“How do I get hold of him?” Royce handed Amber a drink. She still couldn’t believe Katie had come all the way to Montana. And since they’d done nothing but discuss Ryder International business since she’d arrived, Amber couldn’t begin to guess why she’d come all the way to Montana.
“I’ll get him to call you.” Katie took a sip of her drink. “He won’t take on a client without a referral.”
“Appreciate that,” said Royce with a salute of his drink.
Amber couldn’t keep quiet any longer, and her voice came out more demanding than she’d intended. “What are you doing here, Katie?”
Katie shrugged. “I missed you.”
It didn’t ring true. There was something in Katie’s eyes-guilt, maybe fear.
Amber was suspicious. “Did you tell my parents I was here?”
“I can’t believe you’d even ask me that. Can’t a girl visit her best friend?” Katie took another swig, smiling far too brightly. “Okay if I stay over tonight?”
Nine
Wrapped in a fluffy robe, Katie sat cross-legged on the end of Amber’s bed while Amber washed her face at the sink inside the en-suite bathroom door.
“Just how long are you planning to stay here?” Katie asked, her voice muffled by the gush of the running water.
“I haven’t decided,” Amber answered, dipping her face forward to rinse it, then blindly grabbing for a towel.
As the days went by, she thought less and less about going home. Oh, she knew she’d have to, and probably soon. But there simply wasn’t anything tugging her in that direction.
“You know the wedding shower’s coming up, right?”
Amber peeked out from behind the towel. “Nobody canceled it?”
“Nobody believed you were serious. There are people flying in from all over the country.”
Amber tossed the towel over the rack and paced back into the room. “They’re still putting on my wedding shower?”
Katie nodded, while Amber dropped down onto the bed.
“The shower cake’s gorgeous,” Katie offered.
“This is a disaster.”
Katie reached out to rub Amber’s arm. “You breaking it off with Hargrove was the disaster. The shower, the dress…” Her hand gripped on Amber’s shoulder. Then she abruptly stood up and crossed the room.
“I tried on your dress,” she blurted out, turning to brace her back against the bureau.
Amber blinked in surprise. “You did? How’d it look?”
“Gorgeous. Absolutely, stunningly gorgeous.”
“It’s too bad we’ll have to sell it,” said Amber. “I can’t see ever wearing it.”
Katie nodded, her eyes staring blankly into space. “Gorgeous. Really gorgeous.”
Amber pictured her friend twirling in front of the mirror. Katie always did have a romantic streak.
Suddenly, Katie clenched her fists, and her eyes scrunched shut. “Oooh, you have to promise me you won’t get mad.”
“Why would I get mad?” Truth was, Amber wondered if Katie had taken pictures while she modeled the dress. It might be interesting to see how it had turned out.
“I…did something,” Katie confessed in a harsh whisper.
“To the dress?”
Katie didn’t answer, but the color drained from her face.
“Did you spill something on it? Tear it?” Amber waited for an emotional reaction to her wedding dress being ruined, but it didn’t come.
Katie emphatically shook her head. “No. The dress is fine.”
“Then what are you so worried about?”
Katie picked up a china horse figurine from the top of the bureau, stroking her fingertip across its glossy surface. She looked at Amber then drew a breath.
“Katie?”
“He saw me in it.”
“Who saw you in what?”
“Hargrove. He saw me in the wedding dress.”
Amber didn’t exactly understand why that was a problem.
Katie set down the figurine, her words speeding up, hands clasping together. “After it was delivered, and I had it on and was prancing around my apartment, he knocked on the door. I didn’t know it was him. And, well, when I opened it…” She stopped talking.
“That’s when Hargrove saw you in the wedding dress?”
Katie nodded miserably.
Amber fought an urge to smile. “I don’t think that’s bad luck or anything.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Seriously, Katie. I can imagine he was annoyed.” Hargrove was nothing if not mired in propriety. “But we’re selling the damn thing anyway.”
Katie drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Thing is, he really, uh, liked the dress.”
“Well, at that price, he’d better have liked it.”
“I mean, well…” Katie gazed down at her front, picking a dark speck from the terry-cloth pile of the robe. “He really liked me in it.”
Amber blinked. “So?” It was probably a good fit. She and Katie were pretty close to the same size.
“And-” Katie buried her face in her hands “-turns out, he liked me out of it, too.”
Amber was silent for a full ten seconds. “You’re going to have to repeat that.”
Katie spread her fingers, peeking out as if she was looking at a horror movie. “I am the worst friend ever.”
Amber gave her head a little shake. “What are you saying?”
Katie just stared at her.
“Are you saying you slept with Hargrove?” It wasn’t possible. Nothing made less sense than that.
But Katie nodded. “It happened so fast. One minute he was staring at me. Then he was kissing me. Then the dress came off, and well, yeah, there might have been a bit of a tear around the buttonholes-”
Amber shook her head. “You’re not making any sense.”
“I am so sorry,” Katie wailed, pressing a fist against her mouth. “You must hate me.”
“No. No, it’s not that.”
“I had to come and tell you in person.”
“I’m confused, not mad.” Amber tried to make her point. “Hargrove doesn’t get overcome with passion and tear off dresses.” Not the Hargrove she knew.
Katie blinked like an owl.
“He’s staid, proper, controlled.”
Katie blinked once more. A flush rose up from the base of her throat, coloring her face. “Actually…”
Amber rose from the bed. “Actually, what?”
“Sexually speaking, I wouldn’t call him staid, and I definitely wouldn’t call him proper.”
“Are you telling me…?”
Katie gave a meaningful nod.
“You had wild, impulsive sex with Hargrove?”
Something deep and warm flared in Katie’s eyes, and she nodded.
“And…it was…good?” Amber asked in disbelief.
“It was fantastic.”
Amber tried to wrap her head around that. “But…What…” She gripped the bedpost to steady herself. “Sorry. We can’t get technical about this.” She paused. “Can we?”
Katie cocked her head. “I take it it wasn’t always good for you?”
“It was, um…” How did she say this? “Kind of boring.”
“No way. You mean he didn’t-” Katie’s blush deepened.
Amber was forced to stifle a laugh. “Whatever it is you’re not saying, I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it with me.”
Katie fought a grin and lost. “So, you’re not mad?”
Amber shook her head, sitting back down on the bed. “I broke up with him.”
Katie crossed the room to sit beside her, relieved amusement coloring her tone. “You’re probably not going to want the wedding dress back.”
“Keep it. Maybe you should keep Hargrove, too. Think of them as a set.”
“Maybe I will,” Katie said softly.