And the man and little girl she didn’t want to leave.
Audrey shook her head as she dialed Stevie’s cell.
Her business partner answered on the second ring with her typical short and professional greeting.
“Hey, stranger,” Stevie said after Audrey said hello. “Shagging the hot uncle yet?”
She lounged back on the couch and propped her feet on the coffee table even as a ribbon of heat curled through her belly. “You’ve been watching Austin Powers again, haven’t you?”
“Those movies never get old,” Stevie said with a smile in her voice. “And no answering questions with questions. Tell Auntie Stevie all about it. Did he rock your world? Curl your toes? Does he have any good tricks you can tell me about?”
“Okay, first of all, chill,” Audrey interrupted. She’d been having a hard enough time tuning out those kinds of visions without such vivid descriptions. “Second of all, no.”
“No, what?” Stevie demanded. “No, you’re not shagging him? Or no, he didn’t rock your world? Because I have a hard time believing the last one.”
“You must stop using the word shagging,” Audrey ordered. “And how would you even know?”
“Know what?” Stevie repeated. “That he would rock your world? Something tells me he’s that type.”
Audrey scowled into the phone. How had their conversation steered to this? “But you’ve never even met the guy.”
“He has a sexy name. It’s strong and alpha.”
Audrey couldn’t help but laugh. “He has an alpha name? That’s your reasoning? What if his name was Sheldon?”
“Then we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Stevie replied easily. “Could you imagine yelling ‘Oh, Sheldon!’ in bed? I’m sorry but, ew.”
Her friend had a point. Not only did Cameron’s name fit him perfectly, but Audrey had no issues imagining yelling Cameron’s name. Or moaning it…whichever.
A shiver wracked her body. “No, I’m not shagging him.”
“Hmmm,” Stevie responded. “Maybe you should. You sound…rigid.”
“I’m not rigid.”
“You sound like it.”
Okay, so maybe she’d been a bit…tense lately. Not sleeping. Because every time she closed her eyes, she saw Cameron. Felt him. Heard his deep voice in her ear, telling her how good she smelled, how she fit perfectly against him.
But rigid?
“Just have relations with the guy already,” Stevie announced.
Audrey smiled. “Relations?”
“Well, shagging’s been banned.”
Audrey picked at the hem of her shirt. “It would be inappropriate.” And who was she trying to convince?
“Why?”
“Because he’s Piper’s uncle.”
Stevie snorted. “Yeah, but he’s not your uncle. Just bone the guy already.” Stevie paused.
“I was just calling to see how things are,” Audrey said, deliberately changing the subject. “Are you totally drowning yet?”
“Hmm, subject change. Okay I get it.” Stevie chuckled. “Things have been crazy, but luckily my sister’s been here helping. Picking up the slack so I can focus on the jobs.”
Audrey frowned into the phone. “I thought Suzanne worked as a pharmacy technician.”
“She did, but they recently laid her off,” Stevie explained. “I brought her in to help manage clients and book appointments and things like that.”
“Oh,” Audrey commented, not sure how she felt about outside help being brought in without Audrey being consulted. Even if it was Stevie’s twin sister. “Does Suzanne have experience with interior design?”
Stevie rattled some papers on the other end of the phone. “No, but she’s not doing any of the creative stuff. I was just so overwhelmed with doing it all while you’re gone, and Suzanne was available. She’s just acting as my assistant basically.”
“Sounds like she came at the right time,” Audrey answered, forcing back the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Stevie is not replacing you. She’s just getting some help until you come back. “I was thinking about making a quick trip back for a few days,” she blurted out. “Just to play catch-up and help you out until things are settled here.”
“Sure,” Stevie answered easily. “If you feel you need to. But there’s no rush. You can take your time down there until you’re ready to return for good.”
For good. That sounded so…final.
“I just figured you could use some extra days of my help,” Audrey went on, as though she felt Stevie needed the extra convincing.
“Well, if you have some things you need to work on, then yeah. But Suzanne’s been enough help for me here,” Stevie explained.
A few minutes later, they hung up. Audrey stayed on the couch, watching Pinkie Pie run back and forth across the living room with one of Audrey’s already torn-up socks hanging from her mouth.
Did Stevie really not need her? Audrey figured her business partner would be all but begging Audrey to return. A small part of her had thrived on being needed, on knowing she had a role waiting for her at home. Okay, she still had a role, and Stevie still needed her. She couldn’t run that entire business on her own. It took two of them for things to run smoothly.
Didn’t it?
But it sounded like things were running smoothly without her.
It stung. Just a little.
So maybe she didn’t need to take a trip home after all. Maybe she would anyway, just to prove their business needed Audrey there, to show Stevie that her sister Suzanne wasn’t a suitable replacement.
Now you’re just being childish and overreacting.
Piper eventually got off the bus, and Audrey spent the next two hours going through her school folder, helping her study spelling words, and listening to Piper complain how reading logs were sooooo boring. Audrey eventually got the kid to read for twenty minutes with the promise of taking Pinkie Pie out for a walk, meaning they’d let the cat traipse across the backyard.
“Piper, you like being here with your uncle Cameron, right?” Audrey asked as Piper was dragging a string of yarn for Pinkie Pie to chase.
“Yeah,” she answered without looking up.
Audrey was looking for a little more than a one-word answer, but she didn’t push. “Do you think you’d be okay with him for a
