Page 100 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“That’s the nickname the girls have given Lexi’s ‘roommate,’” Iris adds for those who don’t know.

“If the shoe fits,” Joy says with a gleam in her eye.

“The shoe definitely fits,” I tell them.

“So wait, did you, like, do it with him?” Derek asks haltingly.

We lose it laughing over his embarrassment.

“Sometimes I hate you people,” he says.

“You do not,” Iris says.

“Yes, I really do.”

When I’ve caught my breath from laughing at the faces he makes, I put him out of his misery. “Not yet, but it feels… imminent.”

“Now, was that so hard to just say?” Derek asks with exasperation that sets us off again.

“You saidhard,” Gage says with a grin.

Derek glares at him. “I expect better from you.”

“I’m doing what I can with him,” Roni says with a smile for Derek. “Work in progress.”

Her beloved gives her a scowl that only adds to the laughter.

“We’ve lost control of this meeting, love,” Gage says.

“When did we ever have control?” Iris responds.

“Good point.”

“Lexi,” Gage says in his stern dad-of-the-family voice, “how do you feel about sex with Tom Terrific being imminent?”

More laughter ensues.

“I feel good about it. He is, in fact, terrific and has been just what I’ve needed over this last year as I put myself back together and started to stick my head back out into the world a bit.”

“I’ve absolutely adored hearing about how he’s taken such beautiful care of you without expecting anything in return except friendship,” Iris says. “I’ve been on Team Tom Terrific from the start.”

“We need T-shirts!” Brielle says.

“Oh my God, yes!” Joy says with a fist pump.

“Oh my God, no!”

They crack up at my emphatic reply.

“Are you happy, Lex?” Naomi asks softly.

“I’m as happy as I’ve been since Jim died, but there’s one thing hanging over everything.”

“What’s that?” Hallie asks.

“Tom’s health. He’s doing well now, but technically, he survived a widow-maker heart attack, and those words strike unreasonable fear in me.”

“I get that,” Hallie says. “The more involved I get with Robin, the more I question my sanity allowing myself to fall for someone with stage-four breast cancer.”

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