Page 82 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls
Skye laughed, laying the paperback on the table with a feather bookmark. “An airline attendant.”
“That’s pretty hot.”
“It is.”
“I heard you out there,” Celene said, leaning in the gap between Skye’s legs. “How long until they come back?”
Skye grew dizzy when Celene pulled her down so they could lie facing each other. “Um, an hour. Two at most, if they don’t do anything afterward.”
“You’re so good to me.”
“Tea and reading time? I’ve hardly done anything.” Really. This was a small fraction of her tasks for Luce.
Celene smelled alluring, and she looked as such, in slim lounge pants and a matching top. “Being cared for is kind of nice. You don’t make it annoying.”
Skye balled a shaky hand into her sleeve. “Well, I like you, so...”
“I like you, too.”
Not that Skye bottled up her feelings, but nobody ever compelled her to clutch at her chest, upended by a flutter. It physically ailed her to take in the dark, relaxed eyes focused solely on her.
Celene tinkered with Skye’s necklace. Her fingers avoided any brush against the curve of Skye’s chest, and still, her pores seized in the sensation.
“I’ll be back in a week.” Celene’s long eyelashes followed slow, deliberate blinks. “Alone.”
The implications there weren’t vague. “What changes are next for the house?”
Smirking at her subject change, Celene said, “We noticed a draft in two bedrooms on windier days, especially that weird blue room.”
“Aw, I like that weird blue room.” Thinking of the mid-sized space with a developer’s overzealous six-window vision, Skye frowned on its behalf. “It has character.”
Celene rolled her eyes and continued. “I called Gertrude’s team to replace every old window with energy-efficient alternatives.”
“Careful, you’re going to make your neighbors look bad.” Lake Harrier Reserve members—depending on their level of retirement or boredom—treated home improvement like a competition. “Getting a blank check to restore everything is starting to sound fun for you.”
“I like to see a responsibility through to the end, with the best results.” When Skye screwed her face in disbelief, Celene laughed. Breathy and exceptionally subtle. “It’s alittlefun. Don’t tell anyone.”
A far cry from Celene’s use ofdeathtrapandeyesoreweeks ago. Hope ticked at Skye; she chose to ignore it. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Celene sighed. Maybe her version of a swoon. “I’m sorry you saw me and my sister like that. I emailed Mavis and cleared everything up, but Elise is such a child.”
“It’s okay to be angry. I’m glad I showed up when I did.”
“When I found you stranded on the side of the road...” Celene got this wry whenever she mentioned that lapse in Skye’s judgment. “You called me a savior. Do you remember that?”
Skye hummed, nodding. “I remember you looking pissed about it.”
“Because I was. I’m always rescuing or bailing people out, only for them to turn around and call me the problem.” She paused as if she didn’t mean to say that. And when Skye slotted her fingers into a no longer cold hand, more truth came spilling out. “At Elise’s wedding, I relinquished my bridesmaid’s duties to stand in as her planner’s assistant. I ate after all the guests, missed speeches, and I’m absent from most of the photos.”
This was deeper than what Celene told Skye before. The rage in Celene’s eyes during the fight made even more sense. Skyemurmured, “Shit. That’s...that’s horrible. Being a weddingguesttires me out, so I can’t imagine.”
“She never gave me a proper thank you.”
“I’m getting mad all over again. Have you told her this?”
“No. She should know. It’s not my fault she’s inconsiderate.”
Guiding them from family issues, she snuggled into a pillow, asking, “Have you seen Beaker around?”
