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“He was not.”

“Was too.”

“Was not,” I shot back.

“When I really want to mess with Steve when we’re out for dinner, I start playing with my straw and take my time sucking on it as I drink. It’s really good if it’s a milkshake with whip cream. His eyes practically roll back in his head.”

“You, Sue Rankin, are a dirty girl.”

“And I fly that flag high and proud.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that came straight from my belly. Okay, there were a zillion reasons why Sue was my best friend. Her being a dirty girl was a zillion-and-one.

“And then if you really want to mess with them, take the straw out of the milkshake, scoop up some of the whipped cream with the end of your straw, then lick it off with the tip of your tongue. That’s like the dirty triple word score.”

I laughed even harder, imagining lumberjack-sized Steve Rankin wrapped around tiny little Sue Rankin’s finger.

“Now tell me more about the date,” my friend demanded.

“Can’t. Laughing too hard,” I gasped.

I pushed up from the kitchen island and stood up straight. Sue was absolutely right. Why hadn’t I seen that? “Sue, you are a genius.”

“I’m a dirty-girl genius,” she said smugly.

“He kissed me.”

“Whaaaatttt?!” Sue screeched.

“It was magnificent.”

“Where? When? How long? Was there tongue?”

“On my front porch swing. After the date. Long enough for me to lose my mind. Yes, there was tongue. And he wants to go out again.”

“When? What are you going to wear? Do you need to go shopping? You could Facetime me from the dressing room.”

“Whoa. I didn’t tell him yes, yet. I told him to call me.”

“Yuck. That sounds like you’re playing games.”

“Well, I’m not.” At least not anymore. “I just needed to get my head on straight, and you helped. So, thank you.”

“Anytime.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Remember to call me so we can go video shopping together.”

“I won’t forget.”

12

“Enjoying yourself much?”

I looked out the left side mirror and laughed as I saw Chaos’ tongue lolling out of her mouth and the amount of drool that was hitting the side of my Jeep. Thank God Sue’s husband had turned me onto Groits Garage car care products. That stuff took six hundred miles of bug goo off my windshield and everything else. A little bit of Chaos drool was nothing.

“Isn’t that right, girl?”