“Yes.” Abby came closer, surprising her by reaching out to straighten her shirt collar. “Your button-down and sweater dress it up too. But no, the only meal I take care to dress for is the Christmas Day event.”

“With the good china,” Nic supplied.

“Yeah.” Abby sighed. “I’m tired. Are you?”

“I am.”

“Driving all day always does that to me. Warning you now, I’ll be in bed by eight.” Then she held her hand up quickly. “And please, let’s don’t talk about it. I haven’t forgotten your stipulation for coming with me. Believe me, it’s never far from my mind.”

Nic watched her as she neatly folded the clothes she’d carried with her—the clothes she’d been wearing all day while driving. Abby looked nervous and she wasn’t sure if it was because of her or Holly.

“Abby, my stipulation, as you call it, doesn’t involve me forcing myself on you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No? So if I tell you I have no intention of having sex with you, we’ll just leave it at that and call it good?”

Nic walked closer to her. “No, we won’t.” She reached out to still her hands. “Relax.”

Abby must have realized what she was doing, because she tossed the clothes down with a shaky laugh. “So, I’m nervous.”

“Me or Holly?”

“Both.”

“I’m your girlfriend. There’s nothing to be nervous about with me.”

“What if they find out we’re faking?”

“We’ll be fine. I’ll be a doting girlfriend and Holly will be jealous she let you go.”

With a sigh, Abby sat down on top of the jeans she’d just folded. “I don’t know why I’m getting all stressed about this. I hate that she does this to me. It’s not like I have feelings for her or anything. It’s just that last year, I felt like such a wretched, lovesick fool, you know.”

Abby met Nic’s gaze. “I let her play games with me. I knew she was doing it and I did nothing to stop her. I played along with her. I flirted back. I told myself it was because I was lonely. I was feeling unloved.” She made a fist and hit her thigh. “And then I slept with her. We didn’t talk afterward. No. She got out of bed and tiptoed back to Aaron’s room, leaving me alone to dissect everything that had happened. Then over breakfast, she was so overly affectionate with him, it was nauseating. And she was doing it for show, for my benefit. Just to let me know that she was madly in love with Aaron and that she’d only slept with me out of pity.”

“Pity?”