Chapter Six
“What am I gonna do now?”
In the condominium parking lot, Rex wagged his tail in the front seat of the Jag anxious to go for a ride. But Joy sat there with her chin resting on the steering wheel as she prayed for answers.
Even with the anxiety pills Sophia managed to get on her daughter’s last fragile nerve, causing Joy to burn the only reliable bridge in her life.
Well, maybe not the only bridge, but close enough.
Losing her cool was pointless. In order to survive as a single-mother, she’d need to get her act together fast.
She ran down the to-dos in her head.
One: find a place to live. Preferably with ample space for two rambunctious little boys that also allows pets.
Two: find a real full-time job instead of a bunch of part-time gigs. After last night, Cal wouldn’t want her back anyway, so there goes all the prospective tips she was banking on. Maybe she could finagle some extra hours at Violet’s and the Christmas Shoppe.
Three: trade in the Jag for something roomy and sensible.
Four. She sighed. It took all her willpower to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest and the overwhelming desire to add call Tristan to the list. Falling for Casanova was the worst thing she could do right now.
Thank God Scenic View didn’t have a drive-thru pizzeria. It was bad enough she broke down and ate bacon today. The last thing her waistline and cholesterol level needed was another emotional food fest.
Scrolling through the contacts in the cellphone for her local go-to gal-pal, Joy found Tristan first under C. Lord knows she wanted to call him but it made more sense to erase the number and remove all temptation. Her finger hovered over his name, torn between Dial and Delete, but rather than make a hasty decision, she skipped over it.
Instead she dialed Lily Lane, who was more of a surrogate-sister than a conspiring girlfriend. A pang of guilt stabbed her heart for only calling in the past to check on the folks without having to talk directly with them. The last time she’d spoken to Lily was in February to say she couldn’t make it to the wedding. Joy didn’t dare mention her plan to return to Scenic View, just like she never mentioned the years of marital problems, not wanting the sensitive information to leak to her parents.
Lily answered on the first ring and Joy sucked in an uneasy breath. “Hi, Lil. Mind if I swing by?” Less than ten minutes later she pulled into the driveway, shocked at the remnants of the burned down bungalow.
Wearing a pink bathrobe and a tangle of flaming red hair, Lily waved from the luxury camper in the yard. “Come on in. Check out my castle on wheels.”
“My parents told me about the fire, but I had no idea…” Joy sat at the compact table in the motor home with Rex nestled between her feet, feeling guilty for not reaching out to Lily sooner.
“A total loss. But not really.” Lily made a fresh pot of coffee. “I got Nick.” She wiggled her ring finger sparkling with diamonds. “We’re living here until we figure out what to do with the house.”
Joy blurted out the devastating details of her topsy-turvy life while Lily refilled their mugs, nodding and listening.
“We’ve only got the one bedroom but the couch converts to a bed if you need a place to stay. I know your folks can be a bit much to handle sometimes.”
“Thanks for the offer but I’ll be all right. That is, if my mother lets me through the door.” Joy mustered the nerve to ask for a favor. “I was wondering…do you think Nick might have an affordable place I can rent?”
“I don’t know much about his business but I’ll talk to him for you.”
“Thanks.” Joy sipped her black coffee. “I’m glad things worked out for you, Lil. You deserve it after all you’ve been through.” Of all the kids growing up in the neighborhood, Lily had the roughest ride, living with her alcoholic mother after losing her dad in a fire.
“The bungalow would have needed to be leveled anyway if I were to fix it up. Nick’s handy, so I don’t have to worry about anything but picking out the colors.”
“He seems like a nice guy.”
Lily cocked a suspicious eyebrow. “And how would you know?”
Joy’s face got hot. She should have kept her mouth shut. It was bad enough the grapevine would soon be burning up with tales of her drunken exhibition with Tristan on Mr. Lucky’s dance floor, plus whatever rumors sprouted from their public display of inebriated affection. It didn’t make sense to attempt denying it, but she could down play everything. “I, uhh, met him. This morning.”
With a slanted knowing look, Lily asked, “You met my Nick? May I ask where?”
“Well…” Although there was no reason to get tongue-tied and twisted in front of Lily, Joy paused, wanting to ensure her story got out straight and without any misunderstanding. “At his friend’s place.”
“Ah-ha.” Lily smiled bright. “Nick told me Tristan has a houseguest this morning. I didn’t believe him, but he wasn’t lyin’. You little vixen.”
Joy cringed. “I asked him not to tell you.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell your folks about your sexy sleepover party.”
“Good. Because I already told my mother I spent it here.”
“Next time your lie includes me you might wanna tell me first. But I can understand how you might’ve lost your mind for moment. Tristan’s a real cutie.”
Joy refrained from gushing about the guy that rocked her socks off. “I suppose.”
“You suppose?” Lily pursed her lips in doubt. “Are you blind? Or playing dumb? I’m surprised no one scooped him up already. Well, he does have a kid, which might be a deal breaker for some women. But, hey, you have two. Can’t get any more compatible than that. The guy’s a keeper in my book. A total package for a single-mom like you. Brains. Looks. Body. Personality.”
Joy kept her cool and shrugged as if her tryst with Tristan meant nothing. “Maybe. If I was into that sort of thing?”
“And you’re not? What else do you need?”
“I dunno. Never mind. Let’s forget it.”
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same guy? ’Cause Nick said Tristan’s nuts about you. You know what they say. First comes love. Then comes second-marriage.”
“Whoa.” Joy halted the conversation with her palms. “It’s definitely not love.” The four-letter word usually gave her a stomach cramp, but in the same sentence as Tristan it made her heart flutter like a schoolgirl with a puppy-love crush. “It’s anything but love. That’s just absurd.”
“Then what is it? A one-nighter?”
Joy shrugged. “Let’s just say it was a first-and-only. Just like my one night working at Mr. Lucky’s. I’m sure Cal doesn’t want me back. Honestly, waitressing isn’t for me anyway. I don’t know what made me think I could handle it. I was desperate and it was the first Help Wanted sign I saw.” She paused for a breath and rubbed her forehead. “And then there’s Tristan. The first decent guy to hit on me in so long. I can’t believe I went home with him.” Burying her face in her hands wasn’t enough to hide her humiliation. “God, what was I thinking?”
“Joy Barbieri, you were never the Girl-Gone-Wild one-night stand type. What’s come over you?”
Despite being drunk as a skunk, she knew exactly what she was doing last night and the fragmented memories had Joy wincing. Without admitting it, she unintentionally premeditated the whole thing the moment she stashed the condoms in her bag, just in case something suddenly came up. Instead of going home after Cal told her to end the night, she’d stuck around for Casanova’s company. Sucked down cocktails like water. Gyrated like there was no tomorrow. Power puked in the rain. Did it in the dark with a guy she just met. All the stuff she should’ve done before two C-sections and stretch marks she’d squeezed into a few hours. To top it off, she ate bacon. She’d have to double-up on her roughage to work that poison out of her system before it undid all the years of hard work getting her body into this shape.
Joy sipped her coffee for the strength required to compress her whole life into a bad excuse for a night of poor judgment. “Well, after ten years of marriage and a torturous divorce, I figured it was time to dabble in other things. I settled down way too young. I missed out on all the fun. And last night I was so drunk my guilty conscience was off-duty.”
“So what now?” Lily leaned closer as if she didn’t want to miss a single syllable. “You’re gonna play catch-up and sleep around with every guy in town?”
“Definitely not. And technically Tristan’s from out-of-town. The more I think about it, the more I realize how dumb I was. I never should have gone home with him. Now I’ve gotta go into hiding until he goes back to wherever he came from.”
“This is a small town. You’re gonna run into each other sooner or later.”
“Let’s hope it’s later.” Joy crossed her fingers. “After he forgets about me.”
“What if he decides to stay in Scenic View? You can’t hide forever. But I can cut your hair so he doesn’t recognize you.”
The thought of Tristan as a permanent fixture in this tightknit community gave Joy a strange tickle in her tummy, somewhere between thrilled and terrified. “You think it’ll work? Maybe color it too. I could use a makeover.”
“Come on, Joy.” Lily smacked her palm on the tabletop. “You can’t be serious. You’re not interested in him, really? Honest to God, not one iota?”
Playing coy, Joy studied the ends of her sun-streaked waves, curling a strand around her finger as if contemplating a new ’do when she was really blushing inside out. All this talk had her hot between the thighs, reeling back to the hazy moment of straddling Tristan on his king-sized bed. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, nudging Rex with her toe with the hopes of stirring the pooch so he’d beg to go outside where she could get some fresh air. But all she managed to stir were the memories she’d made with a man she couldn’t forget.
“I dunno, Lil.” She sighed. “I hate to admit I am a little interested. But what can I offer other than joyride once in a blue moon? My boys’ll be here soon. I can’t think of dating while getting them settled.”
“I bet Tristan wouldn’t turn down an occasional bootie call.”
“What guy would?”
“I’m just saying he could probably use a fun spring fling after all he’s gone through this winter with his messy divorce.”
Her curiosity piqued, Joy asked the burning question without hesitation. “What do you mean messy?”
“From what I heard, it was as bad as yours but super-quick. Her uncle’s a family court judge—something or other—and managed to push their case to the top of the heap. They both wanted out. Tristan gave her everything just to keep it clean for their daughter’s sake. Pension, alimony, child support, oh my…”
The fact that he paid without a problem reconfirmed Joy’s first impression that he was a good man. “Good for her,” she said halfheartedly, wishing she had it so easy.
“Good for him too, ’cause at least he has options. Even though Nick’s heart is set on Tristan staying, I kinda think he’ll go back to Star Harbor once the dust clears from his divorce. I mean, if he really wanted to retire early he’d just do it, right? Why bother to buy time with this terminal leave-until-he-figured-things-out nonsense? Either way, doesn’t mean the four of us can’t double date.” Lily smiled, hopeful. “And if things get serious between you two, he’s only an hour ferry-ride across the Long Island Sound.”
Joy shook her head. Her old friend didn’t seem to see the bigger, long-term picture. “I’m not into a long-distance relationship or getting involved with a guy who has no intention of sticking around.”
“You don’t know what you want, which is why he’s exactly the kinda guy you need right now. Nothing serious. Just fun. Why don’t you give the friends-with-benefits route a try? It’s really just a modern version of being in love for people with high libidos and fear of commitment.”
“Nah.” Joy wrinkled her nose at the concept of casual sex as if last night’s sexcapade fell under a classier category. “I don’t think I’m cut out for that. Besides, I don’t want to use the guy for great sex.”
“It was great, huh?” Lily waggled perfectly arched brows.
“Did I say great? I mean, you know, any sex is good sex.”
“You didn’t say good—you said great.”
“Whatever I said, what I mean is I just can’t have sex without the relationship to go with it. I thought I could, but I’m not that type. I’ll just buy a massager from Violet’s.”
“Your mother’ll get a kick outta finding that under your pillow.”
“Since I’m living on the couch I’ll have to hide it in my car.” In the glove compartment, where my anxiety pills are stashed, unfortunately, out of reach in this moment of dire need.
“I suggest you get one quick. Especially if you’re attracted to each other. Otherwise you’ll have a helluva time telling him no. Anything you do say, can and will be used against your libido.”
“You really don’t think I can stick to my guns? I have willpower like you won’t believe. When I set my mind to something, no means no and nothing else. No way. No how.” In there had to be a double, triple, or quadruple negative, and Joy only hoped it didn’t equate to a yes, because Lily was right, turning Tristan away wasn’t going to be an easy task.
“Yeah, right. That’s what I said when I met Nick. I was gung-ho against dating a firefighter—you know, ’cause of what happened with my folks—but he was relentless. In no time at all that man turned my mild side wild.” Lily’s cheeks started flaring to a candy apple red.
“I’m glad you have an amazing sex life, Lil. I really am.” Envy crept up out of nowhere and Joy couldn’t avoid the cynical twinge in her tone.
“You can have one too.”
“Not really. Not while my ex still terrorizes me, never mind when the boys come to town. It wouldn’t be fair to drag Tristan into the mix. I think we’d both benefit from forgetting everything that happened between us.”
“You could always throw on a wig and pretend to be someone else. This way you can get your jollies without getting jammed up with the complications of a relationship. Turn things up a notch. Add a dash of sexy sauce to the recipe.”
“Does Nick know you’re crazy?”
“He makes me this way. Did I tell you how he seduced me dressed up as Santa Claus?”
“Save that story for the next time I’m drunk because my brain can’t deal with the image right now. Thanks for the talk. And the coffee.” Joy stood and hugged Lily before picking up Rex.
“Come by whenever you want, okay? But I gotta warn you, Tristan might be here.” Lily followed Joy out of the camper and down the driveway.
“I don’t think I can handle another dose of that man. Sloshed. Sober. As myself. Or dressed as anyone else.”
Joy got in the car, set Rex on the passenger seat, then started the engine as she slammed the door and rolled down the driver’s window.
“Trust me, Lil, I wish I could be someone else sometimes so I wouldn’t have to live my life in its current state of crapola. I simply don’t have the mindset or the time for any extra-curricular activities. Plus, now that I think about it, I’m not into guys with beards,” she lied, before putting the car in reverse and taking off down the road.