“You’re at work?”
“Yes.” Okay, so maybe it had been code.
“You need me to call you back?”
“No. I’m in my office with the door shut.”
Well, then... “Why are you tense?”
“We were out of coffee.”
“There’s that shop on the corner. You like their coffee.”
“Diane pointed that out to me, as well.”
“So...I’m annoying you like your sisters do.”
In her dressing room again, wearing an aqua-colored silk robe and nothing else, she lounged on the couch, waiting for the knock on her door that told her it was time to get dressed. One more scene and she could leave.
She was really quite happy right where she was.
“Of course not,” he told her. “And her pointing out the coffee shop didn’t irritate me. To the contrary. I was being an ass. In her kind little sister way, she pointed that out to me. What bothers me is when they hover like they don’t trust me to manage my own life. Like they think I’m somehow incapable of doing so.”
“Maybe it’s just that they love you so much. They want you happy and they feel powerless to help make it so. That’s why women hover, you know. Because they’re in a situation they want to make better and can’t find anything to do to make that happen.”
His silence was more off-putting on the phone than it would be in person, where she could see his expression. “Are you thinking, or refusing to engage in this conversation any further?”
“I don’t do that.” His petulant tone made her smile.
“Of course you do that. All the time. It’s quite infuriating, you know.”
His chuckle set her world straight again.
“I’ve made a decision,” she told him. It was the reason she’d called.
“About what?” There was that tension in his voice again. But she wasn’t going to be distracted. Or let the conversation switch back to her pushing him to tell her what was wrong. She’d get there before they hung up. But, first...
“Giving Bo a key.”
That silence again. Sometimes she hated this long-distance friendship thing. Not that she could have dashed out of the studio to meet him for a quick meal even if he’d been in town.
“I’m not going to.” There. She’d made it official. Signed and sealed and ready to be delivered just as soon as she got off work. She’d told Bo she was too busy to be distracted with a visit from him at the studio that afternoon. He’d be meeting her at her place after work. Bringing her dinner instead of making it for her.
“You’re not.”
“No.”
“Why not?” What, he thought she should?
“Because when I closed my mind to the cacophony around me and just listened to myself, I found out that I didn’t want to.”
“Okay. Good.”
That was it? She’d made a magnanimous decision, one she’d never have had the guts to make a year ago, and he just said good?
“It’s probably going to make him mad,” she explained. “He’s friends with everyone who’s anyone. It will be the first time I’ve had a real enemy in my intimate circle. He’s the only one from my tribe who’s been really supportive of my lifestyle changes and...”
“If you want to give him a key, maybe you should.”