Page 43 of Flare Up
“Everything okay?”
“Oh, sure.” She waved her hand. “Just feeling old today. I wore new shoes without testing them out first and they weren’t a good choice for standing all day.”
“Ouch. Do they need to be broken in or are they just not comfortable?”
“Let’s just say they’ll be perfect for a sit-down dinner.”
Wren laughed. “I’ll tell you what. I make a pretty decent spaghetti and you’ve got all the ingredients. How about I make dinner tonight?”
She could tell Patty was about to say no, but then she hesitated and sagged against the couch cushions. “That actually sounds wonderful. You’re not going out with Grant tonight?”
“He’s working today.”
“Oh, that’s right. I swear, keeping up with everybody’s schedules is beyond me.” Without lifting her head, she turned it so she was looking at Wren. “How are things going with him?”
“Good. Things are good.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I hope you know you can always come to me if you need somebody to talk to. And it’ll stay between us. I know it seems like, because Cait’s my daughter and she’s marrying Grant’s best friend, lines might be fuzzy, but you really can talk to me.”
Wren’s throat tightened with emotion. “Thank you. I hope you know how much you mean to me. Letting me stay here has given me a chance to rebuild my life without scrambling or settling for a bad situation. And it gives Grant and me the space to work on things.”
Patty reached out and squeezed her hand. “I love having you here. Carter and I are in a good place now, but he’s growing up and doing his own thing. Or hiding in his room. It’s nice to have company sometimes.”
“I’m going to go put my laundry away and then I’ll start the spaghetti.”
After texting Carter an ETA for dinner so he could plan his video gaming accordingly and hanging up her clothes, Wren went to the kitchen. Patty, of course, tried to help because she couldn’t help herself, but she very firmly sent her back to the couch to relax and rest her feet.
The spaghetti and garlic bread were good, but the company was even better. It had been a long time since Wren had felt like she was part of a real family, sitting around the table and talking and laughing.
But tonight she did, and she was thankful for it.
Chapter Thirteen
“Gin.”
Grant groaned when Wren fanned her cards out on the table and did a little victory dance in her seat.
He didn’t care about the victory. The dance, though, was killing him. Her favorite pink sweatshirt, which she’d put on after a quick shower, was really killing him. It slid down her shoulder no matter how often she pulled it up, showing skin he wanted to kiss in the worst way. And the hem would ride up, showing off the lacy pink panties she had under it and more skin he wanted to kiss.
When Gavin had shot him a text suggesting they meet him and Cait at Kincaid’s, they’d thought about it, but decided they’d rather have a quiet night in at his place. He’d ordered pizza while she jumped in the shower, and now she was kicking his ass at cards because all he could think about was sliding his hands up under that soft, thin fleece.
“How was work today?” he asked, desperate to distract himself from that line of thought.
She’d gathered the cards and was shuffling, so he noticed the slight pause. “It was okay.”
“Wren?”
Sighing, she stared at the cards in her hand for a long moment, and then looked up at him through her lashes. “I don’t want him here with us tonight.”
There was no more thought about kissing her skin as every nerve in her body seemed to go on high alert. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened. But Sadie told me something today that means he could actually know I’m in Boston.”
He relaxed a little. Anything but the guy actually being in Boston could be dealt with. “What did she say?”
“I guess she did a post on Facebook welcoming me to the salon and it had my name, so it is possible he knows I’m in the city and I work there. She deleted it today, but if he searched for me, it might have come up.” She shrugged one shoulder, making the sweatshirt’s loose neckline slip again, which brought his thoughts back to kissing her skin.
He was pretty sure it was ridiculous for a grown man to be turned on by a woman’s bare shoulder, but there it was. After clearing his throat, he forced himself to focus on the subject at hand, although he really didn’t want to. He was tired of Ben Mitchell being a part of their lives, especially since he wasn’t sure they’d be able to really move forward until they knew for sure he wasn’t an issue anymore.
