Page 13 of Rim Shot Rebound

“It’s fine,” Kelsey assured her. She’d done more than her fair share of research after her miscarriage, wondering if she’d done something wrong. As much as she loved this guy, she wouldn’t put herself at risk again if it was a concern. “He just has to stay in his cage now, and I wear disposable gloves to clean it and wash my hands a bunch. I was already careful about that anyway. No one likes salmonella.”

Later, she might have to figure out how to keep things safe with a toddler running around, but that was a potential problem for Future Kelsey. She had enough current problems on her plate for now.

“Salmonella?” Natalie shrieked.

“It’s fine.” Kelsey handed Natalie a video controller. “Are we doing this or what?”

Natalie gave her a concerned look, but took the controller. They chose their players and weapons, then jumped right in, furiously taking out their day’s frustrations on the controller buttons and the imaginary creatures on the screen.

“So, no Shane either tonight?” Kelsey asked during the break between levels.

“Does he look attached to my hip?”

Kelsey leaned back on the couch to examine Natalie from behind. “Nope. You’re right.”

“Pfft,” Natalie said. “You know me better than that.”

“I also know how much you like Shane. Despite all your protesting.”

“Yeah, I do. We hung out yesterday. We’re good. I promise. Taking things slow.” She frowned. “Still feels too fast for me some days, but he’s fine when I take a step back. Which pisses me off.”

“Why would that piss you off?”

“Because it makes me not want to take things slow.”

Kelsey laughed. “Fair enough.”

The game started up again. Once Kelsey was unfairly distracted, Natalie asked, “So how was Friday night?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine?” Natalie hit pause on the game, then flicked a balled-up piece of paper across the center couch cushion. “Oh yeah. Totally looks fine.”

“It’s fine.”

“We’ve discussed how much you suck at lying,” Natalie said. “Seriously, it’s not your thing.”

Kelsey batted the ball of crappy, discarded lyrics back toward Natalie. “Clearly I don’t know what my thing is anymore. I’m gonna call Robin and tell her I can’t do this.”

“You’ll get it. I know you will. But that’s not what I meant when I asked about Friday night.”

“I know what you meant,” said Kelsey. “That was fine, too.”

“Lies.”

“Yeah.”

Natalie turned to face Kelsey on the couch. “Did you tell him?”

“No.” Kelsey recoiled and shook her head adamantly. “Not yet. I told you why.”

“Yeah, I know. Just checking.” She studied Kelsey’s face. “So it was just awkward then? Oh God, did he talk about what’s-her-face?”

“No.” Kelsey held up a finger. “Wait, yes.”

“Ugh.”

“No, not like that,” Kelsey said. “They broke up.”

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