The Friendship List(95)
“Lissa mostly,” he said. “Lissa and Luka. She’s growing up.”
“She’s seventeen. That’s how old I was when I lost my virginity.”
He winced. “Can we not phrase it that way?”
She hid a smile. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen.”
“Wild man.”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “She was sixteen, so older. It was nice.”
“Fast?”
He grinned. “Very.” The smile faded. “I just wanted to protect my daughter.”
“You do. I know you had the condom talk and Luka isn’t the type to take advantage.”
“I know, but it’s difficult. She’s my little girl.” He took a drink of his beer. “She doesn’t want to go away to college. That’s what all the acting out has been about. She wants to stay here and go to community college.”
“Why would that be a problem?”
“She thought I was trying to get rid of her.”
Ellen set down her beer and slid close to Keith. She put her arms around him. “I’m sorry. That must have been hard for you to hear. But you know that’s on her, not on you. You’ve never done anything to make her think that.” She felt a flicker of temper. “It’s her stupid mother.”
His arm came around her. “We shouldn’t talk badly about her.”
“You shouldn’t, but I can call her the bitch she is. She never even phones her own daughter. It makes me so mad. I want to slap her.”
He leaned back against the sofa, pulling her with him. She felt the tension ease in his body.
“Thanks for looking out for us.”
“Always. We’re friends and Lissa’s a great kid who deserves better.” She glanced at him. “It’s actually your fault for picking that woman in the first place. Was it because of her boobs?”
He muttered something under his breath. “It wasn’t her boobs. I fell in love with her.”
“But the boobs helped.” She sat up and smiled. “Speaking of which, I thought maybe we could take a look at mine, among other things.”
She expected him to grin and drag her across him for a kiss, or stand up and push her toward the bedroom. But he did none of those things. In fact, he didn’t smile at all.
“We have to talk.”
She blinked. Talk? “About what?”
“Us.”
She was still unclear. What about them? She shifted back and smoothed down her skirt. Obviously he had something on his mind. Better to let him get it out and then they could get on with the good stuff.
He straightened and angled toward her. “Ellen, we’re home now. Things are going to be different than they were on the trip. We can’t just have random sex whenever we want.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t work that way. We live in a small town. People will start to talk. We have to think about what we’re doing. We also have to think about our friendship.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“This could ruin our friendship, or don’t you care?”
He wasn’t making any sense. “Of course I care. You’re incredibly important to me. May I point out that even though you were mad at me for no good reason, I made your favorite dinner and came over here to make up with you? I haven’t liked us not talking. We always talk.”
“Then you should respect what we have.”
They were talking in circles. “What does that have to do with sex? I like us together like that and you do, too. So why do we have to stop?”
He glared at her. “Because this is real life. We have kids we have to worry about. And the town. We’re both teachers. We can’t be sneaking around, screwing in every empty closet we find.”
“Why would it have to be in a closet? We already hung out all the time. No one talked about that. How would they know it was different now?”
“They would.”
She genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. “Keith, are you saying you don’t want to sleep with me anymore?”
“No, I’m saying we have to consider the consequences. There’s more at stake than just a good time.”
He seemed really mad and she had no idea of the cause. She stood and pulled up her skirt. “I wore a thong. Does that count for anything?” She wiggled her butt as she spoke, hoping to get him to smile.
He stood and took her hands. Excitement flickered in her belly.
“Can I be on top?” she asked. “And maybe we can—”
Only they weren’t headed for the bedroom. He pulled her into the kitchen where he grabbed the casserole and pushed it into her hands, then opened the front door and eased her outside.
“Sex doesn’t solve everything,” he told her flatly before shutting the door in her face.
She stood on his front porch, her mouth hanging open.
What had just happened and why? She knew he was angry, but had no idea of the cause or what he meant by anything he’d said. Worse, she had a bad feeling that somehow her friendship with Keith had been permanently altered and not for the better.
She knocked, but he didn’t answer. After a few minutes, she retreated to her car. Despite the heat, she shivered. Not only did she feel foolish and exposed, she was afraid. She couldn’t say of what, but the knot of tension and worry sat like a rock in her belly and she had a bad feeling it wasn’t going away anytime soon.