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Unlocking the door, Juliette stepped inside. When she’d left on Saturday, the interior temperature had hovered around fifty degrees. Now, though, the thermostat claimed the temperature was almost at sixty-seven. Even better, she had hot water, and that meant she could take a shower—something she hadn’t done since Friday. So rather than unpack her bag or make any of the phone calls she wanted to, she stepped in the tub and turned the hot water on full blast. She didn’t leave until her fingertips resembled prunes either.
Showered and dressed, she grabbed her cell phone and got comfortable on the sofa, one she was glad she didn’t need to sleep on tonight. Two nights spent on Aaron’s had been more than enough.
It beat sleeping on the floor, she reminded herself, pulling the throw blanket over her legs and calling Holly, the first person on her mental list.
Last night, she’d told Aaron he didn’t need to sleep downstairs with her. After watching him tend the fire all day, she felt confident she could keep an eye on it during the night. On the rare chance an emergency arose, she’d insisted she could wake him if she couldn’t handle whatever it was. He’d turned down her offer in a manner so diplomatic, ambassadors at the United Nations would have been impressed. He’d started by explaining that he always stayed in the living room if he kept a fire burning all night. Then he went on to say that he didn’t even leave the task to his sister. While she believed the first part, Juliette assumed there was only a 10 percent chance the second statement was true. In her opinion, it was far more likely Aaron worried he wouldn’t have a house standing in the morning if he left her alone downstairs. Whatever the actual reason behind his decision, rather than argue, she offered to sleep on the floor so he could use the sofa. He’d turned her down without even considering it. She’d suspected he would even before she made the offer. A man who offered up the use of his house, as well as his bed and cooked breakfast for you, would not turn around and make you sleep on the floor.
With the power back and the heat once again working, it was no longer an issue. And with the housing situation back to normal, she could turn her attention to a different dilemma: what the heck she and Aaron should do tomorrow night. As tempting a thought as it was, and oh, man was it tempting, they couldn’t spend the entire evening sitting on this very sofa and kissing. Nope, they needed another activity for the night.
She’d been thinking about it off and on since Saturday. As of yet, not even one possibility had come to her. She needed help from someone familiar with the area. If Aaron hadn’t been sitting across from her, she would’ve asked Candace for suggestions when she saw her earlier. Not only would she know what was available, but she knew her brother’s likes and dislikes. At least, Juliette assumed she did. She certainly knew the bulk of Scott’s, and the last time they’d lived in the same house, she hadn’t even been old enough to drink. She could call her, but Candace had been away for the past few days and probably had things to do before heading to her class tonight.
But if Holly didn’t answer, she’d have to either risk bothering Aaron’s sister or maybe reach out to Holly’s mom.
“Hey, I was thinking about calling you,” Holly greeted after the fifth ring. “Are you still at the campground?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“My mom called me last night when she and dad got home from the airport. They went down to Florida to visit my aunt for her birthday.”
Well, that explained why Mrs. Lambert hadn’t answered when she called on Saturday morning. She’d been disappointed at the time, but now she might have to thank the woman for not being in town the next time she saw her.
“She said the power had been out since sometime Friday night. She was worried about you. I told her you’d probably left and gone to stay with your cousin or parents. Please tell me you just got back and didn’t spend the weekend with no heat.”
“No, I’ve been here the whole time.”
“You must be half frozen. You should have called my brother. He would’ve let you stay with him. That’s where Tara stayed.”
She’d thought of Marc when Mrs. Lambert didn’t answer on Saturday. But although she’d seen Holly’s twin countless times when he’d visited her, she didn’t have his phone number. “I don’t have Marc’s number.”
“Really? You should have called me. I would’ve given it to you,” Holly said before she rattled off Marc’s number. “Seriously, if you ever need help, call him. He won’t mind.”
She jotted down the number and later would add it to her contact list. Even if she never called Holly’s twin, it didn’t hurt to have Marc’s contact info.
“I can’t believe you stayed there and froze your butt off. I know you wanted some time alone, but that’s nuts.”
Time to set the record straight so she could move the conversation on to her reason for calling. “I stayed at Aaron’s house until the power came back this morning.”
“Inviting you to stay there sounds like something Candace would do. When we were in school, other kids would always ask her for help because they knew she wouldn’t say no. Next time I come to visit, I think I’ll stop by and say hello.”
Yeah, judging by the time she’d spent with Candace, she could see that happening. “She didn’t invite me. Aaron did. Candace was in Boston with her daughter and mom all weekend.”
“You and Aaron alone all weekend with very little to do? Tell me you found a pleasurable way to pass the time.”
Juliette looked toward the ceiling. Sex was never far from her friend’s mind. “Oh, yeah. We played a few games of chess, had some nice conversations about our favorite foods, and shared some meals. You get the picture. All things considered, it was a pleasant weekend.” She envisioned Holly shaking her head. “Oh, and I slept on the sofa in the living room.”
Several seconds of silence followed her admission. No doubt Holly was trying to determine if Juliette needed some kind of friendly intervention.
“I’m guessing it wasn’t an X-rated version of chess. Like every time you lost a pawn, you had to give Aaron a lap dance or something.”
An X-rated game of chess, now that was a novel idea. Maybe one that deserved future thought. “Nope. Just regular old chess.”
“I know you said you didn’t want to get into a relationship until the pictures of you and Daniel stop popping up, but the two of you were alone. As in, the only people in the house. No one would’ve known what you did to pass the time. If I’d been in your place, I wouldn’t have slept on the sofa, and we wouldn’t have played chess. Well, I guess if Aaron flat-out told me sex was off the table, I would have, but he’s a guy. Guys don’t pass on no-strings-attached sex.”
Juliette disagreed. Sure, she knew plenty of men—and women, for that matter—who fit Holly’s description, but she also knew some who didn’t. Before Holly really got going on the subject, and Juliette knew from experience her friend would, she needed to come clean. “I didn’t say we only talked and played chess.”
“Details. All. The. Details.”
Sometimes she shared specific details about her sex life with Holly. Other times she didn’t. “We kissed.”
