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“She is. She avoided her nap today.”
“Sounds like you’re in for an interesting night.” Tori smiled, always sunny no matter how much rain fell on her.
Miranda clenched her jaw. “Yes. Seems like I’m not the only one.” She flicked her gaze to Haylee. She was curvy, her hips flaring, her breasts large, her eyes bright with a deep brown color to them. She wasn’t Tori’s type. Miranda cringed inwardly. She had to stop thinking that! Neither of them were Tori’s type. Definitely not Miranda.
She didn’t believe in soulmates.
She barely believed in love.
Her entire focus up until that point had been work and making herself comfortable in life. Doing her job to the best of her ability. And now, being the best replacement parent that she could be for her niece. Couldn’t Tori see that?
“We just got done with dinner at The Met. Have you been there?” Tori interjected.
Miranda wondered briefly if Tori was worried about what she’d do or say in front of Haylee. Perhaps Tori hadn’t told her what had happened between them. It would probably barely be a fleck in Tori’s memory. But Miranda would never forget it. She couldn’t. She’d already tried.
“Yes.” Miranda’s reply was short, but she tried to keep the bite out of her tone. She was unsuccessful, like normal. “I’ve had a few dates there.” She put an emphasis on the word date, calling Tori and Haylee out on what they had been doing.
Would Tori let Haylee fuck her like Miranda had on their first—she stopped. They hadn’t been on a date. They hadn’t dated. Miranda flicked her gaze back to Tori, eyeing her up and down. They had done so many things wrong.
“I loved it. I’ve never been before.”
Tori wouldn’t have gone there. It was a decently expensive place, and no doubt her financial sensibilities would have kicked in with one look at the menu. Which meant Haylee must have paid, which meant she probably had a nice cushy job. Or maybe she was older than she looked.
“Where’s Harley?”
“With Siena.” Tori’s smile faltered. “We switched weekends again.”
“You two do have a good relationship like that.” Miranda didn’t know why she was being so obstinate, so hard when Tori was making every effort to have a nice conversation. She was looking back at Haylee again, and she couldn’t stop herself from talking, her control tanking in a second. “I’m sorry, but you don’t seem like Tori’s type at all.”
“And what’s her type?” Haylee was smiling, but Miranda detected the waver of concern.
“Tall, dark, and handsome.” She flicked her gaze to meet Tori’s eyes. She raised an eyebrow at Tori, wondering if she remembered. “And older.”
“Oh, I’m older than her.”
“Not by enough.” Miranda didn’t bother to look back at Tori. “She likes mature women, someone who has been around the block a time or two. An experienced woman.”
Tori’s lips thinned—the only noticeable sign that she was upset. Miranda hated herself a little more for doing it. But she still couldn’t stop herself.
Tori forced a grin, looking over her shoulder at Haylee. She bounced Rebel a little on her side and brushed her nose into Rebel’s hair again.
Miranda wished Rebel was in her arms. Then she could walk away and leave. But without Rebel, she didn’t have an escape.
“How was work?” Tori asked, swaying with Rebel now to that beat she constantly had in her body.
“Busy.” Miranda frowned. “We had four services to juggle today. Two in-house and two at the cemetery.” As she said the last bit, she looked at Haylee, wondering how much of this would surprise her. How it would offend her good life-focused sensibilities like it did most people. No one wanted to think about death, not unless they had to. Miranda was convinced that was why so many people were shocked when someone died, and so ill-prepared for it.
“Cemetery?” Haylee asked.
Tori nodded, not taking her eyes off Miranda. “Yeah. She’s a funeral director.”
“And you’re a life coach.” Haylee snorted, her lips pulling into a cocky smile. “That’s amusing that you’d be friends.”
The gut punch was hard this time. They were barely friends. Miranda had done everything in her power to avoid deepening that relationship in the last few weeks, and it had worked. Tori had pulled away just like she had. And when they had gotten together that once—something clicked. That had been it, hadn’t it? Miranda was such a fool. She’d been the one to make that night a disaster from the start. She’d been the one to ruin what they had.
And now it was too late.
Tori was with Haylee, and there was no chance that Miranda could change her mind. Squaring her shoulders, she moved into Tori’s space and held her arms out for Rebel. “We should get going. Rebel will need to go to sleep soon.”
