Elise hit End on her phone from her spot in the recliner and looked up at Luke and Rachel, who sat on opposite ends of the couch.

“How’s your dad?” Luke asked. He was close enough to reach for her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“Better, but he’s not out of the woods. I’m going to go see him again today. And I need to stop by my parents’ house before I go, so I can get my mom a change of clothes and some other stuff.” Elise looked at Rachel. “But I suppose we should talk first.”

“That would be nice,” Rachel said.

“I’ll just go upstairs and shower while you two talk.” Luke stood and kissed Elise on the forehead.

“Thanks,” Elise told him.

After Luke left the room, Rachel said, “He even keeps clothes here?”

“No, he keeps extra clothes with him all the time because of work.”

“Oh,” Rachel said. “But he’s your boyfriend?”

Elise had never said it out loud, but that was exactly how she thought of Luke. “Yes.”

Rachel looked crushed.

Elise’s shoulders sunk under the weight of guilt. “Rachel, I’m—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rachel asked, her voice small and laced with pain.

Elise got up and moved to the sofa to sit, facing her friend. “Oh, Rachel, I’m so sorry. When it started out, I didn’t want you to be mad at me for sleeping with Luke after you warned me not to. Then, it seemed like the longer I waited, the worse it would be to tell you. And Luke and I were having fun, keeping it private. It was our own little secret. Did you really have no clue?”

“I don’t know. I thought something might be going on but nothing definitive. I thought you might be seeing someone because you were busy a lot of nights, but that could also be explained by living with your parents.”

“And I was busy with them a lot,” Elise reassured her. “You know I didn’t go on our girls’ weekend trip because of my dad, not because I was hanging out with Luke.”

“I know. I wasn’t even sure if there was some guy. And I did notice that you and Luke seemed to be becoming better and better friends. You played pool with him that first night, you hung out with him quite a bit at our Fourth of July party, and then Luke had asked Nate to help you move before Sean even brought it up. So, while I wasn’t thinking you might be seeing someone, I thought you might be developing a crush on Luke. But, when you told me you’d never sleep with him, I thought you meant it.”

Elise blushed. “Well, I did at the time. I really wasn’t planning on sleeping with the guy.”

“So, when did it happen, and how did you guys get from there to here?”

Elise laughed uncomfortably. “Well…”

Rachel cocked her head to the side. “You didn’t.”

Elise winced. “I did. But, in my defense, it was mostly the alcohol talking. I still don’t remember half of that night.”

Rachel raised her brow.

“I know, I know. Alcohol is not an excuse. But it is,” she whined.

Rachel laughed, so that was good. “So then, what happened?”

“He texted me the following Monday. I thought he’d just done it to sleep with me again, but you could say that’s when our friendship really started. You know, I even hung out at his house without having any physical contact.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then, Luke kissed me in your garage at your party, which kind of made me realize that I wanted to sleep with him again. You remember when I spilled my drink on him?”

Rachel nodded. “Oh, yes. How could I forget? That was funny.”

“Well, I hadn’t realized Luke was a doctor and that he was in doctor mode when he was looking at Tera’s leg. I’m ashamed to admit, I got a teensy bit jealous, and I might have purposely let my cup tip over until the contents landed on Luke.”

Rachel threw her head back and laughed. “Oh my God, that is hilarious. I thought it was an accident.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to admit that it wasn’t.”

“Is that why you went to his house to apologize?”

“Yes.”

“I always wondered why you couldn’t have just waited until he came back to the party.”

“I felt really bad and immature about the whole thing. I couldn’t have it eating away at me.”

Rachel nodded. “I get it. But it sure took you a long time.” A look crossed her face. “You two got it on at my party, too.”

Elise held up a finger. “It really wasn’t at your party, just during. You were the one who got it on at your party. With guests waiting no less.”

“Guilty.” This time, Rachel blushed. “So, how did you end up with Luke being the one to take you to see your dad?”

Elise shrugged because she didn’t know what to say really. “I don’t know. When I found out he was in the hospital, I just knew I needed Luke. I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”

“It’s okay. I guess.”

“Are you really mad at me?”

“Not really mad.”

Elise stuck out her lip. “So, just mad then.”

Rachel sighed. “No. I want to be, but I’m not.”

“I really am sorry for everything.”

“I know, and I forgive you. Except you know that I am on summer vacation, so I wouldn’t have to take time off work to go with you to see your dad.”

“Oh, great. Make me feel worse, why don’t you?”

Rachel shrugged, her expression saying, Sorry, not sorry.

“So, you told me everything about now, but did anything ever happen back in college that you didn’t tell me about?”

“No, absolutely not. I wanted nothing to do with him.”

“So, why now?”

“Well, if I’m honest with myself, I was attracted to him back then, but I think I knew I couldn’t handle anything with Luke.”

“But you had one-night stands in college.”

“I know, and call it intuition or something, but I guess I knew it would end up being more than that with him. I guess I thought I could handle a strictly sexual relationship now because I’m older, maturer, and more in touch with myself and what I want. Because, even though I blame a lot of it on alcohol, I’m the one who drank with him and let myself drink too much. I suppose a part of me thought sex could happen, and if I had really been afraid of sleeping with him, I wouldn’t have gotten drunk.”

“But you’re glad everything happened the way it did?”

Elise leaned against the back of the couch. “I am.”

Rachel smiled and leaned back, too, putting her head on Elise’s shoulder. “Does he make you happy?”

Elise smiled. “Yeah, he does.”

“Who’da thunk? You and Luke dating and him making you happy.”

“Right?”

Rachel lifted her head. “I just have one more question.”

“Shoot.”

“How big is it?”

“Rachel,” Elise scolded while trying not to laugh.

“I’m sorry. But, no, really, how big is it?”

Elise smirked at her friend and held up her two hands a distance apart to show her.

“Damn, no wonder he makes you happy.”

Elise laughed and wiggled her eyebrows. “That, and he knows how to use it.”

“Ha. I knew it. Like a rock star, right?”

Elise pushed her shoulder into Rachel’s. “Not that you have anything to complain about. Little Ms. My Man Is Short But Not Short.”

“What are you ladies talking about?”

They both shrieked and jumped in their seats. They hadn’t heard Luke sneak up behind them.

He looked adorable with his dark hair wet and his brown eyes twinkling, but Elise tried to look mad that he had scared them when she really wanted to kiss him.

Before either of them had to come up with some lame topic to disguise their real conversation, Elise’s front door burst open, and Sean came rushing in. He was wearing a suit, minus his jacket, with his tie askew, and he had sweat spots on his armpits. He stopped when he saw the three of them, and then he bent over at the waist to catch his breath.

“You okay, man?” Luke asked.

Sean stood, breathing hard. “No. Someone told me she was going to wait to confront Elise but then snuck off when I was in the shower and busy getting dressed. Then, when I realized she was gone, I found out my keys and my spare were missing, too.”

“Holy shit, did you run all the way here?” Luke asked.

“No, I had to ride my bike,” he said accusingly at his fiancée.

Elise stifled a laugh.

“Be right back,” Luke said.

“Rach, did you really leave and take Sean’s keys?” Elise asked.

Rachel stuck her chin up. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want him to stop me from coming over here.”

Sean shook his head. “You’re going to get it later.”

“Ooh,” Elise said to her friend. “You’re in trouble.”

Luke returned with a bottle of water for Sean.

Sean drank half of it in one gulp and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “So, what did I miss? You all looked pretty serious when I walked in.” He lifted the bottle to take another drink.

“Oh, I just caught the ladies—and I use that term loosely—talking about our dicks.”

Sean started coughing on his water, practically spitting it across the room. “Holy shit.”

“Luke,” Elise said.

But he continued on, “Yeah, what you saw was guilt on their faces because I’d busted them.”

“That’s not true,” Rachel lied.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elise protested.

Sean shook his head in mock disappointment. “You two are dirty, dirty girls.”

“Yeah, you’re a bunch of perverts,” Luke said, grinning.

Elise and Rachel turned back around, facing away from the guys, and smiled at each other.

“Then, I guess you’re never going to find out whose is bigger,” Elise said.

“That’s easy,” Luke started.

“Mine is,” both guys said at the same time.

Rachel rolled her eyes, and Elise laughed.