Indulgent Pleasures

“Sounds like fun.” And it did. Maybe she could become closer with her sisters. That they would see Stephanie wasn’t a fumbling idiot, gawky child and actually a capable grown woman.

Maybe.

“You can bring a date to the party if you’d like.” Erin paused, swirling the ice in her glass with her straw. “Roger’s always asking me if you’re seeing someone. He wants to make sure you’re taken care of.”

No, he was probably hoping he could get in her pants when no one else was looking. What a slime. “I’m not really seeing anyone at the moment, remember?”

“Not really? What exactly does that mean?” Andrea arched a dark blond brow.

“It means nothing. You’re making something out of nothing. Seriously, I don’t have a boyfriend right now.”

“You know, you’re not getting any younger. And I thought you wanted to have babies. You used to always play babies and mommy when you were little. You’d better get on it, girl.” Andrea wagged a finger at her.

Okay, here we go. They always went on the “better get a man and have a baby” track with her and it drove her crazy. No wonder she didn’t like hanging out with them. They always ganged up on her.

“Listen, both of you, I know you mean well but you act as if I’m ancient and about ready to be put up on the shelf. I’m only twenty-seven. I have plenty of birthing years left in me.”

Andrea shook her head. “You don’t want to be one of those old moms, do you?”

Andrea was thirty-three. Her oldest was six and an utter terror, the youngest was three and following in the footsteps of his big brother. And Stephanie didn’t think Andrea was done birthing yet.

“Don’t you want at least one more?” Stephanie asked.

“Possibly. Drake said he’d like another.”

“Well then, you’ll be one of those old moms too so stop giving me grief over it.” Stephanie smiled sweetly though she really wanted to yell, “Take that, bitch!”

Of course, she never would. This was her big sister after all.

Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it from her purse, didn’t even bother checking who was on the other end. She’d take any kind of distraction to get away from her sisters’ constant questioning.

Of course, she didn’t expect to hear Justin’s warm, sexy voice in her ear and it gave her a jolt of su

rprise.

“Hey, am I calling at a bad time?” He sounded strained, a little worried and her heart immediately lurched in her chest.

“No, no, it’s fine. Is everything okay?” Stephanie turned away from her sisters’ curious glances, putting her back to them. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay. I hate to do this to you but I’m going to have to cancel tonight.”

“Cancel? Hold on.” She stood, held her hand over the phone and whispered, “Be right back,” to Andrea and Erin.

Stephanie walked out of the restaurant and didn’t stop till she got to the side of the building. “Sorry about that. What’s going on?”

“No, I’m sorry, Stephanie, for canceling on you tonight. I hope you understand.”

Dread filled her, her formerly hungry and still waiting for brunch stomach now churning with nerves.

Here it was, the big moment. She’d feared this since the second they’d hooked up. Justin was going to dump her, she just knew it. She could feel it in her bones.

“Um, it’s all right, I totally understand. I guess I’ll just see you around.” She was about to hang up, actual tears threatening to spill when she heard him yell her name and she brought the phone back to her ear. “What did you say?”

“Listen, it’s not what you think. I’m—shit, this is embarrassing. My knee has been giving me trouble and well, my doc just put me on bed rest.”

“Bed rest? Are you serious? What happened? You were fine when I saw you two days ago.”

“I know.” He sounded grim. “I’ve been overdoing it, skipping out on physical therapy lately. I haven’t even taken any pain medication in a while. All of it took its toll and now my knee is swelled up to twice its size and I can barely walk. It hurts like a son of a bitch.”