All It Takes (Romancing Manhattan 2)

“I’m so sorry, Quinn.” Sienna links her fingers through mine, and I immediately feel calmer. “Watching those we love age is hard. My dad had a heart attack two years ago, and I was a mess with worry.”

“It’s tough,” I agree. “And it seems to be snowballing with her. A year ago, she was fit as a fiddle, and now her blood pressure is through the roof, her joints ache, and she can’t remember who anyone is.”

“There has to be an explanation,” she says reasonably. “I hope the doctor has some answers for you.”

“Me too. Now that we’ve lost most of the afternoon, and we made headway with finding that receipt today, let’s play hooky. I’ll take you out to dinner.”

“We could get dinner to go and eat while we work,” she suggests.

“No.” I kiss the back of her hand. “No, I want to be with you this evening, just the two of us, without work or family obligations.”

She takes a minute to answer, but finally says, “So, as fun as that sounds, I can’t. I’m sorry, I have plans with Louise tonight.”

I frown, disappointment hot and swift in my belly.

“Plans can be changed.”

She looks over at me, then shakes her head.

“Sorry. I’ve had these plans with her for a couple of weeks. We’re having dinner at my place, and drinking wine.”

And I’ve just found a new level of respect for Sienna. She’s not the kind of girl to drop everything in her life for a man.

I may not like the idea of not spending time with her tonight, but I respect her immensely.

“But I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says with a smile.

“Tomorrow it is.”

Chapter Nine

~Sienna~

“You’re late,” I call out when I hear the front door open and close. My back is to Lou while I get the pizza ready for the oven.

“Girl, I got here as fast as I could.”

I pause at the voice, then spin and run into strong, outstretched arms. Rich rocks me back and forth, then plants a kiss square on my cheek.

“Oh my God, Lou didn’t say you were in town.”

“It’s a surprise,” Lou says with a happy smile. She sets two bottles of wine on the island, then opens the oven to get a look at the pizza. “I hope you have more food than this.”

“Of course I do.” I pass the corkscrew and wine to Rich. “Will you do the honors?”

“Happily.”

Rich and Louise have been best friends since they were kids. He came out to Lou first when they were fourteen, and he’s been there for her through failed relationships, job changes, you name it.

They’re as tight as it gets.

And because of that, Rich was at our house all the time while we were growing up.

“How’s Boston?” I ask him and pull out the fixings for another pizza.

“I like it,” he says with a nod. His dark hair is long enough to fall in his eyes as he opens the second bottle of wine. “My job is excellent.”

“Have you met anyone interesting?”

He smiles slyly. “Honey, I always meet interesting people.”

“Interesting enough to see them naked?” Lou asks with a wink.

“Not many of those,” Rich replies with a sigh. “LouLou and I always have bad luck when it comes to men.”

“You can say that again,” Lou says, raising her glass in a toast.

“You just waste your time on the wrong people,” I reply as I check the first pizza, then sip my glass of red. “Seriously, if he asks for your credit card number on the second date, it’s time to move on.”

“Easy for you to say, Counselor,” Rich says.

“Just because I’m a lawyer doesn’t mean it’s easy to meet men. In fact, I date less than anyone else I know.”

“Well, until recently.” Louise smiles innocently as Rich’s jaw drops and he covers his heart with a hand.

“You’re holding out on me. Now, let’s sit and you can tell me everything. Starting with, is he hot naked?”

I look at Lou, who just raises a brow and sips more wine.

“You don’t know that I’ve seen him naked.”

They look at each other and say in unison, “She’s seen him naked.”

“We are not talking about me,” I remind them and pull the first pizza out of the oven, then slip the other one inside. I keep my eyes on the cheesy goodness as I run the cutter over it. “We’re talking about you.”

“Not anymore,” Louise says. “Our love lives are boring. Catch Rich up. Unless you want me to.”

“You do it,” Rich says. “She leaves out the good parts.”

I roll my eyes and pull down plates.

“So this hot lawyer showed up at our grandfather’s will reading.” Lou continues with the story, up to last night when we went to the show.

She doesn’t know anything past that because I haven’t had a chance to see her.

“So, let me get this straight. He’s a hot, rich attorney, and his brother’s girlfriend is London Watson.”