The Friendship List(87)

“He’s never been mad before, so I don’t know.”

“He hasn’t been mad at you before, but you’ve seen him mad at other people. He blows up and then he gets over it.”

That was true, Ellen told herself. Keith didn’t hold a grudge. She could only hope he didn’t start holding one now.

“So that’s my sad story,” she said with a sigh. “Tell me what’s been going on with you? And don’t take that to mean I want a description about the latest remodel you’re working on. Tell me about Thaddeus.”

Unity surprised her by placing her arms on the table and resting her head on them. “I’m a mess.”

“Possibly.”

Her friend glared at her. “Hey, be supportive.”

“I can’t until I know what’s going on. The last I heard you were pretending you weren’t dating and he’d kissed you. That’s kind of a lot. What’s happened since?”

Unity straightened and finished her wine in a single gulp. “I spent the night with him.”

Ellen felt the world shift as the space-time continuum tore, threatening all life as she knew it.

“You slept with Thaddeus and didn’t tell me?” she asked with a shriek. “How could you not tell me? I thought we were friends.” Shock battled with hurt and hurt won. “I told you about my sex.”

Unity held up both hands. “I didn’t sleep with him. I spent the night at his condo, in the guest bedroom. But we did kiss. A lot.”

Ellen’s emotions died down. “Sexy kissing?”

Unity grinned. “Very sexy kissing.”

“That’s huge. So huge. Are you okay?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’m scared and upset and confused. I don’t feel guilty, but I don’t feel right, either. Thaddeus is great and I like his company but I always feel like I’m not sure about anything. Except he makes me feel safe and when we’re not together I miss him, so it’s complicated.”

“Of course it would be. You’ve only ever been with Stuart and now you’re dating some hunky guy.” She paused. “He is hunky, right? Because you deserve that.”

Unity pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed Ellen a picture. The man looking back at her was lean, with dark hair and eyes, and a penetrating stare. All of which were really interesting, but not as much as the fact that he was gorgeous.

She stared at her friend. “You never said he was that good-looking.”

Unity’s expression turned sheepish. “Yes, well, I didn’t know how to work it into our conversation.”

“I told you Keith and I did it doggy style and you couldn’t cough up the fact that your boyfriend is prettier than Liam Hemsworth?”

“Oh, that’s a really good point. Sorry.” Unity glanced at the table, then back at Ellen. “Do you think it’s possible that because I came to live with you and your folks after my parents were killed in that car accident that I started integrating their rules into my life, the way you integrated them into yours?”

“If you’re trying to distract me from how incredibly good-looking the man in your life is, that’s a really good way to do it.”

Ellen got up and collected the second bottle of wine. They were obviously going to need it.

“Yes,” she said after a few seconds. “I think you have a lot of rules that don’t make sense. Your folks didn’t have rules at all, so obviously they came from mine. Figuring that out is really insightful.”

“I can’t take credit,” Unity admitted. “Dagmar’s the one who thought it up.”

“Do you know what the rules are? It’s not always easy to define them, but if you can name them, you can decide if you want to follow them or not.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking.” Unity seemed to brace herself. “I lied about the challenge.”

“What does that even mean?”

She writhed in her seat. “I was lying when I first brought it up. I hated that we were fighting and I wanted to show I cared, so I pretended I wanted to change, too. That way we were doing it together. Only I didn’t want to change before. I thought my life was fine.”

Ellen carried the open wine bottle to the table and took her seat. “Hardly shocking, my sweet.”

“You knew?”

“No, but I’m not surprised. You like your life.”

“Not so much lately.”

Ellen filled each of their glasses. “Go on.”

“I want to have a baby.”

Ellen put down her wineglass and stared. “Okay, that’s new. As in you want to get married and have a family or you want to have a baby on your own?”

“I think I want to have a baby with Thaddeus.”

Ellen clutched the table to keep from falling out of the chair. “For real?”

“Maybe. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“So you’re in love with him?”

“I don’t know. I like him. I want to be with him. But I don’t think I love him.”

“But you could?”

“I don’t know.”

Ellen was thrilled and stunned, pretty much equally. “I was gone like three weeks and the whole world changes. I’m going to need time to process this.”