The paper folded down. “I was going to leave them on the kitchen table, but then-”

“You got greedy.”

“I didn’t eat breakfast.” Stix grinned at her beguilingly.

Stix had grinned at her just that beguilingly when she was sixteen. He’d been her first date. The traditional boy next door-give or take a few houses. He’d taught her a lot about kisses, most of which was hard earned. Since he was six foot six and she was five foot four, any physical contact had been hard earned, and not, they’d discovered, worth all the trouble. Stix had moved on to taller women, about nine thousand of them, by Kay’s last count, but he popped over regularly and made himself at home.

Lots of people did that to her, actually. She’d never figured out if it was just that kind of neighborhood or if there was an invisible sign on her door that said Endless Open House. She would have missed her family a great deal more if it hadn’t been for her friends, and Stix, unquestionably, was a special friend.

Choosing a cherry-filled doughnut, she plopped down on the kitchen chair across from him and glanced disapprovingly at his feet on the table.

The cowboy boots obediently dropped to the floor.

“You’ve got to stop using this house as a second home,” she remarked idly.

“Can’t understand you.”

With a grin, she swallowed her mouthful of doughnut and repeated the comment, adding, “People are going to think you live here. This is your third visit this week. You do still have a home of your own?”

“Certainly. That’s the place I keep my dirty laundry.”

Kay sighed. “So who’re you going out with tonight?”

“Samantha.”

“Heavens, that’s lasted two months now. Don’t tell me you’ve finally convinced someone you’re worth keeping?”

They bantered over two more doughnuts, after which Stix hinted tactfully that he was honestly hungry. Shaking her head resignedly, she fed him four peanut-butter sandwiches. She felt obliged to feed him. If Samantha ever discovered how much food he consumed, Kay would never have him off her hands.