Eventually, though, the con ended, and they checked out and drove back to Edie’s townhouse. For some reason, she felt vaguely sad to see the car pull up in front of her place. She looked over at Magnus and gave him a smile. “Thanks for inviting me. I had a lot of fun.”
She opened the door to get out, only to be dragged backward. “Is that all I get?” he teased. “No good-bye kiss?”
And of course she smiled and kissed him. The kiss turned into a make-out session, and the next thing she knew, she was clinging to his shirt, dazed, as he tongued the hell out of her mouth. Then he gave her a lazy, satisfied smile, and one last, soft kiss. “I’m going to miss you this week.”
She melted a little at that. “I’m going to miss you, too.”
“Say hi to Spanky for me.”
Edie giggled. “There isn’t a cat named Spanky.”
“There should be. It’s a great cat name.”
“Then name one of yours Spanky!”
He pretended to consider it. “Lady Spanky just doesn’t have the right ring to it.”
Edie rolled her eyes. “You are the worst, you know that?”
“Naw, baby. I’m the best and you love it.” He kissed her again. “I’m probably going to be in a work bubble for the next few days, though. You want to come stay at my place with me?”
“I wish I could,” she said wistfully. “The cats need me, though, and I have a few clients to visit this week.” Business was light, but she had her repeat customers and she didn’t want to disappoint them. “Maybe this next weekend?”
“Just text me,” he told her.
“I will.” Reluctantly, she left his embrace, and the car.
It was hard not to feel a little down after leaving Magnus behind, but the moment she opened the door, a chorus of meows greeted her. “Hi, babies!” Edie set down her bag and moved to the couch, petting heads and scratching backs as the cats clustered near. They looked good, she was pleased to see, and as Tripod jumped into her lap, she felt relaxed and happy. The only thing missing was Magnus, who’d just driven away. But she’d see him again this weekend. Hopefully. Edie closed her eyes and petted the cats, relaxing and thinking of the wonderful time she’d just had.
Footsteps thumped down the stairs and inwardly, she winced.
“You’re home,” Bianca said, voice accusing.
Edie cracked open an eye. “I am. Did you miss me?”
“Of course.” Her sister wore a hurt look. “I worried about you.”
“Why?” She stroked her hand along Tripod’s back. “I was fine.”
“Because Magnus has a lot of stairs and you were at the house by yourself. Of course I’d worry. What if your knee gave out on you? I’d never forgive myself.”
Now Bianca was making her feel bad. Edie hated lying—she’d told Bianca that she was staying with Magnus’s cats while he went to the convention—but she wasn’t sure how her sister would take the news. “I can handle a few sets of stairs, Bianca. No big deal. I’m not completely incompetent.”
“Of course not.” Bianca sounded offended that Edie would think it. “Excuse me if I worry about my sister after not seeing you for a few days. I’ll just . . . leave you alone.”
Edie sighed. At this point, she was probably supposed to apologize to Bianca for being bitchy and soothe her hurt feelings. But she didn’t feel like it. Being with Magnus had been nice, because he’d accommodated her knee without making her feel like she was broken. Bianca always made her feel like . . . less. And she hadn’t realized it until just now. “Can we do this later? I’m kind of tired and I’d just like to snuggle with the cats for now, if that’s all right.”
“Sorry if I’m bothering you.” Bianca turned and headed back up the stairs. “I’ll just go upstairs by myself, then. Like I have been for the last few days.”
Edie rolled her eyes.
***
Bianca nibbled on a delicately painted fingernail. She didn’t like this. Not at all. Why was Edie blowing her off? Edie normally needed her. She needed Bianca to drive, and to help her with the business. She relied on Bianca and couldn’t get things done without her. Edie leaving for four days and not even asking Bianca to take care of the cats?
It made her unsettled and unhappy. Of course she was concerned about Edie. Her sister tended to overextend herself when it came to helping people and their cats, to the point that she usually had to ice her knee at the end of the day. She always put herself last and needed someone like Bianca to think about her. Because that was who Bianca was—a selfless, devoted sister and assistant.
She frowned at her reflection in the mirror and smoothed her hair, then put on a bit of lip gloss. Her eyes looked tired today, so she carefully put on a pair of fake lashes, added some mascara, and fluttered in the mirror. Better. Now prepared, she shut the door to her room and turned to her computer, then dialed Levi on Skype.
He answered right away. “Bianca! I’ve missed you.”
She gave him a tiny, coquettish smile. “I’ve missed you, too.” Actually, she hadn’t. Levi was clingy to the point of being irritating, and he wanted sex all the time, and Bianca was a firm believer in not putting out unless there was a ring on her finger. The only redeeming thing in his favor at the moment was that he had a lot of money. Then again, she’d met a lovely man named Cooper at Gretchen’s engagement party, and while he wasn’t the greatest to look at, he owned a chain of coffee shops and seemed content to worship her from afar, which was better than Levi’s grating handsiness and constant texting.