Katie shook her head, denying the possibility even as it made her heart race. “We’ve only been together for a couple of weeks.”
“Caleb told me ages ago that Sean had a thing for you. Months and months ago.”
“Oh, that’s cute!” Carly said. “He’s been pining. I love it when guys pine. Especially big, manly ones. It’s so emasculating.”
“He wasn’t pining. He’s just been dealing with some issues. Settling his mom’s affairs. He’s the executor, and … look, this isn’t as romantic as you guys keep trying to make it sound, okay? We’re hooking up. Then he’s leaving. No church bells. Car maintenance.”
Shit. She hadn’t
meant to say that last part. Ellen was going to nail her for it.
Sure enough, Ellen turned to pin her with an eagle-eyed look. “Car maintenance?”
Katie cleared her throat. “Like a tune-up.”
“Or an oil change,” Ellen said.
“Yes.” Katie folded her hands at her waist and looked out the front window. How long did it take to pin a dress, anyway?
“So you’re just basically swapping body fluids with this guy, is that what you’re saying?”
Katie looked to the side. The teenager’s cheeks had gone scarlet. She looked more mortified than Katie felt, which was saying something. “Don’t tell Caleb I said that. Please.”
“Why not, if that’s all it is? There’s nothing wrong with it. Consensual sex is healthy. Especially considering everything that happened with Levi, it’s probably a good thing.”
“Absolutely,” Carly agreed. “No-strings is awesome. You get laid, you get dressed, you go home and watch a movie. God, I remember what that was like. Somebody remind me why I wanted to be a mother, please.”
“Genetic programming,” Ellen said.
“Right.”
“But we’re past all that when it comes to sex,” Ellen said. “A hundred years of feminism, and now it’s the age of the tune-up. That’s great, Katie.”
Katie looked down at the floor, steeped in something more than embarrassment. Something like … disappointment.
She knew the exact size and shape of the palms of his hands. The way his nose wrinkled up on the side when he smiled really big. The way he kissed, the way he moved inside her.
He wasn’t nothing to her, and she hated herself for pretending he was.
What they had together—it was more than sex. She felt grounded around him, soothed and appreciated in a way she wasn’t accustomed to. He was too smart for her, funny and good-looking, so how he managed to make her feel so capable and sexy and complete, she couldn’t begin to fathom. He did, though. Damn it, he did.
“But after he goes back to California, you’ll never see him again, huh?” Carly asked.
“That’s the idea.” Her voice came out scratchy.
“I had one of those once. You know how long it took him to call me after I said goodbye to him forever?”
“No. I don’t—”
“Two days. Then he flew in for the weekend to visit, and we said goodbye all over again. We did that for ages before he finally pulled his head out of his ass and asked me to marry him.”
“Which you should really get around to doing, by the way,” Ellen said with a wry smile.
“Yeah, yeah. What’s the rush? I like stringing him along.”
Katie gazed out at the slushy parking lot. She and Sean had never gotten around to having that conversation about parameters. Neither of them had said a word about long-distance. They didn’t want that.
Did they?