“Ew.”
“I see your ew, and raise you a blech.”
Bailey led the way to the staff room, turning off lights as she went.“Do you think we should get her drunk and try to worm it out of her?”
“That’ll just make her mad.You know Gwen.She has to chew all the flavor out of a problem, then stick it in her hat.”
Bailey stopped at the locker where she kept her purse with a sigh.“And she’ll talk when she’s ready, and not a moment before.”
“Pretty much,” Chloe agreed.“Crap, I left my purse at your station.Be right back.”
She hurried out, and Bailey pulled her purse out of her locker.She was waiting at the back door when Chloe walked back in, her phone in her hand and a frown on her face.
Bailey pushed open the door.“Problem?”
“Hmm?Oh, nothing.Just my mom.She wants me to come over for dinner Sunday.Well, us.”
“You and the dynamic duo?”Bailey guessed, leaning against the door to hold it open while she dug her sunglasses out of her purse.
“Yeah.”Chloe stepped into the parking lot with a grimace.“She’s trying to ‘get to know them’.”
Shoving the sunglasses up her nose, Bailey let the door bang shut.“That sounds like fun, said no one ever.”
“No, but my dad’s decided he likes them, so it’s not complete torture.And Roman will be there for once.”
Bailey locked the door.“For once?”
“He usually works weekends, but he switched shifts with someone, so I’m playing the little sister card.His job is to distract Mom when she starts asking embarrassing questions.”
Bailey snorted.“How’s he supposed to do that?”
“He said he’s going to tell her he’s dating a forty-seven-year-old zookeeper whose specialty is elephant artificial insemination.”
Bailey laughed so hard she had to lean against the building for support.“Oh my God, I love your brother.”
“Me, too.”
Bailey wiped her streaming eyes, then leaned in for a hug.“Call me after dinner, I want to hear all about it.”
Chloe laughed and returned the hug.“I’ll take notes.”
Bailey pulled back.“Notes, hell.Take video.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Chloe agreed and with a wave, started across the parking lot to her car.“Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Bailey said and with a relieved sigh, unlocked her car and slid inside.She wasn’t pleased that Gwen was still having problems, but at least it had distracted Chloe from her concerns about Nash.
Her reaction wasn’t unexpected—she’d been the friend Bailey had leaned on the most after the breakup, so she’d seen first-hand the devastation it had wrought.But the strength of those worries seemed out of proportion, and the weight of them was making Bailey uncomfortable.
Giving Chloe the deeper details of her fantasy had helped a little, she mused as she started the car and pulled out of the lot.If nothing else, those details had made it clear why it was so important to have someone she knew and trusted in charge of things.Hopefully it would put the bulk of Chloe’s concerns to rest, at least enough that she’d stop trying to get Bailey to change her mind.
Most of the after-work traffic had already dissipated, making the drive home short.Nash’s car was parked in the double driveway, so she pulled in beside it and gathered her things.Purse over her shoulder and keys in hand, she got out of the car and was climbing the front steps before she noticed Nash sitting on the porch swing.
“Jesus.”She stuttered to a stop, her heart in her throat.“You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.”He nudged the floorboards with a bare foot, sending the swing into a lazy sway.“I thought you saw me.”
She forced herself to take the last step up onto the porch.“What are you doing out here?”