Ten minutes into the movie, Katie found her attention wandering. The romantic leads had no chemistry and the plot was ridiculous. She consoled herself with the knowledge it was her turn to pick the movie next, and trying to narrow down the choices was a nice distraction. Something with action, she thought. And explosions. Less witty banter and more shooting.
She wasn’t even sure why she still showed up for these things, other than having an opportunity to hang out with Hailey. At least she and Josh had the same taste in movies, and she’d always enjoyed watching with him more than all the women, even before there was sex involved.
Katie dredged another chip through the dip to keep her focus from shifting to sex with Josh. All that would do was make the movie seem that much more endless. She should have texted him before she’d arrived to see if he was going to be busy later in the night, but she hadn’t thought of it then and now it was too late.
When her phone buzzed under her thigh, Katie looked around to see if anybody had noticed. They were all focused on the television and nobody even glanced in her direction. Reaching down, she pulled the phone out enough to read the text message from Josh.
Blow off the movie & meet me at your place.
Blowing off the movie was one thing. Blowing off Gavin’s buffalo-chicken dip was another. Keeping the phone down beside the pillow, she was stuck using only her right thumb to text back. Can’t. It’s movie night.
Only a few seconds passed before she got a response. I’ve made you come on the office floor and in the barn. Imagine what I could do in a bed.
Stop. There’s a no texting during the movie rule, she sent back. Fran had instituted the rule months ago when women texting with their men had ruined her something-hundredth viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Tell them your stomach hurts.
He was going to get her kicked out of movie night. Stop. I can’t.
She tried to ignore the vibration when he responded, but she couldn’t. Too bad. I wanted to see how many licks it takes to get to the center of your Tootsie Pop.
Katie tried to disguise a quick snort of laughter as a cough, hoping like hell there wasn’t a tearjerker scene on the television at that moment. Later.
Limited time offer. Sure it was.
“Katie’s texting,” Jilly said, and her voice was loud during a quiet moment in the movie. “And look at her face. She’s texting Josh.”
“Gimme the phone,” Fran said, pushing herself out of the rocking chair and advancing on Katie with her hand held out.
“I don’t think so.”
“You know the rules. You’ll get it back when the movie’s over.” When Katie crossed her arms, effectively hiding the cell phone in her armpit, Fran narrowed her eyes. “Katherine Rose Davis, you give me that phone right now.”
That had been the drawback to running with the Kowalski kids growing up. She’d gotten in trouble often enough that every woman of her mom’s generation knew her middle name. “Middle-naming me isn’t going to work, Fran. I’m an adult and I’m not giving you my phone.”
She yelped when Jilly reached under her elbow and snatched the phone out of her hand. Before she could get it back, Jilly tossed it to Fran. “Sorry, Katie. It’s a rule and, since it’s my house, I have to help enforce it.”
Unfortunately, when Fran caught it, she hit the button to wake up the screen—which was still showing the text messages—and she watched the older woman’s eyes get big. Katie was surprised she didn’t melt into a puddle and disappear between the couch cushions when Fran looked at her.
“Oh, honey, you have to go. I didn’t know your stomach’s upset.” Katie froze, wondering if it was a trap. But Fran’s eyes danced with mischief as she held the phone out to her. “You should definitely go.”
Katie stood up and grabbed her coat out of the pile by the end of the couch. Then she approached Fran, who was still holding Katie’s phone. She tried to take it, but the older woman resisted for a few seconds so she could lean in close.
“Katie, honey, there are some things a woman should never refuse.”
Her face burning, Katie took the phone and nodded, her cheeks burning. Then, with a small wave in the general direction of the women behind her, she fled while the fleeing was good.
Chapter Fourteen
The phone call from Mitch came out of the blue, while Josh was about to change the oil in his sled, and almost knocked him on his ass.
“We’ve had an offer to buy the lodge.”
It took a few seconds for Josh to wrap his mind what his brother had said. “An offer? To buy it?”
“I was surprised, too. I figured if we ended up selling it instead of hiring a manager, it wouldn’t be for a while yet.”
Josh put the gallon of oil back on the shelf and sat sideways on his sled. “I don’t get it. It’s not even on the market yet.”
“You had a married couple there two weekends ago. Older, plenty of money?”
“Yeah, I remember them. Asked a million questions about the house and they kept going for walks around the property. I didn’t think anything of it because a lot of people love the house.”