Page 23 of Wolf's Chance

“Not loverboy,” I corrected her. I endured the happy hug anyway because hugs were nice, and Lily’s were the best. “Yes, he bought a painting.”

“He mustreallybe lusting after you,” she declared loudly.

“Lily! Lower your voice!”

“There’s no one here!” Her laughter was infectious, and when I smiled, she hugged me again and hurried over to the space on the wall. “Oooh, he bought the creepy wolf one.” Her smile grew. “Why aren’t you happier? You hated that painting.”

Tucking the bills into a money wallet and ignoring Lily’s eye roll at my old-fashionedness, I shrugged. “I didn’t hate it. The wolf just…it just creeped me out.”

Lily climbed up onto one of the art stools. “You’re adorable.” Stretching her arms over her head, she looked at me fondly. “You drew the wolf and then you were scared of the wolf. It’s too cute.”

“I wasn’t scared, it was creepy. Foreboding.”

“It was cute. And fluffy.”

“It’s not a puppy.” Shaking my head, I sat down too. My legs felt too weary to keep me up. Lily noticed and her playfulness vanished as concern washed over her.

“Hey, you okay? Do you need to go home?”

Yes. “No, I’ll be okay. Just going to take it easy.”

I held in my sigh as she jumped off the stool, coming over and collecting my purse. “You’re closing. I’ll take you home. I have the car today, and you can sleep.”

“I don’t need to sleep.” I really needed to sleep. “I’ll be okay.” Chances are I wouldn’t be.

With her hands on her hips, Lily glared at me. “Not only are you lying to yourself, you’re lying to me.” Wide-eyed, she looked at me like I’d just stabbed her. “Why would you lie to me? Why? Why, Willow?”

“You missed your calling in the theater.” My dry tone earned me a grin, and I was too tired to protest anymore. “Fine, have it your way. You can take me home.”

She stuck her tongue out at me triumphantly. Could a tongue be triumphant? Groaning, I searched for my keys. I definitely needed home; I was jabbering about triumphant tongues.

A slim arm wrapped around my waist. “Hey, girl, you lookclose to passing out. Come on.” Gently, she held me up, propping me against the doorway as she locked up. “You’re swaying.”

I think I nodded. I could feel how unsteady I was. It was all Caleb’s fault. Each time I was with him, he drained me even more.

“You want Caleb?”

I jolted in surprise. What? No! “Nuh-uh…no.”

“Phew, I would have for sure known there was a story there that you were keeping from me.”

I was halfway to comatose, and she was worried she’d missed out on gossip. If my eyes would open and my mouth weren’t so dry, I would tell her she was an idiot if she thought there was ever going to be astoryto tell that involved me and Caleb.

With the shop locked up and a sign up saying “back tomorrow,” we got into Lily’s car. I loved my best friend. She was kind, funny, charming, all the things. Beautiful. Her skin was flawless, a dermatologist’s wet dream, I was sure. Yet, for all her brilliance, she was, quite possibly, the worst driver on the planet.

“Now remember to buckle up,” she told me with false cheerfulness. When my arms didn’t cooperate, Lily leaned over and strapped me in. “When you’re feeling better, I am going to scold you so bad for neglecting yourself like this.”

I might have nodded in agreement, or I might have just let my head drop, as it was getting heavier to hold up.

I must have been asleep when we got to my house, because being practically dragged from a car was enough to wake anyone.

“Lily, I got it.” Struggling to my feet, I swayed until I felt her steady me. I tried to open my eyes to focus, but it was a battle I wasn’t winning. “The neighbors are gonna think I’m stoned or something.”

“Your neighbors are probably stoned, and also, fuck them.”

“Lil! Shh, they’ll hear you!”

“Who cares?” The front door took a long time to get to, or so it seemed until I heard a cry of protest as I was placed against the wall. “Why’s your spare key been moved?”

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