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“He looks like a lumberjack,” I said, steering clear of that not-safe-for-the-children’s-section conversation.
“He cuts down trees for a living,” she whispered. “Heisa lumberjack. That’s so hot. And you know what they say about everything being proportional. Does he have big hands?”
“Dinner plates,” I said immediately.
“Then you know he’s got a big–”
I covered her mouth with my hand, glanced around as if we might get caught just talking about a dick. “Shh.”
Her eyes were amused and the second I pulled my hand away, she asked, “What are you going to do about it?”
I sniffed, pushed my glasses up. “Nothing, of course. Doing something about it isnotme. I do not throw myself at men. What would people think?”
Mallory was in a relationship with the reasonably-new town doctor, who was maybe a decade older than she. I hadn’t met Theo James, but she’d told me all about how they met. How she’d only had sex once before and Theo had volunteered to teach her some things. I’d confided I was a virgin because if anyone, she understood since we were close in age and she finally had sex–besides the fumbling, first time at sixteen–recently.
“Who cares what people think?”
“I do!”
“Every woman in town would tell you to go for it. To take one for Team Womankind. Maybe it’s time to let theyouwho gets eaten by the big lumberjack out to play.”
I was… on edge. Confused and had no idea what to do. Ialwaysknew what to do because I kept everything in order. Tidy. Before now, it had been easy to ignore guys. To think about sex somewhat detached, because none of them had ever given me… zings in my things. Creepy Carl, who liked the idea of a mother/daughter sandwich had shut all the zings down where a guy was concerned.
I was intrigued by sex, read about it. A lot. I was a librarian, after all. I knew what it would be like but had never been interested. That didn’t mean I didn’t orgasm. I had sex toys. Vibrators. Dildos. Used them solo with a healthy frequency. I was a virgin, but I wasn’t a clueless one.
Now, all of a sudden, a man burst into my life–literally and figuratively–and I was all out of sorts. And I’d be all out of panties if I kept thinking about him and how his beard would feel against my inner thighs.
Wrong. So wrong!
“It doesn’t matter. His son will pay Fred’s vet bills and that will be it. I’m sure I’ll never see Daniel Pearson again.”
“Miss Melly! Are you two talking about boys?”
It was Theresa, a third grader who asked, but everyone in the group was giggling and waiting for the answer.
I gave Mallory a look and returned to the multipurpose room.
“We were looking up stories about lumberjacks,” Mallory said, following behind and giving Theresa a googly face, the kind one made to look weird in a group photo.
Everyone laughed and made various funny faces back.
Mallory turned to me. “We’re far from done on this topic. Drinks. Tonight. We’re hashing this out.”
“It’s my meal prep night.”
The kids chattered amongst themselves.
Her eyes widened. “Meal prep night? Hell, no. My brother’s bar, seven o’clock.”
Clearly she didn’t plan her meals for the week or understand the importance of a routine.
“I love lumberjacks!” Theresa said gleefully. “They know how to swing an ax.”
Mallory gave me a pointed look before she faced the group. Even an eight-year-old knew the talents of a bearded, big-handed lumberjack.
“Yeah, they’re really big. Like Paul Bunyan,” Keith added. He was in fifth grade and struggled with reading. The fact that he spoke about a fictional character made me feel good.
“Then let’s look up Paul Bunyan books and you can check some out,” I told him.
