Page 42 of Pierced Pages
Danielle made her see that. Someone like Danielle could be worth it.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Morgan said. “She doesn’t want a relationship either.”
“I hope she has a better reason than you do.”
“She has a kid. From what I understand, that’s kind of a full-time job on top of teaching. She doesn’t have time for anything else.”
“Yet she’s making time to come to my wedding.”
“That’s a onetime thing.”
“Felicia! It’s your turn, babe!”
Felicia took a sip of beer, then put down the mug and stood. “Duty calls.”
Morgan stood along with her. “I think I’m going to head out. I don’t want to end up with a headache from the noise in here.”
“Aww.” Felicia pouted and rounded the table to throw her arms around Morgan and squeeze. “We need to hang out more often.”
Morgan was pretty sure that was the beer talking. And she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that prospect, despite their last few conversations going much better than they had in years. Marriage was having an effect on her sister. Or maybe Morgan was changing. Or maybe they were both growing past their differences.
Whatever it was, Morgan was glad things were finally going better between them. At least for now.
Chapter 18
Danielle
“Do you have your pads? Cleats?”
Danielle was on the hunt for her own stuff in the living room. She knew she’d left her tote bag in there somewhere after work the day before.
She finally found it on the floor beneath an end table.
“Mom, it’s not a game,” Lila called back from down the hallway. “It’s just me and Rylee. I don’t need all that stuff.”
It was one of those rare weekends when there wasn’t a soccer game or tournament, so Rylee and Lila had arranged to practice that Saturday at a little park near Rylee’s house. Rylee’s mom had offered to take the girls herself so Danielle could go to her first book club meeting in the afternoon.
It felt a little strange dropping Lila off while she went off to do something fun for herself and not just to fulfill an obligation with her limited free time. But she was leaning into the discomfort and doing the thing. Lila was certainly happy with the arrangement.
She opened her tote bag and put in a notebook in case she wanted to keep one for book notes. Then she put in a small stack of research papers she needed to get a jump on grading. It wassuch a nice day, she figured she could go to the other big park across town near their meeting place to get a little work done outside in the fresh air.
Fresh air would be good. She could clear her head. Maybe she could finally stop thinking about that kiss last weekend.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She shouldn’tstillbe thinking about it. Especially not when she’d been the one to break it off.
Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about Morgan’s mouth against her own. How the cold metal of her lip piercing contrasted the warmth of her mouth.
She should definitely stop thinking about all of it. She’d ended the kiss for good reason, and that reason hadn’t changed.
Part of the problem was that neither of them had mentioned it since then. Heck, they hadn’t even texted all week, except for Danielle sending another quick thank-you message on Monday. Since then, it had been nothing but silence between them.
As if the phone were a sentient thing that could read her thoughts, it dinged with a message from the kitchen counter near the spot where she kept her keys.
It was a text from Morgan.
Danielle’s stomach fluttered at the sight of her name, and her hands trembled slightly as she opened the app to read the message.
Do you have a sec? Quick call?
