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“Yes. Are you hungry, Roxanne?”

“Starving. Do you know somewhere nearby I can get something to eat?”

Toni’s voice is low. “My place is around the corner.”

“Are you a good cook?”

“I am.” She’s so close I can see tiny orange flecks in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. “I’m especially good at making sure my guests are fully satisfied by the time they leave.”

I bite the corner of my lower lip and Toni’s breath catches.

“With an offer like that, how can I refuse?”

“Audrey?”

“Hmm?”

“I have to leave. I have a plane to catch.”

I’m on my stomach; a warm hand gently strokes my bare back. I open my eyes and see Toni looking down at me, a strange expression on her face. It wakes me up a little. I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep.

“What?”

“I have to go.”

Right. Toni has a plane to catch. “Oh.” I try to sit up, but I think my bones have dissolved. “I need to go, too.”

“No, no. It’s before five. Go back to sleep. Lock the doorknob behind you when you leave. I’ll have Max come over and lock the deadbolt later.”

“Oh, OK.”

My God I’m so tired I can hardly think; I barely understand what Toni is saying.

“I’ll be gone a couple of weeks,” Toni says. “Um, maybe we can talk when I get back. Or you can call me if you want to. Or…or not.” She pauses, opens her mouth, closes it. She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “This was…fun. Bye.”

She pats me on the shoulder, and is gone.

CHAPTER THIRTY

AUDREY

It’s barely past six when I walk into the house and run into Willa walking out, dressed and ready for work.

“Well, she made it home finally,” Willa says, grinning. “I guess it went—” Her expression falls. “Audrey, what happened?”

“She said it was fun, and left.” I burst into the tears I’d been holding in on the drive over.

Willa drops her computer bag and takes me into her arms. “Oh, sweetie.”

She ushers me into the kitchen, sits me down at the table, and makes me a cup of coffee. When she’s seated next to me, I tell her what happened. Every little detail. Probably more than she wants to know, to be honest. By the time I’m done, my grief at the comment has changed a bit to anger.

“How could she do that? Tell me it was ‘fun’ and then leave. It was raw and emotional and when she looked at me, Willa, she didn’t have to say a word. I just ca?—”

Willa holds up a hand. “OK, OK. I really don’t need the details again.”

“It wasn’t just sex. We made love. It was life-changing. Jesus, I literally couldn’t walk. She had to carry me into the bedroom.”

“Well, that’s hot.”