Page 100 of Sit, Stay, Love
‘What do you think?’ Linda asked, watching her friend from her position on her bed.
‘I want something fun, but a little dressy. But not too dressy. The fundraiser is smart casual, so I want to make sure I fit with that, but also with the personality of Rose’s Rescue.’ She turned and grimaced at her friend. ‘Does that make sense?’
Linda stared at her, her expression deadpan. ‘I meant about going to Los Angeles with Ethan.’
‘Oh.’ Sera swallowed. Five minutes after she’d arrived at Linda’s home, she’d blurted out that Ethan had asked her to go to Los Angeles and instantly regretted it. ‘Obviously I can’t go.’
‘Why not?’
Sera turned to her friend, a blue spotted sundress in her hands, her eyebrows raised in question.
Linda wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
‘The shelter.’ Sera hung the dress back up. ‘And work.’
‘But if it’s only for a few months, can’t one of your team take care of things at the shelter? You’ll just be a phone call or email away, and your folks will keep an eye on the place. And I’m sure you can squeeze in your writing. It doesn’t matter if you’re up the road or on the other side of the world for that job.’
‘Mm. Maybe,’ Sera murmured, a little irritated by all the sense her friend was making.
‘Have you and Ethan… you know… yet?’ Linda asked with a nod and a wink.
Sera sighed. ‘No. But I think we might have been heading in that direction last night. It was getting pretty hot and steamy on the couch.’
‘The infamous sexy-moment-with-Toby couch?’ She smirked. ‘That couch is getting a lot of action.’
‘Stop it,’ Sera said, unable to contain a smile. ‘But yes.’
Linda wiggled forward. ‘What stopped you?’
Sera held up a white dress with a sprinkle of cherries down the front.
Linda gave her a thumbs-up.
‘Toby rang.’
‘While you were…?’
She nodded.
‘And you answered it?’
She dropped heavily onto the bed beside her friend. ‘I had to. What if it was an emergency?’
Linda narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
‘Don’t look at me like that. I couldn’t just let it ring out when I knew it was him. It felt wrong.’
‘Wrong how?’
‘I don’t know. Guilty, I guess?’
Linda’s eyebrows rose in two perfect arches. ‘Uh-huh.’
‘Please don’t start. I had enough of that from Ethan last night.’
Ethan hadn’t tried to kiss her again after Toby had called. There were no more soft caresses under her t-shirt or warm lips along the edge of her bra. They’d eaten their sushi, watched a terrible movie that Ethan seemed to love, with dog in the title but absolutely no dogs, and then he’d gone home, leaving her with only a peck on the cheek. He’d changed their next session too, moving it a day. As if he needed space. Or she did.
‘I take it your movie star was not impressed.’
