Page 98 of Nothing to This

“You have two babies together.Live together.Work together—”

“It’s temporary.”

“Is it?”

And the silence lingered.Each of the women waited.She looked from one to the next and eventually gave in with a groan.

“I have no idea.”

“Do you trust Brenna?We don’t have to worry about her being a double agent—”

“No!God, no, she’s more on my side than his.”She twisted her glass by the stem.“JD and I were a one-night thing, and then the twins… In the years between then and now, we didn’t see much of each other.Any of each other, really.His mom and sister moved here to be close to the twins.I had that buffer, there was no need for JD and me to hang out.”

“But now you are hanging out.”

“We’re something.”

“If he’s hot and rich and good to your kids, what else do you need?Did the sex suck?”

“Nooo,” she said, drawing the syllable out.“Definitely didn’t suck.I was just… inexperienced.”

“Okay, so…” Lilya said, “you’re not inexperienced anymore.”

“Nice way to call her a slut,” Roux joked.

“I didn’t mean it like that.She knows I didn’t mean it like—you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Nothing wrong with being a slut,” Roxie said.“I’m a slut, just so happens it’s only for one guy.”

Roux raised her glass in appreciation.“Hear, hear.”

Back to the point at hand.“I don’t want our relationship to impact what we each have with the kids.And since the weekend…”

“She’s right,” Lilya said.“Going through that, it’s too much emotion to process.If they jumped into a relationship now, they’d always wonder if it was real or a result of the intense circumstances.”

“Don’t be practical,” Jane whimpered.“Follow your heart.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”Jane squirmed.“I just fell a little behind.”

“You were terrified.”Roxie and Jane’s rapport was more akin to sisters than acquaintances.“And rightly so, I was the same.Slow on the uptake.See with guys like ours, they’re risk takers.”

“So they took a risk on us?”Lilya asked.“Zach was sure before I was.”

“My Casanova was in love with me months before I got a clue, goddamn him.”Roxie next addressed Jane.“And Knox had to damn near chase you down, woman.”

“He stalked her,” Roux said.

“No, that was crazy London Guy.”

“Uh, the story I heard included Knox traipsing all around the damn world after her.”

“Mostly the country,” Jane objected, like that made a difference.

A bold knock on the door got them all looking around, confused.All but Roux.

“That’s for me, one sec.”The woman got up to dash across the apartment on her tiptoes and opened the front door like it was her place.“You do come to heel.”Roux was all smug taunting.“Clever boy.Later we’ll try roll over.If you’re good, you might get your tummy tickled.”