Free Night Whispers by Leslie Kelly Page B

toward her own sofa.
    “No problem, honey, you look upset. Let me make you some tea to calm you down.”
    “I’m all right,” Kelsey insisted, “though I’m about ready to strangle one overbearing anthropologist!”
    Celia smoothed back Kelsey’s hair and then handed her a tissue. Fred’s girlfriend looked like a little wren, with an incredibly expressive face dominated by huge brown eyes and a gentle smile. Kelsey could never imagine her raising her voice, much less screeching at a man loud enough to wake the upstairs neighbors in the middle of the night.
    “I’m sorry about this, Celia. I can’t believe we woke you up.”
    Celia filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stove. “It’s all right. Though I’m sure Fred’s going to turn five shades of red the next time he sees you because you and Mitch now know that I slept over.”
    Kelsey laughed softly, her bad mood quickly evaporating with Celia’s rueful smile. “Oh, right, we never suspected. It’s not as though I can see your car parked across the street when I get home at three o’clock or anything.”
    “I won’t bother trying to hide it anymore, then,” Celia said with a grin. “So, do you want to talk about…anything?”
    She didn’t, really. What was there to talk about? She knew from the moment she took the job at the station that Mitch and her family would never approve. His reaction tonight had come as absolutely no surprise.
    “It was just a typical argument. Mitch heard my show for the first time tonight. He wasn’t pleased,” Kelsey admitted as she curled up in one corner of the sofa.
    “I could tell,” Celia said nodding slowly. “From what Fred tells me, you and he have a sort of love-hate relationship?”
    “I guess you could say that.” Kelsey kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her. “Mitch and I have always gotten under each other’s skin. I was a pretty rotten kid, and he was the target of a lot of my pranks. Not that he was much better. He was hell on wheels himself.”
    “Mitch? Our Mitch?”
    Kelsey grinned at the disbelief in Celia’s voice. “Yes, nice, dependable, studious Mitch. He was a regular juvenile delinquent. He didn’t really straighten up until he was about seventeen.”
    “I can’t believe it. I mean, I don’t know him that well, but from what Fred has said, Mitch seems almost…”
    “Conservative? Don’t let the brains fool you. He’s somehow managed to keep his emotions suppressed, but I imagine they’re still churning away somewhere deep inside. He just needs someone to remind him they’re there.”
    “Volunteering?”
    Celia laughed, but Kelsey didn’t join in. “Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” A slow smile spread across her lips.
    “I recognize that look. That’s a Lady Love face. Let me guess, you feel anything but sisterly toward him, right?” Celia asked as she carried two cups from the kitchen.
    Kelsey sighed deeply. “Celia, I have been incredibly attracted to that man for years. And now, finally, I know he feels the same way. But when he allows himself to give in to those feelings for a moment, he yanks away as if he’s committed some crime.”
    Celia didn’t respond. Kelsey almost regretted taking her into her confidence. She’d never told anyone that she had the slightest interest in Mitch. It had been her secret, a schoolgirl fantasy, for many years. It was the dream she would indulge in while drying her hair or, lately, while bathing. Now that she’d said the words out loud, it was too real.
    “You didn’t see the way he looked at you when you stormed up the stairs,” Celia said with a gentle smile. “I thought for a second he was going to grab you and throw you over his shoulder and carry you off or something…it was terribly romantic.”
    Kelsey gave her a sour look and stirred her tea. “If Mitch wanted to throw me anywhere, it wouldn’t be over his shoulder…it would be off a bridge.”
    Celia sipped her tea silently. She