Page 19

“How would you know?”

“Low blow. Don’t change the subject. Who was it? Do I know her?” Her face darkens, suddenly. “It wasn’t Shae, was it?”

“No. Shae strutted into Dewey’s with a teenage bimbo on her arm with Robin, Daphne, Cam, and Lisa following right behind like a row of ducklings following their mother.”

“I never liked them. Any of them.”

“You were right,” I say. I gulp my wine. “I wish I’d listened to you.”

Willa sighs and comes around the counter. She takes me in her arms. I put down my wine glass and hug my sister, my best friend, back.

“None of that,” she whispers. “The past is the past and you’re moving forward. I’m here for you every step of the way. And your therapist. She’s with you, too.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I say.

“That is something you will never have to worry about.” She pulls back and holds me at arm’s length. “Now, enough about Shae and her gaggle of sycophants. Who is this woman and how was the sex?”

I can’t keep the grin from my face, so I take a huge drink of my wine.

“Spill,” Willa says.

“Something snapped when I saw Shae walk in that bar,” I say. “I didn’t mean to end up in this woman’s bed.” I pause, remembering the kiss Toni gave me as I left, the softness, the promise or hope of something more. I meet Willa’s gaze. “But I’m really glad I did.”

“That good, huh?”

I let out a long breath. “Oh, yeah,” I say, and laugh.

Willa raises her eyebrows. “I want to ask for a play by play, but I know you won’t give me one.”

I’m not one to share intimate details, even to Willa, but I feel a little giddy from doing two things so out of character and almost spill it all. I catch myself at the last minute.

“No.”

Willa raises both eyebrows. “Oh, I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

“Not a chance.” I take a deep drink of my wine and spy myself in the pristine glass double-oven door. I run a hand through my long blond hair. “Good God, I have sex hair.”

“Uh-huh,” Willa says, her eyebrows raised in anticipation of a nugget of news.

“Not happening, Willa.”

“Come on, throw a celibate girl a bone.”

“Watch porn,” I say.

Willa’s eyes widen. “You had porn sex?”

“No.” I can’t help but laugh. “No.” I sigh. “Fine. She let me run the show. I forgot how much I enjoyed that.”

“You were the dom?”

“It wasn’t S&M, Willa. I was the top.”

Willa leans on the counter and rests her chin on her fist, her expression turning thoughtful. “You haven’t done that in a while. Was it like riding a bike?”

The memory of riding Toni’s face flashes through my mind. I press my lips together to keep from laughing. “You could say that.”

Willa’s eyes widen. “Oh my God you’re getting a visual. And now I’m getting a visual.”