More Than Friends Read Free Page B

Melanie. “No backpedaling now. You’ve picked your side.”
    Kendall broke in. “Just promise me you’ll give Richard’s cousin a chance.”
    “Okay. Damn it. I’ll give her a chance.”
    The doorbell rang and she smiled, knowing Evelyn would have to paste on a fake smile and make nice for the next several hours. Someday, she’d find the perfect woman for Evelyn, but for now she was operating under the theory that quantity could beget quality. Fixing Evelyn up with every available lesbian she met could only increase the odds that one of them would be the right one.
     
    *
     
    Thirty minutes later, Kendall and Melanie’s apartment was filled with football fans. Melanie threaded her way between them, offering to refill drinks. When she reached the kitchen, she checked the levels of the snack trays. She’d just dumped another bag of tortilla chips into a bowl when she heard a voice close to her ear.
    “Sit down and relax, Mel. Everything is taken care of.” Evelyn leaned over her shoulder to survey the counter full of food.
    She turned and Evelyn took a step back. “I just want to make sure everyone has enough to eat.”
    “The game is about to start. Let people fend for themselves.”
    “I’ll be right there.”
    Evelyn shrugged as if she knew distracting Melanie from her hostess duties was a futile effort. She stepped toward the door to the living room but stopped when Kendall entered escorting Richard, their neighbor from two doors down, and another woman.
    She bore some resemblance to Richard, having the same pale complexion and prematurely gray hair. But her silvery strands had obviously been enhanced at the salon. She scanned the room, then stopped when she saw Evelyn. As she purposely raked her gaze over Evelyn’s body, interest flooded her eyes.
    Evelyn’s faded jeans hugged her narrow hips, but the over-sized Patriots jersey hung on her shoulders and gave little clue as to what lay underneath.The woman’s eyes lingered predictably on Evelyn’s face, taking in her high cheekbones, smooth olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes the color of rich chocolate. Evelyn was endearingly unaware just how gorgeous she was, but Melanie had watched several women fall for her exotic features.
    “Hey, we were just looking for you two. This is Richard’s cousin, Tiffany.” Kendall touched the woman’s shoulder. If she’d witnessed Tiffany cruising Evelyn, she gave no indication. “Tiffany, this is my girlfriend, Melanie, and this is Evelyn.”
    “It’s nice to meet you.” Now, Tiffany made eye contact with each of them.
    “Welcome, Tiffany. Make yourself at home,” Melanie said.
    “Yeah, and if you need anything, just ask Melanie.” Evelyn dropped a hand on Melanie’s shoulder and grinned at her.
    “Funny,” she murmured.
    “You’re a Patriots fan, huh?” Tiffany asked, her gaze on Evelyn’s chest.
    “Afraid so,” Evelyn said with a shrug.
    “Hmm. I suppose that’s not a deal breaker.”
    “Good to know.” Evelyn smiled.
    They made polite small talk for several minutes, then drifted toward the living room to claim seats.
    “You coming, Mel?” Kendall asked as the kitchen emptied.
    “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
    “It’s almost kickoff.”
    She smiled, knowing that seeing the kickoff was much more important to Kendall than to her. For Kendall, the opening minutes of the game were a ritual, as were the closing ones. No matter how wide the point spread between the two teams, she never left a game early. “Go ahead. I’ll just be a second.”
    Melanie lingered in the kitchen for several minutes, then grabbed a fresh beer from the fridge and stepped through the threshold to the living room.
    She paused and leaned against the doorjamb as her friends erupted into cheers for the kickoff return. Kendall and Evelyn slapped each other’s hands in an enthusiastic high-five. Titans football was a tradition in their house, through good seasons and bad. Today, it seemed, things were already going