The Debra Dilemma (The Lone Stars Book 4) by Katie Graykowski

people. Don’t get confused.”
    “But I.…” She was going to say deserved it, but did anyone deserve to lose a child? For so long, she’d hated herself. Now, she wasn’t sure what it was like to walk in a world that didn’t revolve around what was wrong with her. “Warren told me that I should stop blaming myself and to blame him. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”
    Grace laughed. “He’s trying to save you from yourself. It’s stupid, but heroic.”
    Warren wanted to save her? That was new. No one had ever wanted to save her mainly because they all knew that she wasn’t worth saving. But Warren seemed to think she was…so maybe….
    “Yeah, I don’t think he wants to save me so much as allay some of his guilt.” That he felt guilt at all was more than she’d thought him capable of. Maybe he did want to save her.
    “Keep telling yourself that, little sister, if it helps you sleep at night.” Grace’s voice held a grin. “Only men who care feel guilt, and only men in love feel really guilty. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, how would you rate his level of guilt?”
    A fifteen. Her heart almost fell out of her chest. Her mind reeled back and forth. Was it possible that he still had feelings for her? No, that was ridiculous. Too much sewage under the bridge. But what if…what if he did still feel something for her? Something that wasn’t hate, that is. Did it matter? And for that matter, did she have feelings for him?
    “You’re funny, and you’re a hopeless romantic. There is nothing between me and Warren.” She picked at a stray thread on the hem of her T-shirt.
    “Uh huh, yeah…okay…whatever you say.” Grace must have flicked on the blinker because Debra could hear the click-clack of the turn signal. “I just turned into your parking lot. Why don’t you follow me to my house and have dinner with us? I’m making Chicken Parmesan, and Laney and Devon are coming over. Summer mentioned that you don’t need to be at work until nine so you have plenty of time.”
    Debra winced. “Don’t you think that would be weird?”
    Considering that she’d slept with both Devon and Chord, the chances for weird were really high.
    “Maybe…okay sure, yes, it will be weird for about a minute and a half, but then it’ll will be over and the weirdness will be gone. You have to face them sometime. You’re my close friend, which means that I’m going to harass you into having dinner with us at least once a week, so you might as well get over the weirdness now.” Grace had a way of boiling complicated things down into simple parts. That was a rare gift.
    “Do you ever take no for an answer?” Debra smiled as she shook her head. After so many years of loneliness, she was suddenly surrounded by mother hens, and she had to admit that it was nice. Now, she had people who loved and watched out for her. It was the first time in a long time that she didn’t feel alone.
    “No.” Grace laughed. “I always get my way. I’m not much of a my-way-or-the-highway kind of person because in my world, there isn’t a highway.”
    “I guess I can come. My nerves are already on edge, what’s a little more humiliation?” She was right. It was best to get it over with.
    “It won’t be that bad.” Grace said over the honking of a horn in the background. “Besides, Chord and Devon know that you’re our friend, so stepping out of line will cost them sex, companionship, good food, and a host of other things that make their lives pleasant.”
    “Damn, y’all are like the mafia, only sneakier and better dressed.” This girlfriend thing really was starting to feel good.
    “You have no idea. We fight like girls and there’s not a man in the world who can stand up to us.” Grace sounded proud to be a woman.
    It beat the alternative, which came with a penis and little to no common sense.
    “Do you normally work nights?” Grace asked.
    “No and yes. Usually I work days, but I fill in when