a little.”
The suggestion made Celia blink. Katie and Erin had always avoided her when they were kids. Now they wanted to ‘hang’? She moved into the living room, easing onto the edge of the armchair.
Erin leaned against the back of the couch. “So, what are these appointments you’re going to? Are they every day? I can always stop by, if so.”
“The appointments are only an hour. I scheduled them in the morning so I’d have time to check on Katie before my shift at the tavern.” Celia frowned. “Actually, I worry more about that time. If you could come in the evenings—”
“Don’t do that. I’m already getting better,” Katie said. “I don’t need you to come over to babysit me.”
“You almost died, Kay,” Erin said.
Katie waved her off. “It was my appendix. A lot of people have that happen.”
“Malcolm said if you hadn’t gotten to the hospital so quickly, it would have been worse.” Erin frowned. “I always thought your boss was a prick, and now I’m so damn happy he was there.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Nicholas is a nice man. You just don’t like anyone in a suit.” Her lips lifted in a sly smile. “It also doesn’t work in his favor that you find him attractive.”
“Hot as hell,” Erin said with a nod, not ashamed at all. “But you’re the one that works so closely with him. Don’t tell me you haven’t considered anything when you work late into the night.”
Katie looked away. “I’m not blind, but you know he’s not the one for me.”
“I don’t know why you don’t just bone Blake,” Erin said.
“Erin!” Katie glanced over at Celia, red creeping over her cheeks.
Celia shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious.”
“Oh, God!” Katie buried her head in her hands, then peeked through. “To him, you think?”
“Hell no,” Erin said. “That boy is clueless. Despite burying his dick in any girl that moves.”
Katie groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“I still don’t know what you see in him. He and all those other boys used to eat bugs in their dirt pies when we were kids.” She shuddered. “Once you see that, there’s no going back.”
“That’s gross. They never ate bugs,” Katie said.
“Oh, they did.” Erin grinned at her friend. “So the next time you’re picturing Blake naked, picture this big, fat worm—”
“Please stop,” Katie said, her head falling back in embarrassment.
Celia felt the words pressing at her lips and gave in. “Even Trenton?” She couldn’t picture him as a little boy. Especially hurting bugs. He’d be more likely to take a cockroach outside and release it.
Erin grinned at her. “Oh, ho! So you and Trent really did get it on. Kay and me were wondering, what with you living with him.”
Celia flushed, regretting opening her mouth.
“So, what happened?” Erin asked, moving around the couch to sit, lifting Katie’s legs to place them over her lap. “Did he dump you for that dead wife of his?”
“My God, Erin,” Katie muttered.
“What?” Erin shrugged. “He’s been pretty open about how she was it for him. True love. Soulmates. All that crap.”
Celia bristled. “Trenton is a sweet guy. He made his love for his wife very clear from the beginning.”
Erin nodded. “So you couldn’t change his mind?”
“I didn’t want to change his mind. A relationship was never in the cards, not for me.” It didn’t stop Celia from remembering the way he kissed her that last night. It had been filled with him, sweet and soft, with an underlying need he so rarely showed.
