“How cool is that?” Ellis asked, reading her thoughts. “I mean, now wehaveto buy some wine.”
Cherry nodded. “So, I’m not ready to go yet. Want to order a couple glasses?”
“If it means more time to sit here with you? Absolutely.”
Their gazes held and that was another thing new to Cherry—perfectly comfortable eye contact. Looking into Ellis’s eyes felt normal. Natural. Perfect.
“I’ll get this,” Ellis said after a long moment. “What do you want?”
As soon as she headed to the bar, Cherry rearranged dishware, glasses, any cookies that were left, and took a few more shots. She’d have a good bank of photos to choose from for posting tomorrow.
She watched the bar, watched Ellis chatting with the man standing next to her who was also ordering glasses of wine. She had such an easy sort of grace, an aura of sorts around her that just drew people in, as evidenced by the woman on the other side of her who joined in the conversation until the three of them were laughing and talking like oldfriends. That’s who Ellis was, Cherry was beginning to realize. The one people gravitated to. The one everybody wanted to be friends with. And she, Cherry, was the one who was lucky enough to take her home.
Yeah. Falling for Ellis was a distinct possibility.
In fact, it was already happening.
Chapter Fifteen
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy, Mikey.”
Ellis sat in her usual chair next to Michaela’s bed, the latest Harlan Coben novel open on the Kindle.
“It feels good, let me tell you.” She closed the Kindle’s cover and sat forward on the edge of the chair, suddenly itching to talk to her sister. Even if she didn’t comment back. “She’s just…” She inhaled a big breath and let it out. Lifted her arms out to her sides and let them drop. “She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Smart and beautiful and kind and sexy. God, Mikey, it feels almost too good to be true.” She paused and thought about what Michaela would say to her if she was actually participating in this conversation. What the next step would be. “You wanna meet her?” It had been more than a month now, and the reality was, if Michaela was her regular self instead of a shell of herself stuck in a hospital bed for the rest of her life, she’d have demanded to meet Cherry sooner than now. Probably after the second or third date. She’d be dying to size her up, give Ellis her opinion, decide if Cherry was good enough for her big sister. And Ellis would want that. She’d want Michaela’s thoughts. Nobody knew her like her sister did. She’d see things Ellis didn’t.
And now? That was never going to happen. Michaela was never going to offer up her opinion ever again. And if Ellis dwelled on that too long, it would break her heart all over again.
She stared at her sister. At the still-beautiful face. The eyes the same color blue as hers. She was pretty good at living in the moment, at not dwelling on the past or trying to predict the future. But every now and then, reality would hit her. Square in the face, like a punch.
Her parents were gone. Her sister might as well be gone. And Ellis was alone in the world. The lump of emotion sat like a rock in her throat, and she swallowed it down with effort just as her phone pinged.
Missed ur face 2day. Hiiiiiiii.
And she smiled.
Okay, maybe not so alone after all.
She typed back.Missed u2. Good day?
They went back and forth, texting about their days, how busy, stories about coworkers, regular, everyday things, and Ellis was once again surprised by how nice it was to talk about ordinary, mundane things with somebody. She never realized how long it had been since she’d had somebody who was simply interested in her day. How weird was that?
Am I going to c u this weekend?she typed after they’d exhausted talk about their days.
The gray dots bounced. Then they disappeared and a couple minutes ticked by. Then they bounced some more and finally Cherry’s words came.
Can’t Saturday. Work stuff. Sunday?
Well. That was disappointing. But if it was work, what could she do, right? Not Cherry’s fault.
Definitely, she typed.Brunch again?Then she added two champagne glasses.
Perfect. Can’t wait to c u!And five smileys surrounded by hearts.
When was the last time she’d had somebody who couldn’t wait to see her? Or maybe the more accurate question was, when had she allowed herself to feel that? To feel how much somebody else wanted to be with her? The answer to that was a long, long time. If ever. And then her mind went back to its earlier train of thought. Yeah. Maybe not so alone after all.
* * *
Cherry was having trouble focusing on Saturday morning. She hadn’t exactly lied to Ellis about working—this was work. Just not the kind of work Ellis probably thought when Cherry had told her she was working that day. So…a fib. Yeah. A fib was better than a lie, right? Smaller? Less deceptive? Wasn’t it?
