Page 70 of Windlass

No part of Angie felt warmed, not even a tiny, weeny, little bit, by Stevie’s willingness to throw herself recklessly in front of Angie like a jealous guard dog. No part of her was counting it as evidence against inevitable loss.

Nope. None.

She pulled out her phone, ignoring a series of texts from Lana, and texted Stevie.

AR: btw we’re watchingFight Clubfor your moral education.

SW: Yessss

AR: And I’m holding out on you tonight

SW: Noooooo

AR:

Several days later, Angie stretched, sore in ways she hadn’t been in quite some time, and luxuriated in the feeling. Stormy slid a mug of coffee in front of her and sat down at the small table in the corner of her shop where Angie, Stormy, and Lilian met occasionally to gossip, usually about the rest of their friends.

“She’s been acting weird recently,” Lilian was saying when Angie tuned back into the conversation. She’d been replaying the morning in her mind. The shower with Stevie’s expression of slack-jawed, bewildered delight as she soaped Angie’s breasts had been thoroughly gratifying. She had missed the last few exchanges.

“Ivy?” she asked, for clarification.

“Yeah.” Lilian sipped from her cup, which contained something green-smelling. Her scrubs were covered in fine white hairs, and she wore the slightly harried look Angie had come to associate with difficult clients. When Lilian had come home looking like that, back when they’d lived together, often she and Angie would sit together in silence, taking comfort in the presence of a person who wouldnotinduce stress.

“How?”

“I’m not sure really.” Lilian frowned down at her mug. “It’s small things.”

“Are you worried?”

“Holden is obsessed with you,” Stormy said. “Maybe she’s going to propose.”

“Don’t say that,” said Lilian, coloring.

“Why? Would you say no?” Stormy dropped her teasing tone and considered Lilian seriously. Angie did the same. Her friend’s cheeks had flamed, but there was something in the way Lilian dropped her eyes and the very, very slight curve of her lips that suggested she wasn’t entirely displeased with the thought.

“How are things withyou?” Lilian shot back.

“As you see me.” Stormy opened her arms in an expansive gesture. “Angie? What’s shaking in your neck of the woods?”

“Fine. Usual. You know.” Was she blushing? Her cheeks felt warm.

“I’m not sure we do.” Stormy leaned her elbows on the table. Even the tiny potted succulent in the center seemed to wait expectantly.

Angie, however, was used to keeping secrets. “I’m boring. I want to hear more about Ivy.”

“Mostly it’s this weekend she’s planning,” said Lilian.

“Is she over-planning?” Angie guessed. “She strikes me as an over-planner.”

“You have no idea.” Lilian smiled. “It will be fun, though. We haven’t all had the chance to hang out together in a long time.”

“And we get to befancy,” said Angie. “Wear something that absolutely murders her.”

“We’ll see.”

“No,we’llsee,” said Stormy, casting Angie a conspiratorial look. “Send pictures. We’ll tell you which to choose.”

“And can I borrow a dress?” asked Angie.

---