Page 74 of Pierced Pages

Hey, just checking what time you wanna meet and where.

Up for anything.

Whatever Lila likes.

While she waited for a reply, she dug around through the shirts hanging in her closet. Too stretched out at the collar. Too see-through. Too tight. Too dressy. Too… everything.

A ding rang out from the bed, and she ran to check what it said. She hoped they would be ready to meet pretty soon. She couldn’t handle the stress of waiting too long.

Sorry. At the clinic with Lila. Can’t make it.

Morgan’s heart sank. Not for herself, but for poor Lila. And for Danielle. Morgan knew that whatever was going on, she must be a wreck over it. That girl was Danielle’s everything.

I hope it isn’t too serious.

Let me know later.

She waited for a reply, but none came.

It must be serious.

Morgan bit her nail, then pulled her finger from her mouth. She’d broken that habit years ago.

Reginald rolled onto his back over her jeans, but she didn’t bother shooing him off. She wasn’t wearing them out after all.

But she could change gears. It would be helpful to have something to keep her distracted while she waited to hear back.

Morgan tapped the next message thread down and checked to see if she could squeeze back in her regular Sunday plans a little earlier than normal.

Reginald hoppedin between Morgan and Jen on the couch, and Morgan lifted the popcorn bowl from beside her so he wouldn’t knock it over. Or eat it. The greedy gobbler.

Jen readjusted her position and patted her lap, and Reginald accepted the invitation. She handed Morgan the remote so she could give him her undivided attention with full-body pets.

“Thanks for joining me in calling popcorn lunch,” Morgan said. “I haven’t picked up groceries for the week yet.”

In her excitement over the date-that-wasn’t, she completely forgot she’d need to eat in the coming week. But she’d still have time to make a store run after she and Jen finished watching their episode of the week.

“Oh, I’m not calling it lunch,” Jen said. “I already ordered pizza.”

Leave it to Jen to plan for Morgan’s forgetfulness.

“You’re a lifesaver. As always.”

“Speaking of saving lives, have you heard if Danielle’s kid is okay?”

Morgan shook her head. “I don’t want to bug them, but I’m kind of worried.”

“You aren’t bugging them. You’re expressing concern. That’s a good thing. Didn’t you say things went well last night?”

“Yeah, what does that have to do with this?”

“It means she likes you. She’ll like you checking on them.”

Morgan did have a good time. And she was pretty sure Danielle did, too. Maybe Jen was right.

Maybe it would even be shitty not to check on them.

Hey just checking on you guys.