“You do that.”
He sounded grumpy, and that wasn’t the way she wanted to end the evening. But she wasn’t going to make rash promises just to appease him, either. He might as well accept that now.
She reached again for the door. “I really do have to go now.”
He met her at the back of the truck and walked her to her car. He waited until she’d unlocked her door, then slipped a hand behind her head and gave her a long, thorough kiss that left her clinging to the car for balance when her knees threatened to buckle.
“Think about that, too,” he advised her, stepping away.
Swallowing hard, she slid into her driver’s seat. Evan closed the door for her, then walked away without waiting for her to start the engine.
Looking after him, she felt a mixture of frustration and fear. Evan Daugherty had always aroused strong emotions in her, and that wasn’t changing as they spent more time together. In fact, it was growing worse.
She was going to have to make some hard decisions where Evan was concerned—soon. She wanted to believe that there was no question what choice she would make if it came down to Lucy or Evan.
But the thought of watching Evan walk out of her life was almost more than she could bear.
Which left her...where?
* * *
Trying to catch up on some paperwork that had accumulated during an especially hectic day, Renae stayed a little late at work on Thursday. She called to let Lucy know she’d be delayed and not to hold dinner for her. She would make it up to the kids this weekend, she vowed. She’d promised to take them to see Santa at the mall Saturday morning, and while she wasn’t looking forward to the crowds, she knew the kids would enjoy the holiday bustle.
Cathy, too, stayed after hours, claiming she had some extra work of her own to complete. Renae suspected her coworker simply didn’t want to leave Renae working late alone, though Cathy refused to admit that was her motivation.
They sat side by side at computers, Renae answering correspondence and dealing with insurance claims while Cathy entered billing information and cleaned up the appointments calendar for the next week. For a few minutes after their last coworker walked out, the only sound in the clinic was the clatter of dueling keyboards.
Cathy was the first to speak. “So, how have your scholarship meetings been going, Renae? Getting a lot done on it?”
“Yes, we’re ready to accept applications. We’ll name the recipients in April.”
“It feels really good to be involved with such a worthy cause, doesn’t it?”
Cathy was active in several local charitable organizations herself, so she spoke from experience. Renae nodded. “Yes, it does.”
“Not to mention working on the cause with such a good-looking man. You are still working with Mr. Hottie, aren’t you?”
Renae slanted her a look. “Don’t start.”
Her expression sobering, Cathy turned in her swivel chair to study Renae more closely. “You know I consider you a friend as well as a coworker, right? I mean, you were there for me when Joe and I broke up in July, and I really appreciated that.”
Renae looked away from her monitor. “Of course we’re friends. Is there something you need to talk about?”
“Not me. You. I just want you to know you can talk to me if you need to.”
Her fingers tripped on the keyboard, bringing up a string of nonsense on the screen.
“I’m fine, Cathy, but thank you for the offer.”
Pushing a strand of frizzy red hair out of her face, Cathy gave her a chiding look. “Like I said, we’re friends. I can tell when you’re troubled. I mean, you’ve been sort of teetering between giddy and perturbed the past few weeks, which, in my vast thirty-nine years of experience, is usually a sign of a problematic new relationship.”
“I haven’t been giddy,” Renae refuted immediately, uncomfortable with the word.
“Okay, maybe not giddy,” Cathy conceded, “but definitely distracted, and in a good way.”
Renae sighed. “It’s—”
“—complicated,” Cathy finished with her. “Honey, it always is.”