Icing on the Cake (Close to Home) by Karla Doyle Read Free Book Online Page A

similarities. Impossible not to after living together for a decade.
    “Hey…did I miss anything good last night?” As far as traditional apologies went, this rated pretty high for suckage. But Nia would understand its deeper meaning. She’d always had a wide margin for forgiveness, thank god.
    “Hmm…” Nia tapped one waiting-to-be-manicured fingertip on her cheek. “Aside from Curtis and Conn stripping down to their boxers and jumping off the dock for a late-night swim after everybody else had cleared out…no, you didn’t miss a thing.”
    Sara’s jaw dropped, literally. Because whoa, the visual. “You’re shitting me.”
    “Maybe. Maybe not.” Nia shrugged and hopped off the bed, a smug smile in place as she tightened the belt of her pink satin bathrobe. “It pays to stick around. You never know what you might miss by skipping out.”
    A side-door lecture to match Sara’s indirect apology. “Well played, blondie.”
    “Thanks. But I’m still not confirming or denying,” Nia said, playfully shoulder-shoving her as they walked down the hall.
    “And I still have seven-or-so hours to tweak my toast for the wedding reception. I’m sure your future in-laws would enjoy that funny story about Zeus howling at the foot of your bed while you and Conn—”
    “Yes, they went swimming last night.” The words tumbled from Nia’s mouth as if she couldn’t get them out fast enough. Not surprising, since they’d reached the end of the hall where it joined the edge of the kitchen, and their parents were no more than six feet away, definitely within earshot.
    “What had Zeus howling?” Mom looked from their faces to the canine in question, sitting quietly at her side. “I’ve never heard him make a noise inside the house. You must have really thrown him off, whatever you and Conn were doing.”
    Nia’s cheeks made the jump from pink to blazing-red. As for her lips, they’d parted, but nothing came out.
    Rescue time. “They were trying to make the bed with new sheets that were the wrong size. Tugging them back and forth in what could’ve been an I Love Lucy skit.”
    Meredith laughed. “Poor Zeus. He must’ve been so confused.” She patted him on the head and slipped him a piece of cantaloupe from the fruit platter.
    “Yeah, I bet he was.” She settled in near the blushing bride-to-be, leaned across the corner of the dining table and whispered, “Kind of ironic that I saved your ass by covering up the story about your ass.”
    “Oh my god. I’m never telling you anything ever again.”
    Not for the first time—or even the tenth—today, Curtis popped into her head. You sure do throw the ‘never’ and ‘ever’ around a lot.
    She hadn’t noticed it until his comment, but she did use those words frequently. So did Nia. Another trait they shared. One of the few, all of them special.
    “Hey,” she said, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. “Sorry about yesterday.” She wanted to promise it wouldn’t happen again, but that would end up being a lie. Good intentions never went the distance. She always fucked things up.
    Nia’s delicate hand found hers and squeezed. “It’s okay, I get it.”
    Of course she did, she’d been there, at Sara’s side, through everything. Sara cleared her throat and nodded. “Good. Great. Now pass the bacon. If I’m going to spend an entire day decked out in pink, I need porkification first.”
    “Here you go, pig out.”
    “Correction, pig in .” She popped a strip of crispy bacon into her mouth and flipped half a dozen more pieces onto her plate.
    Their parents joined them at the table. Despite the hum of excitement surrounding the day, a hint of sadness lingered in her dad’s eyes. She’d put it there, calling him Peter when he’d been the best father a man could be to a child, blood-relation or otherwise. She’d talk to him about it later. A real talk, with feelings and stuff.
    But not now. She’d be damned if she ruined another