Leah pointed to a cutting board and strainer with freshly washed strawberries on the counter. I got to work cutting them up as Leah offered me a glass of wine.
“No thanks, but I’d love an iced coffee.”
Leah glanced at her watch. “This late?”
“It’s going to be a long night. I have phone interviews with two nanny candidates later tonight. If they’re even decently good, I’ll have to beg them to start next Monday.”
“How’d your meeting with Dr. Dixon go?” Leah’s voice was muffled as she dug through a lower cabinet, presumably looking for a pot.
I laughed humorlessly, continuing to slice the stems off the berries, the monotonous task somehow soothing. “The most eventful part of our meeting was when the batteries for his hearing aids died, and I spent the latter half of the interview practically shouting at him. Not that he was a fountain of knowledge before that.”
Snorting, Leah stood up, pot in hand. “Did I tell you that he was Kyle’s doctor as a kid? Kyle said he seemed ancient even back then, bless his heart.”
“I’m not surprised. I don’t think he does much for the district.”
“Do you think you’re going to do it?” Leah asked while filling up the pot with water.
I shrugged. “Probably. And who knows, maybe something good can even come out of it. There were so many barriers when I tried to set up a 504 plan with Max’s school in Chicago.”
Leah was well aware of this as she was my main sounding board during that time. In February, when Max was ready to be discharged from his intensive outpatient program, his school told me that they wouldn’t be able to determine if he was even eligible for services for two months—by which time school would almost be done for the year. And let me be clear, I wasn’t worried about how he would do academically. Max was incredibly smart; his actual schoolwork was not a challenge for him. I worried about how he’d suffer socially with his teachers and his peers who didn’t understand anxiety. Who didn’t ask the questions or take the time to understandMax.
“That reminds me!” Leah eyes were bright as she brought the pot to the stove. “I saw Rose at school today, my friend and special ed coordinator I told you about? When I told her about you, well, if she were a dog, she’d have peed all over the floor.”
I stopped cutting strawberries to look at her, “Is that a saying?”
“It could be. Too much?”
“You’re right at the line.”
“She’d love to talk to you. Can I give you her email? Or phone number?”
I nodded, returning to cutting the berries. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Great! Where’s your phone?”
My hands were full of strawberry juice, so I nodded toward my purse, giving Leah my phone’s passcode so she could enter Rose’s contact info. I was busy chopping when I heard Leah ask, “Hey, Polly? What’s this?”
“What’s what?” I asked, still looking down, when I heard a voice.
“buck and groan and curse and finally, I was over, over, over that glorious edge?—”
My head sprang up to see Leah gaping at my phone in her hands, the audiobook I’d been listening to earlier blaring out loud. Leah shifted to stare at me, one hand going to her mouth.
“Shit!” I cried, dropping the knife, frantically searching for something to wipe my hands on as I rounded the island hastily, but Leah held my phone out of my reach and ran around the islandin the opposite direction.
“Turn that off!” I hissed from across the island.
There was no other word to describe Leah’s expression other than gleeful as the phone continued to play.
“shaking and gasping my release, his fingers still inside of me, his lips over that bundle of nerves, his tongue wicked.”
I practically threw myself across the island, grabbed the phone from Leah—strawberry hands and all—and turned it off. I considered hurling it against the wall for good measure, but settled for pressing it against my chest.
Cheeky delight filled Leah’s face. “What was THAT?!” she whisper-shouted.
“It wasnothing!” I hissed. “You heardnothing!” Mortified, I looked around wildly, then, spotting a roll of paper towels, I grabbed a few and wiped off my hands and phone.
“That was not nothing, that washot! I didn’t know you listened to books like that. How long have you been reading romance?” Leah came around the island to stand next to me.
