revealed more of her plan to Debbie was because her sister had caught her booking a flight to New York after she’d said the retreat was in California.
“If I get in trouble here I don’t want to drag anyone else into my problems.”
“Don’t you mean Kylie’s problems?”
“Come on, Deb.” She sighed. “Kylie is like our sister. I have to find out what happened to her. Anyway, my reputation is already ruined at home... What do I have to lose by trying to do something good for a friend?”
“Your reputation is not ruined. A few uptight old biddies think you’re a bit wild, so what?”
“They called me a sexual deviant.” Her humiliation still burned as brightly as a newly lit flame. “And a blight on their community.”
“It’s not true. You’ve helped out so many families at the community center, you’ve painted faces at the summer fair,” Debbie said, and Wren could practically see her sister ticking the items off her perfectly manicured fingers the way she always did when she was mad. “You’ve made cupcakes for almost every bake sale and your stuff is always the first to sell out, you’ve—”
“Enough.” She drew a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Never in her life would she admit how much it hurt that Charity Springs had ostracized her, and hearing her sister point out all she’d done was only making it worse.
She may not be the biggest fan of the small town—or its residents—but it was still her home.
“Debs, please. Can we not rehash this again? I know you’re upset with me for leaving and I’m sorry. But I need to do this.”
“You ‘need’ to run around fixing other people’s problems, do you? All right, I guess you do.” It was as close to acceptance as Wren was going to get, so she’d take it. “What are you supposed to do, spend your days playing spy?”
“I’m working at a gallery and I’m painting. It’s not exactly a hard life.” She didn’t bother to mention the recon activities she was planning, like trying to break into her new boss’s email account.
Details. You’re doing the right thing by your friend—that’s all that matters.
Debbie made a scoffing sound on the other end of the line. “You’re so full of shit.”
“And you swear way too much for a girl who’s going to be an upstanding pillar of society.” Wren began to unpack her groceries. Flour for her pizza base, some fresh kale, tomatoes, basil and a delicious-looking knob of buffalo mozzarella.
“Upstanding pillar of society?” Debbie snorted. “Spare me. And I’ve noticed that your little list of activities doesn’t involve screwing your hot neighbor.”
Heat crawled up Wren’s cheeks. Thank God she’d decided not to video chat with her sister, because she was sure her face would be flaming tomato red right about now. “I never mentioned he was hot.”
“That heavy breathing did all the talking for you.” Her sister cackled. “Not to mention the fact that you seemed to forget how to string a sentence together as soon as he came near you.”
Usually, she didn’t engage in her sister’s teasing, but right now she was grateful that the conversation had turned away from her secret mission. “Okay, he’s good-looking. So what? That’s not reason enough for me to sleep with him.”
“Isn’t it? When was the last time you got laid? And if you tell me that you haven’t had sex since you broke up with Christian, so help me...”
For someone who was supposedly a “sexual deviant,” she’d actually been quite conservative when it came to sex. There’d been no one in the six months since she’d broken up with her ex—because now all the men in town either thought she was easy or bad news. Neither of which was true.
Sucking on her lower lip, she concentrated on continuing to unpack the groceries. Milk, eggs, butter, vanilla extract.
“Wren?”
A spring-form pan, parchment paper, confectioners’ sugar. “Yeah?”
“Really?”
“You said not to tell you if I hadn’t...”
“Are you serious?”
“The only guys interested in me now are the ones I don’t want.” She slammed the box of granola down on the counter harder than necessary. “And I’m not ready to try opening up to anyone else, not after the way Christian humiliated me.”
“You’re never going to be ready until you take a risk. You have to put yourself out there. Listen to me, I’m a doctor.”
Wren gritted her teeth. “First, you don’t get to say you’re a doctor until you finish med school. Second, why do you care so much about my sex life?”
“Because you’re my sister and you deserve to have a sex life. You’re twenty-six, for crying out loud, not a hundred and six. But if you don’t get some action your vagina will dry up like an old prune.”
Despite herself, Wren let out a burst of laughter.
“It’s a fact. A medical fact. Trust me, I’m a doctor.” This time Debbie said the words through her own giggles. “Do you want a pruney va—”
“Shut up.” Wren shook her head and bundled up the empty plastic bags. “I’m not having sex with the first guy I see just for the sake of it.”
“Seriously, you need to stop hiding away because a few people said bad, untrue things. You deserve to live a full life. Orgasms included.”
“How do you know my neighbor will be good enough to give me orgasms?” Flashes of her dream from last night came back to her—Mr. 401’s large hands roaming her body, his full, wide mouth covering her breasts.
Dammit. It wasn’t right to fantasize about a guy without knowing his name.
“Judging by the crazy way you were giggling, I think he will.” Debbie sounded smug as hell, the evil little thing. “Trust me, you won’t regret it. Sex is a very natural and healthy part of life. It’s good for your brain and your heart. You’re really doing your health a disservice by not having sex.”
“Is that another medical fact?” She grinned in spite of herself and shook her head. Her sister knew exactly how to push her buttons and get under her skin, but they always looked out for each other. No matter what.
“Yep, I’m sure it’s in one of my textbooks. I have to go. I’ve got a study session planned and the last person there has to buy coffee.” She paused. “I miss you, Birdie.”
At the sound of her childhood nickname, Wren smiled. “I miss you, too. I’ll be home soon. I promise.”
“You’d better.”
She hung up the phone and steadied herself against the countertop. Debbie had a point. Her life had been filled with nothing but stress the last few months; maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to live a little.
So
