“Take down the post and apologize,” said the same man who said Jolene’s ass was old and wrinkly.
Jolene swallowed, and her eyes darted across mine and Lennox’s faces.
Karen elbowed her friend.“Apologize, Jolene.You really screwed up.”
Holy shit, Karen Ribko had finally grown a backbone?Only took seventy-ish years.
“I’m … I’m sorry,” Jolene murmured.“But if you’d just been honest with me—I mean the island—in the first place, then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Apologies shouldn’t come withbuts,” another person in the yurt said.“Then they’re not real apologies.”
Several people shook their heads and continued to give her dirty looks.
“He didn’t have to share that information with anyone, ever,” I said, practically spitting venom.“And yet, you made it so he had to, so you would get off his back and leave him and Mabel alone.”
“The way she spoke to me at the farmers market—”
“You fucked up, Jolene.Own it and stop making excuses,” said Jackson Clemmons who ran the metalwork shop.
“Mabel is autistic,” Lennox said.“She is gifted.She might be thirteen, but she is already taking college courses—for fun.And as perfect and brilliant as she might be—because to me, my daughter is perfect—she has anxiety and struggles in some social settings.She is also quite shy.It was her idea to approach you, and I support her and the way she did it.You came around our house while she was home alone and tried to get a peek at her through the window.I think the way she spoke to you last weekend was beyond polite enough after your behavior.”
Karen shook her head, regarding her friend with a new level of repugnance.“Jolene, seriously?”
With her nostrils flaring and all her feathers ruffled, Jolene did a rather graceful pirouette and rushed out the door.
“I’m not chasing you,” Karen called after her.“I’m here for yoga.”She moved away from us a bit and set down her mat.
All eyes were on us though.But they were eyes of sympathy and compassion.
“Well, now that that has been dealt with, perhaps we can find some Zen?”Lennox said, reclining onto his back in savasana.“Get our namaste on?”
I followed suit and lay down on my mat.His fingers intertwined with mine, and I rolled my head to the side to smile at him.“You did great.”
“Any chance we can find somewhere to gobe aloneafter this for half an hour?”he mouthed.
The spot between my legs that had become very fond of him in the last week or so fluttered.“Definitely.We might need to get a bit creative though.”
He squeezed my fingers and bobbed his eyebrows.“I’m all about getting creative.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Lennox
It’dbeentwoweekssince the fiasco with Jolene Dandy at the Yoga Yurt.But that run-in seemed to do the trick.The woman had become a bit of an island pariah, and steered clear of anywhere she thought me or Mabel might be.I never saw her at the yurt again, and when IthoughtI saw the back of her head in the grocery store, I never bumped into her or saw her at the checkout.Did she see me and run?Or was it just another woman with a salt-and-pepper bob?Either way, I wasn’t complaining about the lack of Jolene sightings.The Island Mouth could keep her trap shut and far away from my family.
As eventful as our first couple of weeks on the island had been, the next fortnight fell into a delightful, almost mundane routine that my kid and I welcomed.Dawn was able to sweet-talk Kyla’s PO in Cedar Bluff, and was keeping tabs on her.So far, the woman hadn’t left the state and was working as a receptionist at her sister’s salon.
Naomi and I had our standing Wednesday and Friday night dates where we tested the suspension of my truck while parked under the stars on Bonn Remmen’s land.I was surprised we hadn’t encountered any rain, considering we were in the rainy Pacific Northwest, but she said unlike Seattle, which received unprecedented amounts of rainfall, San Camanez was part of its own little microclimate that experienced warmer weather and long dry spells.
Even Mabel appeared to have settled into a nice, predictable routine—which, as she said, suited her autistic brain very nicely.Every Wednesday and Friday I dropped her off at Damon’s house on my way to work, and they spent the whole day together.Damon wanted her to come by more often, but my solitary little genius said she wasn’t ready to add more to her social calendar just yet.I was proud of her for maintaining her boundaries and knowing what she could and couldn’t handle.
It was Wednesday night, and I’d just picked up Naomi to head out for our date, only this time, we weren’t just going to go park and have sex.I wanted to actuallydosomething—before we had sex.
“Ready to go?”I asked her as she climbed into the passenger seat of my truck.She looked super cute and sexy in her black overall shorts with a red sports bra underneath.Her hair, of course, was in twin braids, and she had a few little wisps around her temples and forehead.Would I be able to last an entire “date” without wanting to ravish her?Doubtful, but I’d give it my best effort.
“So, you mentioned adate-date,” she said, giving me a curious look.“What does that mean?”
“Don’t you think we should do more than just stargaze and have sex on our dates?”I asked with a smirk.
