“Thanks!” She drew out another stool and patted it. “Put your foot up here. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. I worked as a paramedic for a few years.”
Wow. She’d done a lot in her life. What had Georgina done? What difference had she really made? Kiesha made quick work of cleaning up her foot.
“How come you waited for Ed to leave?” she asked. The other woman was wrapping a white bandage around her foot. Kind of overkill she thought, when a Band-Aid would work, but she’d wait to remove it until later.
“Cause I’m supposed to be at work.”
“Umm, Kiesha, Ed just went into work. He’s going to notice you’re not there.”
“Oh, I know. I’m the one who called him. Might have exaggerated how much we needed him in there so I could get a bit of alone time with you. Great plan, huh?” Kiesha smiled at her widely.
“It’s a terrible plan.”
Kiesha’s face dropped and she took a step back. “You didn’t want to see me?”
There was something vulnerable in her face. A hurt that went deep. Shoot. She hadn’t meant it like that.
“Of course I want to see you, we’re besties, right?”
Kiesha grinned. “Too right, rubber ducky. I needed to see my bestie and Ed was hogging you.”
“But Kiesha, he’s going to be furious when he realizes you called him into work when you didn’t really need him.”
“Eh, what’s he gonna do? Fire me?” Kiesha swept up pieces of ceramic.
“Yes,” she replied, as she stood. Ouch, standing on her sore foot wasn’t going to be fun today. But it wasn’t like she hadn’t had worse.
“He does that and I’ll tell his mom. Don’t worry. Pretty sure my job is safe. I’m amazing at it, after all.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “And so modest too.”
Kiesha grinned. “Why bother with modesty? Never been something I’ve suffered from.”
“Here, let me clean up the rest.”
“Nuh-uh. You need to rest. You still look kind of pale. Ed didn’t keep you up all night, did he?” Kiesha wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“No!” she protested. “Nothing like that.”
“Huh, I felt sure that put you two in close proximity and fireworks would go off. Or are you not attracted to him anymore now that you’re living with him? Is he smelly? Messy? Bossy?”
“He’s definitely bossy. But I’m not living with him. I’m just staying her
e for a while.”
“Nothing else?”
“We’re seeing where things go.”
“Ahh, nice, nice,” Kiesha said, seeming distracted. “So if you were to put a number on when you thought you might sleep with him, would it be a few days, a week . . . “
“Umm.” She might never have had a female friend to talk through stuff like this with, but even she thought that was a weird question.
“Never mind. Don’t answer that.” Kiesha waved her away as she went to help. “I can still win without inside info.”
“Win what?”
“Nothing.” Kiesha smiled widely. “There, that looks better. Sit. I’ll get you another coffee. I’m great at making coffee. Ask Ed, he’ll tell you. He loves my coffees.”