Broken Open

by Lauren Dane

  “Mary did all the food.” Natalie looked around.

  “She’s at the front door with my parents, Nat,” Paddy called out.

  “Ezra?”

  He came over, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. She leaned into him a little. “This is Zoe Marsden and Jenny Dan. Guys, this is Ezra Hurley.”

  “Ah, two more of this infamous 1022 you both speak of so often.” He shook hands with both women. “Really nice to meet you in person.”

  “Thanks. You, too. You guys have a pretty spread up here.”

  “There she is!” Sharon came in with Michael and Mary. Mary mouthed I’m sorry when Sharon barreled in and hugged Tuesday.

  Michael shrugged. “So I figured, hey, I’ll have the time to get past what happened down at the feed store. I’ll tell my wife what happened. Rail about it. She’d send me out to chop wood. I’d chop wood until my arms hurt. I’d feel better and we’d come on over. But silly me, I forgot I’m married to a stone-cold viper when it comes to people hurting people she cares about and while I did go out and chop wood, your mother paced the kitchen getting herself all worked up and called down to talk to Shelley, who told us she and her dad had fired Gary and sent him packing. Apparently he’s the kind of guy who is always making promises he never bothers to keep anyway. He’s bounced around and this is the last of his relations in the West so he’ll be heading east this time.”

  Jenny and Zoe looked confused. “What are you all talking about?”

  Which led to a retelling of the story with added outrage.

  Tuesday stood at the outer edge of it, glad they all cared so much but exhausted by it all at the same time. There was only so much she could say or feel or do about it.

  “Come with me.” Ezra eased her from the room, grabbing a platter of sliders on the way. They sneaked quietly out to the front porch where he brushed off the glider so she could sit.

  Out there in the dark, they said nothing. He rocked them back and forth slowly as they ate sliders and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  They stayed out there until she heard her name a few times.

  He stood and she took his hand. “Sorry about my mom. She didn’t mean to cause all that in there.”

  Tuesday blew out a breath. “I know. She just wants to help. It’s all right. It was too much for a little while but you pulled me out here with your shoulder and some sliders. I’m better.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t with you today down there.”

  She took his face in her hands. “You don’t tear yourself apart with guilt and recriminations enough that you have to start grabbing stuff at random now? He doesn’t have a job. I’m done now. I can’t hold on to it like that or it’ll eat me alive.”

  He nodded and she smiled.

  Natalie opened the front door. “There you are! Cake!”

  “Can’t miss that.”

  Ezra led her back into the house, his hand at her back. “First we’ll eat cake and then later, back at my place, I’ll eat you,” he said before they reached the kitchen.

  She groaned. “You’re a menace.”

  He stopped her, kissing her quickly. “I am. But I’m really good at eating pussy.”

  She laughed, hugging him. “So modest, too.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  THE FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY as she turned after locking up the gallery, Ezra was standing there with Loopy on a leash. Happiness surged through her at the sight of them both. “Hey.”

  He hugged her and she hummed her delight at his kiss. “What brings you to town?” She bent to give Loopy some attention and got a few sloppy kisses in thanks.

  “Vet appointment. Just a checkup. But you’re between the vet and the ranch so we thought you might be up for some company.”

  “I need to finish up some work tonight. I have supplies for sandwiches, though. I bet we could find something for Loopy.”

  “I can leave her outside. She’ll love your garden.”

  “She can hang out in it if she wants, but she’s welcome in my house.” Tuesday knelt in front of Loopy again. “You got between me and a predator. That was pretty brave of you. You’re welcome to get dog hair on my sofa any day.”

  “We’ll follow you over after we walk you to your car.”

  “I didn’t drive today. It was so warm and pretty I walked over. It’s only fifteen minutes or so.”

  “Well come on then, ride with us.”

  * * *

  NATALIE AND PADDY were in her kitchen when they arrived and Ezra halted her. “Is it awful that I want you all to myself?”

  “No. I’m awesome so I’m not surprised,” she teased.

  He hugged her. “I missed you this week. You could come to my place. Bring your supplies. And a change of clothes. Sleep over. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time. Obviously I need to get at what you’ve got under your clothes—that goes without saying. But I promise to give you the space and time to work. And I’ll make you breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Wow, you’re like Santa all the sudden. I really can’t say no to any of that.”

  She could have. But she didn’t want to. He struggled with pulling her closer, she knew. He’d come to her that day and it didn’t feel as though he’d resentfully given in to what he wanted. It felt like he wanted her as much as she him.

  They went in and Ezra hung out in the kitchen with Paddy while Loopy followed Natalie and Tuesday upstairs.

  “Yes, you can lay on my bed,” she said to Loopy as they entered her bedroom. Loopy head butted her and trotted ahead. First she sniffed around and then hopped up to settle on Tuesday’s bed, her head on her paws as she watched Tuesday and Natalie.

  “You let a dog on your bed? You totally love him. Oh my god.” Natalie sat down on the bed next to the dog and Tuesday rolled her eyes as she changed from her work clothes into some capri pants and a T-shirt.

  “I’m so glad you’re not a drama queen,” Tuesday said as she tossed her makeup bag into a duffel.

  “I like it. On you I mean.”

  “Stop.”

  “Nope. You poked and prodded me for a year over Paddy. You think you get a pass? What sort of best friend would I be then? Deal with it, East...Easton. That takes me back.”

  “Sometimes I forget I didn’t start out as Eastwood.”

  “Anything else from them or did you do as I suggested and block her number? You know your mother would tell you exactly what I did.”

  “Well, Diana told Tina Heywood she was a dumb hooker the last time we were all together, so my mother isn’t unbiased.”

  Tuesday zipped her duffel and shouldered it.

  Natalie snorted. “She’s not unbiased on any subject I’ve ever encountered. Diana has feelings about everything. But this isn’t terry cloth versus other kinds of cotton.”

  Both women cracked up. Tuesday’s mother hated terry cloth in that terry cloth was the mortal enemy of all mankind way. Diana could rant about it for a good half an hour.

  “Anyway, Tina Heywood is human terry cloth as far as Di is concerned. Everyone knows that.”

  “It’s truth. It’s not as far as your mom is concerned. Tina Heywood wants you to pay for her own sins with her children.”

  “She’ll never be able to make up for that, though. Don’t you see? She is terrible—I’m not denying it. But Eric is gone and she will never, ever be able to make that right. I try to give her extra space when she’s a dreadful bitch.”

  “Yes, but she has another son she’s driven away, too. If she wanted to change her ways, why isn’t she talking to Sammy?”

  Tuesday wasn’t sure Sammy would hear it anyway. He’d done what Eric never could, which was to fully let go of their mother and adoptive father and live his life, surrounding himself with people who were positive. He’d come to the memorial but hadn’t stayed with the Heywoods; he’d stayed with Tuesday’s family instead.

  “I told Sammy, by the way. About the Easton thing. He congratulated me and said he knew Eric would want me to move on. He also u
rged me not to listen to Tina.”

  Natalie blew out an angry breath. “I will never, ever forgive them for what they did at the memorial.”

  Tina had cornered her and said, to Tuesday’s face, that it was her fault Eric had not gone to the doctor. Said Tuesday had willfully ignored his decline in health to be done with Eric and get the insurance money.

  She’d said it within hearing distance of GJ, who’d nearly got into a fistfight with more than one Heywood. The cops had been called and it just made falling away from all that noise easy. For a while anyway.

  “They lost Eric and that’s the one thing that makes me not say they’re utterly worthless ”

  “Dude, let’s not go there. I’m about to spend a lovely evening with Ezra and his menagerie. He’s promised me sex and breakfast tomorrow. That is a good thing. I want to think about good things. Come on, Loopy.” She made the sound Ezra did, a cross between a smooch and a tsk, and must have done a pretty good job because the Lab hopped down and came to Tuesday’s side, looking up, waiting.

  “You are such a pretty, smart and awesome dog.”

  Loopy licked Tuesday’s nose in thanks, her tail whipping back and forth so hard it made a little breeze.

  Natalie stared, blinking. Then she grinned and Tuesday stood again with a groan. “What? Say it now before we go back downstairs.”

  “You’re happy. He makes you happy. You just talked baby talk to a dog and you let her lick you. With her tongue. I don’t even know who you are right now. But I like it.”

  “You act like I walk down main street frowning at kittens and toddlers all day long.”

  Natalie waved a hand. “Now who’s the drama queen? All I’m saying is he makes you happy. Just in general. Not that you cried all day long or kicked puppies before. You say, Oh no, I can’t talk about it! Like it’s a talisman against falling in love. And it’s not. Trust me on that. It happens whether you want it or not. It’s good on you. It’s really good on him.”

  “We’ve been seeing each other a month. Slow it down, sister.”

  “You and he had instant hotness. Plus he kissed you in December. It’s now June. So that’s much more than a month.”

  “He kissed me in April, too.”

  “What?” Nat yelled it and Loopy barked.

  “Should we go downstairs when I tell you the details of this thing I haven’t told anyone? I’m up here saying so—quietly—because I don’t want to say all this in front of a crowd.”

  “Well I’m sorry! You have withheld him kissing you. Twice!”

  “Hush. I told you about all the sex stuff because you’re insatiable and a deviant. What’s a kiss a few months ago? It was a surprise one!”

  “When? I need details before I can be sure I’m not mad.”

  “You’re not mad.”

  Natalie grinned. “Not really. But you still have to give me details.”

  So she told Nat about the day Ezra came to the house to talk about Nat and Paddy’s fight and how they’d get the feuding couple back together. Oh, and the way Ezra had pinned her to the wall next to the new arbor and kissed the heck out of her until he left her wobbly and with a need on for more of what he delivered with that mouth.

  “I knew something had happened between you that day! And then how the two of you were at dinner that night we went up to Sharon and Michael’s. Did she know?”

  “Who knows? She’s spooky. Like Diana is spooky. Whatever she knew, it’s clear she invited Ezra that night for me.”

  “So the truth is, you and Ezra have been involved on some level since you first met in September. That’s nine months. And you kissed him in December, and then in April. Those were like first dates. Anyway, you can’t deny there is something major between you. This is not—” Nat made air quotes “—I’ve only dated him a few weeks! Oh no! I don’t know him well enough yet.”

  Tuesday sent Loopy downstairs and turned back to Natalie.

  “No, it’s not. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” Tuesday dropped the duffel and paced back into her bedroom. “Not even Eric.”

  Once she’d let the words free they seemed to slice through her.

  “Why can’t it be that loving a person is a totally unique thing? Of course you feel things about him you didn’t feel for Eric. He’s not Eric. I’m sure you’re always going to feel things about Eric that you won’t feel about him.”

  “What if I’m tossing away Eric for something I think is better only it’s not and then I’m screwed and alone?”

  Natalie shook her head, taking Tuesday’s hands and stepping into her path to stop the pacing,

  “Tuesday, that way lies madness. I’m not going to let you do this. Stop.”

  “I can’t. I’ve tried. Sometimes, when he touches me it’s like chain lightning all through my body. He’s just...” She licked her lips. “He’s so much, Nat. But, I want it. I want it all even when I feel like I’m drowning in him. He’s messed up and afraid to let me in. And I’m messed up. And yet he knows me. He sees it and he wants me despite that. Or maybe because of that. I don’t know. And part of me? Part of me doesn’t care which. Because, regardless, it’s part of me. Sometimes when people who’ve known me from before I was married are around I feel sort of like they’re not only sad that Tuesday is no longer, but they’re sad they don’t like this one as much.”

  “You wear a mask with most people. You don’t think I can see it? Not with me, no,” Natalie reassured before Tuesday could argue that point. “I’ve known you pretty much my entire adult life. You’re the strongest personality I know. You wear your skin easily. You leave people alone as long as they don’t mess with you and you do your thing regardless of what people think.

  “But even before Eric died I watched you put on that friendly but polite mask with people. You show them what they want to see, but really to keep them away. The real Tuesday is something only a few people ever get to see. You show that Tuesday to me.” Natalie paused, pressing a hand over her heart as she had to blink back tears. “That Tuesday is like the dragonfly on your body. You’re incredible. And special and talented and wonderful. Fragile and vulnerable for all that beauty, too. You show that Tuesday to Ezra. You love him, Tuesday. It is different than what you had with Eric because you were different then. Eric was different than Ezra definitely. It doesn’t make your love for Eric less that you feel the way you do about Ezra. But even if you loved Ezra more or better or whatever, it doesn’t matter to Eric. It matters to you. So here’s my bottom line. I want you to be happy. I want you to be in love and for it to be the very best possible love. I want you to accept that you deserve it.”

  “You’re going to make me cry. And then he’ll know and worry.”

  “He loves you, too. You should see how he looks at you, Tuesday. I don’t want you to cry. I want you to dance and joyfully accept this experience. What it’ll mean next year? Who knows? We both know how fast life can change. But come back to the world once and for all. You’re too special and wonderful not to live as you were born to.”

  “I’m in love with him.” Tuesday closed her eyes.

  Downstairs she heard the low bass of a conversation between men. Loopy had gone down already so they’d be expecting Tuesday and Natalie any moment.

  Natalie hugged her. “I know. It’s awesome. Let it be awesome.”

  “Mainly I feel nauseated. I’ve been in love. I’ve been serious about someone. I’ve been married and talked about having a family with someone. Love isn’t a new territory. But this thing between he and I? It’s so intense. Supercharged and sex laden. I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud. But I’ve never in my life come as hard as I have since Ezra entered my life. He just does something to all my parts. To my brain and my heart and all the good stuff boys like, too. He makes me feel like a goddess in bed.”

  “You can take a look at the man and know that. I mean Paddy does the same thing. It’s a Hurley trait I bet. Mary talks about it with Damien and you’ve seen Michael and Sharon together—h
e does it for her in a big way.”

  “I have to go. He’s going to wonder where I am.”

  “We’ll talk more soon. I love you, Tuesday. I’m thrilled for you. For us both.”

  “I love you, too. By the way, borrow that red sundress from my closet for wherever Paddy is planning for you.”

  Ezra waited for her downstairs. He took her duffel and then the large kit that held all her work tools and supplies for the pieces she needed to work on that night. She didn’t argue; they were heavy and he liked to lug stuff around for her.

  “See you guys later.” She waved and Nat blew her a kiss.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  THEY’D MADE DINNER together in his kitchen. They worked well as a team even though she spoiled the animals as badly as he did, tossing cubes of ham for the omelet he was about to make for them to Goldfish, who loved her best and got quite pissy when Tuesday didn’t visit regularly.

  They’d eaten it out on his back deck and now she’d ensconced herself at the large worktable in his office, creating a bracelet of some sort.

  Music played in the background—and thank goodness she loved music as much as he did—and furry creatures passed through the space from time to time. He puzzled through a spreadsheet for the ranch on the other side of the large room they currently shared.

  It worked. Normally it took effort to be around people. He constantly had to measure his responses to those outside his very small circle of family and friends. He didn’t need that with her. She didn’t need his attention every moment. Though, he thought with a snort, she pretty much had it. She took up his thoughts all day long.

  She worked with an intensity he respected because he saw it in himself and his brothers. Adjusting, tightening, loosening, she tinkered until it was right. It fascinated him and made her so beautiful to his gaze.

  Even better, she’d changed into her pajamas, which were little more than boy short panties and a T-shirt with a ferret dressed like a ninja on it. All sorts of skin was exposed to his gaze. The strong curve of each calf, the power of her thighs, that breathtaking dip after the swell of her hips and then, the breasts. She had no bra on so the outline of her nipples was visible through the material.