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“No,” Skyla and Hallie said in unison.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Hallie said.
“The stress is crazy,” Skyla added.
“Besides,” Hallie said. “With Luke’s schedule, you two would probably see each other even less. At least this way, you can kind of set your schedule around his. With my shop, I have to be there every day, no matter what. Even on weekends when Caden is home. I used to not mind working Saturdays and Sundays, but now I kind of wish I could be home with Caden when he’s there.”
“Can you hire more help or ask Katelyn to work full days on weekends?” Orly asked.
Hallie shook her head. “As it is, I already ask her to fill in too much. The store is doing better this year than it did last year, but I still have to be careful with how I spend my money there.”
“Hmm, okay, I’m convinced,” Orly said. “No small business for me.”
The three of them laughed at how easily Orly was dissuaded.
The knock on the door announced the arrival of their junk food extravaganza and the women spent the rest of the night eating ice cream, pastries, and ripe juicy strawberries dipped in decadent chocolate, while binging late night television, doing their best to impersonate the comedians and their guests.
Skyla didn’t miss how they carefully avoided talking about their love lives, which only solidified her suspicion that they knew something about what had gone down between her and Blake.
While she wanted to address the elephant in the room, Skyla was just having too much fun and didn’t want it to end. None of the women were watching the clock, so no one knew what time they finally passed out for the night. But when Skyla woke up the next morning, she felt lighter and more at ease than she had in a long time. She sat up with a smile on her face, just thinking about last night, and how much fun they had, seemed to put everything else into perspective.
“Good morning,” Hallie said, sitting up in the bed beside her. Orly was also waking up on Skyla’s other side. How or why, they had all slept in the same bed was beyond her, but she loved that they had. Growing up, she always wished for a sister, and being around Hallie and Orly, made her feel like she had two.
Orly stretched, then sat up, leaning back against the headboard with the pillow behind her back. “I think we’re ready to talk,” she said. Skyla huffed; they were back to the cryptic thing.
“And we’re not leaving this room until we do,” Hallie added.
“Okay, you two, what is seriously up with you guys?” Skyla wasn’t upset or worried by their mysterious innuendos, but it was not really like them to be like this.
“Blake came by yesterday morning before I left for the store.” Hallie shifted uncomfortably and Orly tousled her long, curly blonde hair.
“Okay?” Skyla wasn’t sure what they were getting at, but the way they kept eyeing each other, they were definitely up to something.
“He told us what happened,” Hallie continued. “And before you say anything, he knows he messed up. But as someone who’s practically married to an FBI Agent, I will tell you that it’s not uncommon for Caden not to be able to tell me things, and I don’t always like it, but I know it’s part of his job.”
“But he was -”
“Yep,” Orly said. “Caden did the same thing to Hallie, and she was hurt too, rightly so. But again, it’s part of their job sometimes to do things we may not like.”
“But that’s not actually what we wanted to talk to you about,” Hallie jumped in.
Skyla sighed. Her good mood was quickly waning and she just wanted to go back to the feel-good vibes of last night. “Okay, then what’s up?”
The other two women eyed each other again, then looked back at Skyla. “Blake didn’t know how to tell you this, and he wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to, which is why he didn’t. I told him we’d take care of it,” Hallie said.
“Tell me what?” Skyla asked.
“It’s about Vivian,” Orly said. “I’ve known for a while, but only because Blake was worried I’d slip up and blurt out something about my gift at the barbeque.”
Now, Skyla was worried. She didn’t particularly like Vivian, but she didn’t think there was anything about her that warranted putting her friends on edge. Vivian was FBI, after all, so what had there been to worry about?
Hallie took a deep breath, seemingly nervous about what she was going to say, then let the words spill out. Skyla listened in horror about who the woman she’d seen on her property and hung out with at her bar really was.
When Hallie finished, Skyla was at a loss for words. She just stared at her friends with a blank expression, wondering how close she’d come to becoming a test subject for some secret government organization. What if instead of Blake, Nico had shot Vivian. If Skyla would’ve made the same choice, and saved her, then Vivian would’ve had all the proof she needed to put her in some dungeon, and run ungodly tests on her.
“To be fair,” Orly said, “we had no idea that you were in any kind of danger from Vivian, so you can’t really blame Blake for not saying anything to you.”
Skyla shook her head. Blame was the last thing on her mind at the moment. Shock was more like it. She had no idea people like Vivian and her departments even existed outside of her deepest, darkest fears.
