AllFreeNovel
Share Us
T: Wut? Come in, silly!
Tani and Zoey had become friends while working on the annual elementary school talent show. Tani’s son, Tyson, was the same age as Hazel. The two moms had bonded over their distinct dislike of the ladies on the committee who’d claimed they wanted help from some of the younger moms. Then they sabotaged every idea Tani implemented as new chairperson because it wasn’t the way they’d done it in the past. At one of the meetings, Tani stood up, swept her long, narrow, purple-tipped braids over her shoulder and pointed at the previous chairwoman.
“You’rethe one who recruited me, Maryellen. You said the committee needed new ideas. I’m starting to wonder if all you needed was somediversityon the team to rubber-stamp your stale-assoldideas.” Tani had grabbed up her bag and turned to go. “Find another token.”
At that point Zoey had stood as well, collecting a lot of wide-eyed stares from the other moms. “She’s right. You’re stonewalling her ideas, which hurts our fundraising, which will hurt our kids. And if Tani goes,Igo. And so does my dad.”
Rob Hartford had built all the stage sets and props for the school pageants and fairs sinceZoeywas a student, and they were stored in his barn. Maryellen begrudgingly backed down. Tani promptly named Zoey her vice-chair. There was still apreciousgroup of women who tried interfering with their plans, but Tani and Zoey outwitted them at every turn, and raised more money than Maryellen’s pals ever had.
Just as Zoey reached the top step, the front door opened. Tani was just as colorful as her house was, wearing an orange and blue tribal-print caftan duster over black leggings and camisole. Her headscarf matched the duster—which she’d undoubtedly made herself—and was knotted above her forehead. Her lipstick was dark orange, matching her nails. The woman was a walking fashion magazine spread, even on a weekday morning.
“What a wonderful surprise!” Tani cried. “Come on in and I’ll start a fresh pot of coffee. I hope you were kidding about the tissues, but I put a box on the table just in case. I take it this isn’t about decorating advice?” She stepped aside as Zoey came in.
“No need for that—Hazel’s designing her own room. Black ceiling and all.” They were going to paint the walls that weekend, then Vickie would deliver the glammed-up bed as a surprise. She followed Tani into her modern white kitchen overlooking a backyard in full bloom. “I need parenting advice. Or dating advice. Or dating while a parent advice.”
Tani’s eyebrows rose. “I haven’t dated in a long,longtime.” She and her husband, Terry, had been married over twenty years, fresh out of high school.
“I know.” Zoey sat on a stool at the marble-topped kitchen island. “But I need to talk this out with someone I trust to keep it between us and who isn’t going to have her own agenda.”
“Hang on,” Tani answered, pressing the button on the coffee maker to grind fresh coffee beans for the brew. When the noise subsided, she pulled two mugs from the cupboard and turned. “The more you talk, the more questions I have. Who has an agenda? What parenting advice could you possibly need? And most importantly, who the hell are you dating? The last I knew, you said you weren’t ready to even think about it.”
“Maybe I should have stayed with that thought,” she replied. “And I’m not reallydating, we’re just—”
“Flirting?”
“More than flirting...”
“Kissing?”
“More than that.”
“Oh, shit—you’ve already gone to bed with the guy, haven’t you?” Tani’s eyes were round. “You skipped over the preliminaries and just hopped right in the sack. Damn, girl. Are you having regrets or aching to jump his bones again?”
Zoey closed her eyes with a sigh.
“Both.”
“Ahh...and that’s the problem, isn’t it?” The coffee maker beeped, and Tani filled the two mugs and sat next to Zoey. “Tell me everything.”
She did, although it took a while for her friend to get past the news that the man involved was Mike McKinnon.
“Mike?The guy you’ve known since you were little? Mary’s brother?” She paused. “Well, that explains why you can’t talk to Mary about it. Or the half-dozen McKinnon cousins who live in town. Hell, it’s hard to think ofanyonein Rendezvous Falls who doesn’t know Mike...and like him.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait, didn’t you tell Piper Taggart and me a couple months ago that you wouldneverfeel that way about Mike because you were besties and you didn’t want to ruin that? Oh...” Tani put her hand on Zoey’s arm. “You ruined that, didn’t you?”
There was a very good chance she had. “Are you going to let me tell you the story, or would you rather play twenty questions?”
Tani raised her hands in innocence, then made a gesture as if to lock her lips and throw away the key. Zoey told her everything, from that night in the shop a month ago when she and Mike had that weird conversation about her boobs to last night’s adventures on Dad’s desk—although she didn’t provide as many details as Tani would have liked. And then Hazel’s painfully timed comments that morning about wanting Zoey to remain virginal.
Tani snorted. “Ship’s already sailed on that one. Or should I say thedeskhas already sailed? Damn.” She paused, staring into her mug, then standing as she realized both their mugs were empty. She refilled them, then sat again, still deep in thought. “I know Monique Johnson pretty well. Just because she’s using a dating app doesn’t mean she’s out there going wild with a new man every night or anything.”
“I’m not judging Monique at all. She’s a grown woman and can do what she wants. She deserves to be happy.”
“The same could be said about you,” Tani pointed out.
“Maybe. But when my daughter literally asks me to be a nun when it comes to dating—twelve hours after I had sex with my best friend on my late father’s desk—I don’t know how to wrap my head around that.”
There was a long beat of silence in the spotless kitchen. Tani reminded Zoey a lot of Vickie—stylish, with never a hair, or dish, out of place. But Tani was more laid-back than Vickie—it seemed to come more naturally to her. The style. The wisdom. That’s why Zoey valued her feedback. She knew it would be honest and direct, even if it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. But the longer it took for Tani to answer, the more anxious Zoey felt. Finally, Tani straightened in her seat.
“You’re trying too hard.”
