Family Ties

”

“And done more than just kiss.”

“—I think she’s probably a lot more uninhibited than I gave her credit for. And yeah, getting past kissing was a big deal.”

“She didn’t run off to church or confession?”

“Nope. Not once. Didn’t even seem to feel guilty.”

“So… maybe you were wrong about her?”

“Maybe I was wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Must be a bad connection. What did you say?”

I grinned and raised my voice, “I said, maybe I was wrong!”

“Sorry,” Sara said without sounding it, “I couldn’t resist.”

Christy and Wren appeared in the door, one after the other.

I looked back at them and suddenly felt self-conscious. I was sprawled on Christy’s bed like I owned it.

“Who’re you yelling at?” Christy said.

“Hold on a sec,” I told Sara. To Christy and Wren, “I’m talking to Sara. I wasn’t yelling, though.”

“Sounded like it to us,” Wren said.

“She was teasing me.”

Sara said something, so I put the phone to my ear again. “Say again?”

“Is it Christy? Let me talk to her.”

I rolled off the bed and held out the phone.

“Hello?” Christy looked at me and smiled bashfully. “Uh-huh… We did… Oh, he was wonderful! They loved him… Yeah, he sort of did… No, it was really dumb. Rich was just being protective.”

“He’s a psycho killer!” I said, loud enough for Sara to hear.

Christy and Sara talked for another minute or two. Then Christy looked at me. “She said you can tell me about her new friend.” She listened and then grinned. “If you aren’t too chicken to let a woman tell you what to do.

“Give me that.” I almost swiped the phone. Christy’s grin widened, and Wren had to hold back laughter. “All right, you two,” I told them, “get out of here. I don’t need three on one.”

“But I thought you liked three on one,” Wren said sweetly.

I started to swing the door closed and shove them into the hall. “I’ll be done in a minute. Go back to work.”

“You gossip like a schoolgirl,” Wren added.

“You should know,” I shot back.

She grinned impudently.

“Tell ’em to give you hell!” Sara shouted through the phone.

“Not you too,” I said.

“Sorry. Us girls have to stick together.”

“Fine. Then I’ll talk to you later.” I wasn’t upset and she could tell.

“Good luck with your new friend. Sorry to hear about Daphne, but…”

“The writing’s been on the wall with me and Daphne for a while,” she said in resignation. “But I’ll let you know how it goes with the other things.”

“All right. Take care.”

“You too,” she said.