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I flick on the lights and set her down on her feet.
"Oh, my goodness." She goes right to the afghans. Granny was color blind and bought all her yarn on sale, so the throw blankets are some of the ugliest things I've ever seen, but I love them, because Granny made them with her own hands. "Your grandmother made these, didn't she?"
"She did."
"They're wonderful." Cherry grabs one and wraps it around her shoulders. "I've never owned anything handmade. I've never even met any of my grandparents."
She explores my small house with glee, gushing over everything like it's the height of luxury instead of older than me and looking like it.
In the kitchen she pretends to cook at the stove and peek in the oven at a pie. She's ridiculous and wonderful and adorable. "I've never wanted to cook before. But this kitchen makes me want to learn."
"Really? The avocado green appliances do it for you?"
She turns to me and smiles, setting her elbows on the counter and folding her hands under her chin. "Yep. They sure do."
She looks like she belongs here. I can picture coming home to her in this kitchen, unpacking takeout boxes, because I'm not delusional enough to think either of us is going to cook. I can imagine sharing my home with her, and it scares the hell out of me.
"What really happened between you and James?" I need a reminder about who she's really here for and why she and I can't go riding off into the sunset together.
Her smile falls. "He dumped me over my one phone call from prison. You guessed that much."
"I get the feeling there's a lot more to that story and I need to know the details, honey. I need to understand how anyone could be dumb enough to ever let you go." And that's more than I planned to say, but worth it to see her smile again, if sadly. "If he dumped you for no discernible reason, you'd just be here for closure, and if he did something unforgivable like cheating, I don't see you taking him back."
"You don't know that." She huffs. "Maybe I'm accepting of the human inability to be monogamous and am open to the idea of an open… an open ma… Gah! I can't even say it. I hate cheating. Monogamy is awesome."
"So what happened?" I'm not sure I want to know anymore, but Ineedto know.
"So many horrible things." She drops her face into her hands. "Maybe I should tell you this in the morning. I really want to get laid tonight."
I reach across the counter and slide my hand under the ugly throw to touch the smooth skin of her bare shoulder. I fucking love this skimpy dress she's wearing. "Trust me, baby. There's nothing on earth you could say that will make me want to fuck you less tonight."
She looks up and laughs, a dry, self-deprecating sound. "I'm not sure what it says about me that those words make me want you more."
"You've got good sense. Tell me what happened."
She lets out a shuddery breath. "You have to understand, my mother is a shallow, selfish person, but she's also scared. She believes every woman needs a man to survive and thrive in this world." Cherry clears her throat. "She believes every woman needs a very, very rich man to thrive in this world. RJ wasn't on a trajectory toward great wealth and my mother didn't want me to marry him. She propositioned him at my bachelorette party. The goal being to get me to dump him as a cheater. I guess she didn't think about how pissed I'd be at her."
"Holy shit."
"It gets worse." She studies her green and red nails against the gray of my kitchen counters. "When he turned her down, she offered him money she didn't have to make him go away. My sister is a billionaire, so I guess Mom thought she'd get the money from her."
"I take it that didn't work, either."
"Probably only because RJ knew Mom didn't actually have the money to pay him off. I suspect he was already thinking about ending things after she propositioned him and that was before I, along with Mom, my sister, and my cousins, all got arrested for trying to break into the safe in the nightclub."
"I take it that was your mother's idea."
"Thank you for that." Her voice is small and makes me want to pull her into my lap and hug her tight. "Yes. She was drunk and pissed that my sister had cut her off from unlimited access to her billions, so she decided to rob the safe. The rest of us were trying to stop her."
"Of course you were." Cherry is many things, but she's not a thief. Hell, I can't even think of a time she's lied to me.
"RJ was my one call from jail and he dumped me."
"He didn't even help you get out?"
"No." She slaps her palms on the counter, her expression grim, her body tense. "He was understandably upset, and he was embarrassed. He was just starting out as a lawyer and he couldn't afford to have his reputation tarnished by associating with criminals."
"Cherry." It's hard to get her name out between my clenched teeth. If James were here now, I'd be hard pressed to resist beating the shit out of him.
