Page 40 of The Reluctant Roommate

“Technically, you brought me. This one was your idea.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” She rubbed Morgan’s arm and rested her head on Morgan’s shoulder for a second. “I have good ideas sometimes.”

Her soft hair tickled Morgan’s chin, the red streak prominent when Morgan looked down. The clean smell of Heidi’s shampoo filled her nose.

It was the warm hug that was a bit more: Heidi’s hand running up and down her forearm sent trickles of heat down her spine. Heidi’s head on her shoulder made her think of her best friend in college—now married and living in Wisconsin—her closest friend. When had she lost contact with Rumi?

The shuffleboard players ended their game and started the tiebreaker. She and Heidi would be playing soon. But right now, with Heidi’s head on her shoulder, a bar where she would never meet her ex-colleagues, and some more-than-half-decent wine, she didn’t care. This was the moment, and the moment was good.

Heidi raised her head, and Morgan missed the warm weight of it.

Heidi sighed, long and deep, and reached for her beer.

“What were you thinking that made you sigh like that?”

“Serena. Wondering how long before Brandon finds her. I so hope she’s somewhere gorgeous. Maybe Portland. I’ve never been there. Actually, I’ve been very few places over here, and the ones I have been to—San Diego, Denver—have been determined by someone else.”

“Are those the only places you’ve been?”

“Do airports count?” She sighed again. “Didn’t think so. I guess you’ve been everywhere?”

“Not really. I’ve only lived in New Jersey and Colorado. Holidays in Vermont as a kid. Mexico in college. I’ve had a couple of short trips to Europe. Skiing, of course—”

“Of course.” Was that sarcasm in Heidi’s voice? “I bet you’re a black run skier. Me, I can just about bumble down an Aussie bunny run, which is nothing compared to what you have here.”

“Blue runs, mainly. I like to cruise, not be terrified.”

Heidi nudged her shoulder. “Your green runs would terrify me.”

Somehow, that seemed surprising. Heidi seemed to grab life as it happened—hadn’t she just packed up and flown to the States without much thought? Although she did get a green card—that took a lot of planning. She nudged back. “Somehow, I doubt that. I bet you snowboard, not ski, and that you just launch off into space and assume you’ll figure it out as you go.”

Heidi blinked. “I’d like to learn to snowboard, but I think you just figured me out. I’ve always been told I’m too impulsive, like it’s a bad thing.”

Was it? Somehow she didn’t think so, at least not for Heidi. For Morgan, however, well, that was different. She was the steady one. The one with responsibilities: career, home, mortgage…Aunt Linda. She swallowed. She’d pushed the reality of Linda’s situation to the back of her mind, but it couldn’t stay there. She had to bring it forward, think it through, juggle her budget again, and then persuade Linda to accept her money. For her kids’ sake, yes, but mainly for her.

“Hey, girls, you’re up.” One of the shuffleboard players came over. “You want to play with each other as a team or mix it up?”

Morgan glanced at them.Uh, no.“With each other.”

“I’m Conor, and this is Logan,” the taller and broader of the two said.

They introduced themselves, and Logan gestured. “Ladies first.”

Morgan took one of the blue pucks and aimed up the middle. She overestimated, and it skidded off the end into the gutter.

Conor’s first shot balanced on the left-hand edge of the two-point section.

Heidi stepped up. “Like this?” she asked Morgan.

“Don’t grip so hard,” Morgan said.

At the same time, Conor said, “Hold it tighter, then release.”

Heidi arched a brow, and nodded at Morgan, making a show of loosening her grip. Her puck skidded along the wood to stop just into the one-point section.

“Good call,” she said to Morgan. “Thanks.”

Conor huffed a breath but turned to watch Logan. He took a minute to line up, and his shot glanced off Heidi’s puck, knocking hers into the gutter before Logan’s puck came to a stop on the three-point line.