“Yeah, and where exactly am I supposed to go?” She supposed she could always sneak back in the house like Brad and Sara had done the last time she’d asked them to get gone, but she really didn’t want to see anything she couldn’t unsee without bleach and surgical implements. “The library’s not open twenty-four hours, last I checked.”
“Starbucks?”
She glanced at her almost untouched coffee and scowled. “Nah. Think I’ll pass. Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out. Do your thang and remember you owe me.”
“Thanks. And I do owe you big-time. We both do.”
“I hope that involves giving me serious details ASAP. It sounds like something major’s up.”
“It is. Way up.”
“Wait, we aren’t talking about you, are we?”
He laughed. “Talk to you tomorrow, sis. Love you lots.”
“Uh-huh. Ditto.” Her grin lasted until she hung up.
Brad and Sara had been together a little more than a year. A relatively short time in the scheme of things, if they hadn’t been friends before that and as serious as heart attacks about each other. Were they getting married? That would be amazing. Beyond.
Except for the housing situation that meant she’d have to find a new place if they were shacking up officially. And the fact that she was ridiculously jealous for no good reason at all.
She was happy for them. Ecstatic. They were perfect for each other. So what was her problem?
“What has you looking so sad?”
Kim glanced up at Michael, and the intensity of his expression dragged her forcibly from her thoughts. “My brother and my best friend are maybe getting married. Or having a baby. Could be both.” She forced the tension out of her shoulders and relaxed into the booth. “I’m so happy for them. They’re celebrating privately tonight at our house. We all live in my mom’s old place.” She licked her dry lips. “The house I grew up in.”
“That’s great news.” He tilted his head. “So why are you upset?”
“I’m not,” she said quickly. Too quickly. “They’re the best couple I know. If anyone can make it, they can. I’m—” Already missing them after things change. Focusing on myself. As usual.
“You can stay the night with me.”
Before he’d shown her more glimpses of the sweet, decent guy with possible mommy issues behind the gold-standard penis, hell yeah, she would’ve been a-okay with that plan. Now? She couldn’t help considering the vat of trouble that might land her in for more reasons than one.
“No thanks. I’ll go…somewhere.” Where? Dammit.
Sometimes the fact that her BFF was in love with her brother seriously sucked. Sara was the only friend she could’ve crashed with on such short notice. Ah, the irony.
“I’ll go to a hotel,” she decided. “Thanks anyway.”
“Don’t be silly. I have a perfectly good bed you can have. Not mine,” he added at her blank stare. “Just as a friend.”
She didn’t have any male friends she spent the night with platonically. Did people really do that? If she went over to a guy’s place, it wasn’t to warm his couch cushions.
Hell, she didn’t know Michael. A hookup at her place was one thing with her big, burly brother down the hall. On the guy’s turf? Not so bueno. Much better to get a room at the clean, dismal, possibly bedbug-infested motel down the street. Sixty-nine dollars a night would get her a nice hot breakfast and all the clichés she could stand.
“I appreciate the offer, truly. But I’ll be fine.” With an entirely fake smile, she reached for her purse, only to have him clasp her wrist.
“My treat.” He continued before she could pelt him with her objections. “How about this? We drive separately to my place. If you don’t like the looks of things once you arrive, you can leave.”
“Did you get the Spic-and-Span award three years running or something? I guarantee how your place looks won’t convince me to stay.”
His mouth curved. “So that’s a yes? You’ll follow me home?”
She sighed and dropped her purse on the bench. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have a lot of options and her teacher had known him for a few years. Odds were in her favor that the danger he represented wasn’t to her physical person.
“Sure. Just platonically,” she reminded him.