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“Monday? Sure—”
There was something odd in her tone. “Is that a problem? Are you…” He swallowed, forcing himself to address something he wanted to ignore. “I know you guys aren’t staying indefinitely. Are you…you making plans to leave?”
“No. No plans. Walter’s stopped drinking, but he insults every person who comes over to apply for the housekeeper job.”
“Well, that’s good.” He winced. “I mean not that Walter is being difficult. But that you’re staying.”
She laughed, and he wondered what kind of magic this woman had to make him feel so childish.
Enough, he thought. He was Jeremiah freaking Stone and she might not know it yet, but there was a king-sized bed in their future.
“I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go out on Saturday,” he said, getting to the real reason he’d called.
She laughed again, and he heard the jangle of jewelry against her phone. He imagined those silver feather earrings she wore. He liked them, liked how they gleamed against the brown of her skin.
“Let me check my calendar,” she joked. “Nope, totally free.”
“I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Sounds good.”
They hung up, and with his chest getting tighter with every breath, he called Dr. Gilman and canceled his appointment for Saturday. It was one appointment, he told himself to ease the strange guilt that was suffocating him. And she was the one who’d told him to go out and have some fun. Hell, she’d probably approve.
It didn’t change the fact that it felt like he was doing something wrong.
14
Saturday evening Lucy stared down at the drawing she’d made on the paper towel. A wide silver cuff with delicate cutouts of roses and pistols and skulls.
Weird, she thought, twisting it around. Not at all like her usual work. Usually she worked in delicate wire, pieces that looked as if they floated against a woman’s skin.
This was heavy. The pistols and skulls were dark.
“Hey,” Mia said, stepping into the bathroom behind Lucy. “My jewelry-designing sister is designing again.”
Lucy fought the urge to crumple up the towel. “A little, I guess.”
She didn’t know what this meant for her. But that was the nature of her days right now. She barely knew herself.
This thing with Ben.
Lying to her family. To Jeremiah.
Fooling around outside bars. Casually dating a man she feared she didn’t feel at all casual about.
Who am I?
“That’s a cool bracelet,” Mia said, pulling the paper towel closer to her. “I would wear that.”
“Where?” Lucy laughed. “The high pastures?”
“Jack takes me out. In fact, that’s why I’m here.” Lucy met her sister’s eyes in the mirror. It could have been a snapshot from their childhood. The two of them getting ready for something in the same bathroom. Lucy fussing over her makeup and hair. Mia putting her hair in a ponytail and making fun of Lucy for all her girly primping.
But marriage had changed Mia and primping was something she did now. Not very well, or often, but she was learning. And Lucy was delighted to be a part of the process.
“You want to borrow some clothes?”
“Did you bring a dress?”
“Just a yellow sundress.” Lucy started walking toward her room and closet of clothes. “The rest are in storage—”
“Storage?”
Lucy closed her eyes. Shit. All she needed now was her sister asking questions about the condo. “I put some stuff in storage before I came. Let’s see what I’ve got—” She bulldozed her way through any questions Mia might have had, not giving her a chance to talk.
She pulled out the yellow sundress and Mia made a face. Lucy gave it a quick glance, though. Jeremiah would like this. With cowboy boots, Jeremiah would really like it.
“This is pretty hot,” she said, pulling out a thin white top, clingy in all the right places. “You’ve got the right chest for it, that’s for sure.”
Mia lay across Lucy’s bed, ignoring the clothes.
“Have you noticed Mom acting strange lately?” Mia asked.
“Yeah, pretty much since the moment we got here.”
“No. I mean…she hasn’t come out of her room all day today.”
“Is she sick?”
“I asked earlier and she said she was just tired.”
“She’s dealing with Walter—” Lucy felt a little sick speaking ill of the guy who’d helped her out on Thursday, but one good deed could not erase years of mistakes.
“But she’s not. He’s not letting anyone help him. Especially her.”
Lucy paused, an animal-print chemise in her hands. “Maybe she’s depressed. Missing Dad.”
Mia shook her head. “Usually when she’s sad she wants us around. I knocked on her door tonight and she snapped at me to leave her alone.”
Lucy collapsed on the foot of her bed. “We should have left weeks ago.”
“Do you think she liked it better in the city?”
Lucy shook her head. “Honestly, no.”
“I didn’t think so. I don’t know, Lucy, I feel like it’s something else. She’s mad about something.”
“Mom? Mad?”
Mia shrugged. “Strange things are happening around here. Walter’s still not drinking. And now you’re designing jewelry again.”
