“Bye, Nina.”

She groaned. “Men are the worst. Why do you all refuse to admit you have feelings?”

“Say hi to Chris for me,” I called, heading back toward the front of the salon.

Catching Meg’s eye in the mirror one last time, I winked at her, waved again at the receptionist and went out the door. Up the street, I grabbed a sandwich and cup of coffee at the deli, and while I ate, I couldn’t get the thought of Meg hiding behind that stupid magazine out of my head. Or the thought of her cuffed and bent over my kitchen counter while I spanked her. Or the thought of her bursting into my bathroom and seeing me naked. Or the thought of how nice it had been the past two nights to have her close to me as I fell asleep.

So nice that I was already missing her tonight.

It started to bother me a little. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d slept alone every night for the past three years and now two nights with Meg had me so messed up I couldn’t even get through a day without seeing her? It was fucking ridiculous. I didn’t need someone in my bed every night.

Determined to put her from my head, I finished up lunch, threw out my trash, and headed back to the car. I was nearly there when I heard the dispatcher call my number on the radio.

Thank God. Work would distract me.

Eighteen

Meg

My sisters went nuts the moment Noah walked out, jumping out of their chairs and surrounding me, all talking at once.

“Oh my God!”

“I can’t believe he came in here!”

“He’s so cute in that uniform!”

“Seriously, those arms!”

“How about that heat he was packing, if you know what I mean?”

“Did you see the way he looked at her?”

“I know! And with all that foil on her head! She looks ridiculous, and he still couldn’t take his eyes off her!”

“For real, he is totally in love.”

“Okay, enough,” I said, moving the dryer off my head. “It’s not that big a deal. He was in the neighborhood and came to say hi.”

Nina broke through the Sawyer sister offensive line. “Which he has never done before,” she said with a grin. “Just so you know.”

My face flushed with heat. “Okay, fine, he might have come here to see me. But he’s not in love with me. We’re just friends.” I had to keep saying it if I was going to keep believing it.

The gaggle of women around me honked and snorted like barnyard animals. There was plenty of eye rolling too . . . Clearly, they did not believe it, which only made me more determined to dig my heels in.

“I have male friends,” April said wryly. “That is not what it looks like.”

“I think it’s so sweet,” gushed Frannie. “You’ve been friends for so long, and now you’re falling in love.” She bounced around so the foils on her head flopped. “It’s so Beauty and the Beast!” She broke into song, giddily and off key. “There may be something there that wasn’t there before!”

“Oh, Lord. You guys, we are not a fairy tale,” I insisted, squirming a little in my chair. “We are not a song, and we are not falling in love. We’re just two people who feel really comfortable around each other having a good time. It’s more like a vacation fling than anything else. The only thing it has in common with a fairy tale is that it’s not real.”

“I don’t know, Meg.” Sylvia gave me a rueful smile. “It looked pretty real to me.”

“Why wouldn’t it be real?” Chloe asked. “You just said you feel comfortable together. That’s real.”

“Okay, yes, our feelings are real.” I was starting to get hot under my clothes. Why did I feel so confused all of a sudden? “We do genuinely care about each other. But neither of us wants to mess with our friendship, so we have agreed that this is temporary fun while I’m in town and nothing more. The end.”

“I don’t like that ending.” Frannie pouted.

“Well, sorry, but that’s what it is. And we’re supposed to be celebrating you today anyway. Can’t we talk about the wedding or something?”

Her face lit up again. “Yes. So I was going to wear my hair down, but now I’m thinking I might like it like this . . .” Frannie rhapsodized dreamily about her wedding day hairstyle, after which everyone drifted back to their chairs or the sinks to be rinsed, leaving me alone with Nina.

She checked under one foil. “Almost done. A couple more minutes.”

“Okay.”

She set the dryer back in place and moved over to the chair next to her station, which was currently empty. “You look a little stressed out.”

“Yeah, well. Sisters love to torment each other, and mine are good at it.”

“We love to torment our brothers too.” Nina grinned mischievously. “I gave Noah plenty of shit back there too, don’t worry.”

I groaned. “You’re all merciless.”

“I know, but it’s fun. Listen, he’s been calling me Shamu for months.”

“I told him to stop doing that. You do not look like a whale.”

She shrugged. “Eh, it’s fine. He’s my brother, and that’s what he does. We still love each other. He’s a good guy.”

“He is.”

“You know, this is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time.”

“Really?” I sat up a little taller. I liked thinking that I made him happy.

“Yes. I don’t know how much he told you about his ex . . .”

“Holly?” I tried—and failed—to say her name without disdain.

Nina nodded. “I think it really messed him up the way it ended with her. She really got to him. Made him feel bad for wanting to take care of his family.”

“That’s what he said.” I shook my head. “I don’t get how anyone could treat him that way. It’s so selfish.”

“It was. And it all fell apart at the worst possible time for him—we’d just buried my dad, and Noah took that loss so hard. So I think he associates being in a relationship with pain and failure. He thinks being alone is easier.”

“Yeah, he mentioned he’s not interested in marriage or kids or anything.” I fussed with one corner of the magazine cover. “Says he’s got enough people to take care of already.”

Nina sighed heavily. “We’ve had that conversation before too. And it stinks, because he’s so good with kids. He’d be such a great dad.”

“Yeah.” I could see it—Noah lifting a little girl onto his shoulders, pushing a little boy on a swing. It was a sweet and happy image . . . so why did it put a big empty pit in my stomach?

“He’d be a great husband too,” Nina went on. “I mean Holly was clearly not the one, but we’re all holding out hope that the right person is out there. It would have to be someone special. Someone compassionate and understanding for sure. My mother always said being married to a cop was its own kind of job.”

“Noah mentioned that as another reason he’s determined to stay single.”

“Did he?” Nina’s forehead wrinkled. “You know, it was tough for my mom sometimes, but she’d tell you herself it was worth it. I mean, yes, they used to fight—they both had those stubborn Irish temperaments, but there were more good times than bad. And everybody needs a little love at the end of a hard day.”