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That voice went quiet, reverent, as Parker led Erin into the art building. Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. Erin felt a little reverent herself, getting to see the place where Parker spent so much of her time.
Large windows filled two walls of the studio and provided plentyof natural light. Empty easels took up most of the room, individual drop cloths under each. A counter with a huge sink in the middle of it ran along one wall. Splotches of paint marked the countertop. There was an old-school boombox that Erin imagined got plenty of use. At home, Parker had always listened to music at ridiculously high volumes when she painted.
Parker led Erin to a group of tall skinny cubbies in the corner of the room.
She pulled a canvas out of one, the tips of her ears going red.
“It’s gorgeous,” Erin whispered.
She’d told her the same thing about every piece of artwork since before Parker was coloring inside the lines. It was true, every time.
“Maureen—the professor—she’s been trying to get me to major in art.”
“You’ve barely been here a month,” Erin said. “You’ve got time to decide.”
Parker slid the canvas back into the cubbyhole labeled with her name. “Yeah. Right.”
She sounded disappointed. Erin tried to fix it.
“I mean, I can see why she’d want you to,” she said. “You’ve always been absurdly talented. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to pick right away. College is a time to figure out who you are and what you want. It’s your first time away from home. You can do—”
“Oh my God, Mom, I know, I’ve heard your inspiring college speech like nine hundred times.”
“You have to let me mom you at least a little, now that I don’t have as many chances to do it,” Erin said. “You know I’m going to be hideously embarrassing cheering at your concert tonight, right?”
Parker groaned theatrically, but she was laughing, her previous discontent gone.
Three
ERIN
Erin should’ve felt worse about this situation than she did.
Shefuckedone of her daughter’s friends! Rationally, she knew how absurd that was.
This was just… not a thing that happened. People didn’t sleep with their children’s friends—at least not the type of people Erin knew. Jesus, her mother would’vekilledher. Getting divorced had been bad enough, now a sex scandal?
It wasn’t going to be ascandal,obviously. No one in Nashua knew anything about it. Only Erin and Cassie knew. And that was how it was going to stay. No one could ever know. She had considered telling Rachel when it was a standard one-night stand, but now? No. This was a secret Erin needed to take to her grave.
Here was the thing, though…
It was great sex. No, “great” was not the proper adjective. It was outstanding, unbelievable, history-making, world-shaking sex. It couldn’t just have been that Erin hadn’t slept with a woman since college. Erin had had good sex—even since the divorce, she’d had good sex. She’d never had sex like that. Which didn’t even make sense because it had been in the back seat of a car. Who has the best sex of their life in a parking lot in the back of a rental?
Cassie wasn’t even old enough to rent a car.
Erin should’ve been embarrassed.
Erin should not have been sitting on the edge of her hotel room bed, wondering if there was a way for it to happen again. She should not have been considering changing her clothes. There was no reason she couldn’t wear what she wore to breakfast to the a cappella concert.
Then again, she left tomorrow. If she didn’t change, then she’d overpacked. It would’ve been a waste, really, if she didn’t change.
In a fit of pique yesterday morning, Erin had thrown her favorite jeans into her suitcase. The ones Rachel always said made her ass look amazing. She hadn’t needed to pack them, and she definitely didn’t need to wear them. She’d packed the jeans for Adam, to remind him how hot his ex-wife was. Adam was not the reason Erin edged them up her legs.
She wasn’t doing anything wrong. It wasn’t a crime to want to look nice. It hurt no one to distract Cassie with a little cleavage. Sure, maybe Erin was thinking more about how Cassie didn’t get to see her boobs last night, how it was a lot easier to pull a shirt over her head than take a dress off—but it wasn’t like anything was going to happen. They were going to be in an auditorium filled with people.
There was a chance she wouldn’t even see Cassie, Erin realized as she found a seat. She left the aisle seat open next to her, even though Cassie had probably already arrived. She’d be sitting with Acacia or any number of age-appropriate friends. Erin looked for her anyway.
Erin would’ve had a hard time finding Parker in a crowd this big; she had no chance of finding someone she’d only met twice. In the bar—and in the bar’s parking lot—the light had been too low for her to even notice the pink streaks in Cassie’s hair. The crowd here was boisterous, a steady hum of noise punctuated by occasional shouting or shrieks of laughter. It skewed young. Young enough that Erin wanted to look away. She’dsleptwith acollege student.
