working beside her on the couch.
Yesterday, he’d brought home the news that Jeremy had pleaded guilty to his charges and would face both jail time and mandatory rehab.
Because what he’d been looking for that day when he’d broken in was oxycontin, leftover from her first surgery. She didn’t know whether that was what he’d been looking for the first time he’d come earlier in the year, but she suspected it, suspected that the vase had just been an excuse to get into her house, one she’d unwittingly thwarted.
Temporarily, at least.
Because then he’d come back . . . and ruined her dinner plans.
She snorted, felt Tammy glance over at her. “What is it?” her friend asked, glancing up from her book.
She’d been reading while Stef watched, as she called it, another “boring pointy-ear show.” But there was little to do besides read and watch TV, especially when she wasn’t allowed to bear any weight on her ankle.
Tomorrow, though, she’d go back to the doctor, and if all looked good, then she’d be in a walking boot.
Woo-hoo.
The world would open up again.
“I’m just antsy,” Stef said. “I need to get off my ass and do something.”
Tammy laughed. “When’s that supposed to happen?”
“Tomorrow. If I don’t fuck it up.”
“What could fuck it up?”
Stef rolled her eyes. “Nothing, according to Ben, so long as I keep my ass on this couch.” She groaned. “Give me something. Distract me.”
“How?” Tammy asked. “I’m boring and single and have absolutely no life outside of work.”
“Tell me about work.”
“You cannot possibly want to hear about that.”
Okay, so maybe she didn’t. “Tell me about your love life.”
“I just told you I was single.”
Stef groaned again. “Give me something. You’re beautiful. Isn’t there a guy or girl you’re interested in?”
Tammy’s voice was pained. “Now you sound like my mother. When are you going to get married, Tammy? You’re the only one left, and you shouldn’t work all the time. A man or a woman would settle you and—”
She broke off on a fake gag.
“No dating?” Stef asked.
“I’m not interested in turning into one of those sappy, love-struck idiots”—a grin—“no offense.”
Stef was sappy, love-struck. The idiot part was questionable, she supposed, but she didn’t take offense. Not when she supposed that everyone was a bit of an idiot when they were in love, especially when they were in love with a man like Ben.
“Ugh.”
Stef blinked. “What?”
Tammy waved a hand. “That. You’ve got Ben-fog going on, dreaming about the man who holds your heart and all the rest of that barf-worthy nonsense.” She slanted a look in Stef’s direction, contrition in her gaze. “Not that I begrudge you your happiness. It’s just . . .” Her lips pressed flat as she trailed off.
“You don’t want that.”
“No,” Tammy agreed. “I don’t. I just want to build my career and find success and . . . I guess, I just want to be me before I become an us.” She sighed. “I don’t know why everyone thinks that’s so unreasonable.”
She reached out and squeezed Tammy’s hand. The other woman was a few years younger, just in her mid-twenties, as opposed to Stef’s thirty-five. She had time to find herself. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable,” she said. “Not at all.” Another squeeze. “I think it’s admirable. You have plenty of time to find someone, or not. And either way, you have time to make that decision.”
Tammy smiled. “For a love-struck sap, you’re not too bad.”
Stef laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
A buzz had Tammy glancing down at her phone. “Oh, shoot that’s the office. I need to take this.”
“Go on,” Stef told her. “And why don’t you take off? Free yourself from my pointy-eared torture. Ben should be home soon, and I wouldn’t want to subject you to more sappy lovey-dovey torture either.”
Dancing brown eyes. “You sure?”
Stef nodded.
Tammy grinned, gathered up her book and her purse, said a quick goodbye, then answered the call as she disappeared into the elevator.
Stef was grinning as she turned her attention back to her show.
A crash woke her up with a start.
She blinked, saw the penthouse was dark, the sun having gone down beyond the windows.
Clearly, she’d fallen asleep. Had Ben come home and let her rest?
Her lips turned up at the corners, of course he had. He’d been nagging her about getting enough sleep so her body could heal properly. She didn’t doubt he would have tiptoed by and taken care of the dogs and dinner.
Pushing her elbows beneath her, she sat up and glanced around.
Then nearly