Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship (9781609417291) by Verge Higgins Lisa

Author:Verge Higgins, Lisa [VERGE HIGGINS, LISA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC044000
ISBN: 9780446575126
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Published: 2011-01-26T05:00:00+00:00

chapter twelve

What the fuck is going on?”

The words slid out of Sarah’s mouth like slivers of steel.

“Easy, Sarah,” Sam said. “Kate is having a hard time of it.”

Sarah glared at them. Why didn’t he loosen his grip? Kate looked pale, but perfectly capable of standing on her own. “Hard time of what?”

“She can’t take it all in. She’s a green recruit. She’s not like you.”

What the hell did that mean? Not dreamy and disconnected? Not short and frizzy-haired and socially awkward? Not fashion-challenged or blithely ignorant of important details? No, Kate was the fierce and capable one; all tasks done impeccably with taste and style; even her kids turned out flawless. She never did anything half assed or by the seat of her pants, like Sarah was trying to do right now, searching for candy to give to a kid with late-stage lymphoma because she had nothing to offer that would really help.

Sarah glared at Kate. To think she’d been worried about Blondie during the drive. To think she’d been worried that, in spite of the vaccinations, Kate had come down with malaria or typhoid or some other tropical malady. Instead, Kate had succumbed to a different kind of fever—with the strapping black Brit who had the irritating ability to unnerve Sarah with nothing more than his tall and brooding presence.

Kate ducked away, muttering something about finding a bathroom. Sarah didn’t bother warning her that the only bathrooms were the squat-toilet kind and not a place for lingering. She’d find out soon enough, and Sarah was still reeling over the vision of Kate and Sam embracing. A red haze threatened the edges of her vision, even as Sarah told herself that Kate hadn’t been herself in weeks, not since the first skydive. The angry haze lingered even as the softer part of her nature argued that Kate was crashing, finally, to earth.

But Sam should know better.

Sam stepped closer, then leaned in the doorway, crossing his arms. “What are you more angry at, Sarah? That I might have kissed Kate? Or that I might have kissed her instead of you?”

“Stop.” Sarah pushed the memory deep, deep inside. She thought she’d made it clear to him: What had happened on the trip to the mountains was irrelevant—just a lapse of judgment in a time of stress. “Kate is a married woman.”

“And vulnerable,” Sam added. “And missing her husband. A heart is a fragile thing.”

Sarah drew in a tight breath as a thought assaulted her. “Did you two have crusader sex in the jungle?”

“Only one of us is indulging in crusader sex,” he retorted, “and it’s not me.”

If her face got any hotter, her skin would sizzle right off her bones. Surely it must be written all over her body, Colin’s kisses like bruises on her throat, the imprint of Colin’s hands all over her skin, and, mostly, the guilt she felt, and the shame.

“Don’t change the subject. This is about you taking advantage of my friend—”

“Oh, no, Sarah-belle, it’s about a lot more than that.

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