Page 41 of So Bad It Must Be Good

“If we talk about Liam’s tool, I’m going to start asking questions about Carter’s . . .” Kayla struggled to come up with a farming-related term. “Cucumber!”

Dinah picked up a spoon, holding the wineglass regally in the other hand. She scooped out a bite of brownie and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Carter’s cucumber is very healthy. In fact, it might be the healthiest cucumber I’ve ever had.”

Kayla burst into a fit of giggles and Dinah joined. This was nice. This was what she missed. Her friend over her coworker. Her cousin over her sharer-of-business-related interests.

“So, Liam’s tool. Don’t think you’ll distract me with talk of my boyfriend’s impressive cucumber.”

“Impressive is a good word for it,” Kayla managed, though she wanted to giggle some more. “Very, very impressive.”

Dinah leaned back against the cushion and sighed dreamily as she sipped her wine. “A good man is hard to find. A good man who is also ‘impressive’ is quite the find. But you said you don’t know what’s going on.”

Kayla frowned at her wine, then leaned over and took a big scoop of brownie. “I don’t know why he lied. To you. About fixing a sink.”

“Well, you know, I think he might have come here to unclog your drain.”

Kayla rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help a smile. “There are too many metaphors going on. If a cucumber ends up in a drain, I think we’re going to have problems.”

Dinah opened her mouth, but then she shook her head and shoved brownie into it instead of saying anything.

Kayla frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What were you going to say?”

Dinah sighed. “I was going to give you advice, and then I reminded myself you don’t need it. You’re a grownup, and I know half the reason you shut me out is because I didn’t always treat you like one.”

“No, it was because Gallagher’s—” But at Dinah’s raised eyebrow, Kayla realized Dinah had a point. She had framed it about needing space from Gallagher’s, and Dinah’s dedication to the family business meant that was her too, but it had been more than just business.

“Kay, I love you—you—not because of Gallagher’s or because I used to boss you around and you’d listen, but because you’re smart and you’re kind and you’ve always known how to make me laugh, or very gently point out when I’ve gone a little off the deep end.” Dinah leaned forward, eyes glistening with tears Kayla knew she wouldn’t shed. “Things have changed for me since Carter. I’m not that same bulldozer. I don’t want to be.”

“Because of Carter?”

Dinah shrugged. “Kind of. I know I used to talk a big game about never letting a man change me or always feeling complete and happy without a boyfriend, and it’s not like I’ve changed my mind on that, but . . . Love, well, it shifts your priorities, I guess. It makes you see things about yourself, good and bad, and I was in a kind of crappy place before Carter, and you know what? I’m not going to be ashamed to admit that meeting and falling in love with a really good guy who cares about me and wants to take care of me changed me a little bit. Fixed some things that were broken. Not all the things, sure, but some. Love is powerful. Even if that sounds lame, I don’t care. I believe it. I lived it. I am living in that power and some days I want to smack that man so hard he sees stars, but I never, ever have regretted standing up to Grandmother and losing out on the director position. Even when he drives me to the brink of insanity, I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Kayla wasn’t quite sure what to do with that impassioned speech. It all made her vaguely uncomfortable. Love and good guys and all sorts of complicated things she wasn’t all that certain she was strong enough for.

Besides, shouldn’t she be happy with herself first? Shouldn’t she know who she was without a shadow of a doubt before she started letting some guy change her? Dinah could say all that stuff because she’d always been strong. Kayla was still learning.

Not that Liam was . . . He was a good guy, and maybe he had taken care of her, but that’s what he did. It had been a few hours over a few nights strung together. Dinah’s speech shouldn’t hit some weird place inside of her.

“Plus,” Dinah continued, her smile going sly, “he’s super-hot and really good at sex. That’ll put anyone in a good mood.”

Kayla managed a chuckle and decided to focus on that. On friendship. On brownies and wine and funny movies. On her best friend, who’d changed, and herself, who had too, and maybe tomorrow she’d know what to do about Liam Patrick.

But if she woke up as confused as ever, Kayla was certain of one thing: She wouldn’t let that stop her.

* * *

Liam didn’t go straight home from Kayla’s. Instead, he’d dropped by his grandmother’s house and she’d force-fed him the casserole she’d made for dinner.

She’d subtly mentioned how infrequent his visits were, and he took care of a few little projects. Changed a lightbulb that had gone out, oiled a squeaky door and the like.

He didn’t even argue when she’d insisted on serving him dessert. He’d simply sat at her cramped dining room table and listened carefully to all her stories of his various cousins and their offspring.

God knew there’d be some kind of test to see if he’d been listening, and when he least expected it to boot.

Still, when he got up to leave, she’d patted his cheek and told him he was a “good boy.” She’d given him that look that told him she had quite a few pieces of advice to bestow upon him but had decided to offer him reprieve tonight.

---