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“You were betting about when I would have sex with Ed?” she asked. Hurt stabbed deep. She thought these women liked her. “Why would you do that?”
“I told you it was a bad idea,” Cleo said.
Juliet nodded, frowning fiercely at Kiesha.
“But it was just for fun,” Kiesha said. “We make bets for lots of things.”
“It’s only fun if everyone enjoys it,” Cleo pointed out.
Isa bit her lip. “Please don’t be upset, Georgie. We didn’t mean anything by it. Really.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry,” Kiesha told her, reaching for her hand. “We really didn’t mean to hurt you. Damn it, this is my fault. Sometimes I don’t think.”
She started hitting her palm against her forehead.
“Whoa, okay. It’s not worth hurting yourself over.” Georgina jumped up and grabbed her hand, pulling it away from her head. “It’s all right, maybe I overreacted. See, I’m not used to having friends. When I was in high school, the only reason girls ever wanted to be friends with me was because they wanted to get close to my brothers. As soon as they didn’t need me, they’d turn on me. I know we’re all adults, but I guess I’m still waiting for you all to tell me this was just a joke, that you don’t really want to be friends with me.”
Kiesha jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around her. “Of course we want to be friends. We love you!”
Everyone else gathered close, even Juliet, hugging her. And that edge of hurt was soothed.
“We’d never do anything to hurt you,” Isa told her. “It was a stupid bet.”
“No more bets,” Kiesha declared.
“Thank God for that,” Cleo said. “Because that bet about when O’Ryan and I are getting married is dumb.”
They all backed off and Kiesha rolled her eyes at Cleo. “Oh yeah? Then how come you placed a bet on a date?”
Cleo shrugged. “They were good odds.”
They all laughed.
She looked out at the increasingly dark clouds moving across the horizon. The girls had left a couple of hours ago and she’d just woken up from a nap.
It would get cold soon. She glanced over at the fireplace and empty wood box. Ed was on the phone. Poor guy had been talking to someone for close to an hour.
If she was any good at cooking, she’d start dinner. But that was likely to end up in a fire or food poisoning. She’d made a fresh batch of coffee and quickly gulped one down. That was likely to get her into trouble considering that was coffee number three for the day.
Since she’d come to stay with him five days ago, she’d stopped having those crazy heart palpitations. Her stress levels were definitely lower. All due to Ed’s care and attention. She’d been spending more time in Little space.
But there was still something niggling at her.
He hadn’t fucked her. They’d played around. Had fun. But no fucking.
He said you have to ask for what you want.
But that was harder than it sounded.
You just need to be brave, Georgina.
With a sigh, she moved to the sliding door. She couldn’t start dinner. But she could bring in some firewood before the storm hit.
Putting in the code to turn off the alarm, she walked outside. As she headed towards the woodshed, she spotted a dead rose lying on the ground. A weird feeling came over her. Like someone was watching her. She stared around, but there was nothing out there. Probably some animal.
Shrugging it off, she headed into the woodshed.
