“Who the hell knows? I only know that in six weeks, I’ll have to see them. Her. I don’t plan to go alone this time.”

“Who are you going to take? One of your friends?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about who I could ask, and it just seems weird to pretend to be in love with one of my friends. I’m not sure we could pull it off.” She took her first bite of her sandwich, then put it down. “What if I hired someone?”

Sharon picked out a piece of chicken from her salad. “Hire someone? You’re insane. Who does that?”

“I want to enjoy Christmas. I want to enjoy my time with my parents. I don’t want to have to worry about being alone with Holly or having her flirt with me whenever Aaron is not around. I’m weak when it comes to her. I’ll break. It’s too stressful. It took years off my life, I’m sure.”

“And like I said, if you really don’t want anything to do with her, call her on it.”

“That’s just it. I don’t know if I don’t want anything to do with her. Right now, of course, I can say emphatically no. But when we’re alone and she makes it clear that she wants to sleep with me, who knows?”

“So tell him what she does. Hell, tell him you slept together last year.” She waved her hand in the air. “You’re making too big a deal out of it.”

“He would never believe me. He thinks I’m obsessed over the fact that they are seeing each other.”

“And aren’t you?”

“I am not! I don’t even give them a thought.” That much was true. It was also true that she and her brother no longer had a relationship, but that was irrelevant.

Sharon tapped her arm. “What about that one? She looks like she’s gay.”

Abby frowned. “That one what?”

“For you to hire.” She casually motioned to Abby’s left. “Two tables over.”

Abby slowly turned, seeing a young woman sitting alone. She was wearing shorts and what appeared to be very dirty sneakers. Her hair was dark, cut short over her ears, and she was wearing sunglasses. The side view she had of her wasn’t enough to assess her looks, but she didn’t have to. She’d seen the woman before, earlier in the summer. And within the last month or so, she’d seen her about once a week, out here in the courtyard, always eating alone, always wearing shorts and dark sunglasses. Definitely not dressed for one of the offices that called the Las Colinas Towers home.

“Where do you think she works? I’ve seen her out here before.”