by Abby Jimenez
Do I? I do, right?
“Well, stop,” he said huskily, smiling into my neck.
He backed me into the bed, his strong arm guiding me down. When he slid over me, I was hypnotized. Rendered completely helpless.
And he wasn’t lying about the spotting.
He really didn’t care.
* * *
I woke up the next morning naked with my cheek stuck to Josh’s bare chest. I lay there for a moment, the light cracking through my blinds, listening to the sound of his steady heart beating.
I wanted to give myself another few moments of happiness before I had to kick him out of my bed and pretend I didn’t care whether he was there or not.
He stirred and I closed my eyes and pretended I was still asleep. His body shifted like he was looking down on me, and I heard his heart pick up a little. I knew if I looked up, he would smile and I could kiss him good morning.
But I wouldn’t. Because that’s not what fuck buddies do.
Lips gently touched the top of my head, and his arms tightened around me. It was sweet and tender.
And a bad sign.
He said he could handle this, that the sex-only thing was okay for him. But I’d have to keep an eye on him, end it if I thought he was getting too attached.
My stomach growled. I wondered what time it was. There was a cafe that—
I bolted upright. “What day is it?” I looked desperately for my phone.
Josh propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me, his hair messy. “March eighth. Tuesday. Why?”
I found my phone on the charger: 10:13 a.m. “Shit!”
I swung my legs out of the bed and crashed painfully into the nightstand with my hip, stilling the wobble with my hands. I scooped up Stuntman from the end of the bed and pushed him out the sliding glass door before running to the bathroom.
Oh my God, how could I forget?
I had no Tyler, just-fucked hair and my naked carpenter in my bedroom with less than twenty minutes to get my shit together. One hand jammed my toothbrush in my mouth while the other one turned on the shower. I got in before the water had a chance to warm up and brushed my teeth while I wet my hair in the frigid stream.
The shower door slid open and Josh got in next to me. “Whoa, this is freezing.”
I spit into the drain. “This is not your shower. Get out.”
He laughed, grabbing the soap. “I have to use a separate shower now? You don’t even let your poor exhausted fuck buddy clean up after he spends the night servicing you?” He lathered his chest, grinning at me.
Normally, Josh naked in my shower would be the realization of a long-running fantasy, but this morning he was just taking up room where I could be hurriedly shaving my legs.
“What’s the rush, anyway?” he asked.
I bent down to grab my shampoo and bumped his thigh with my forehead. When I came back up, he was smirking at me.
“My mom. I have brunch with my mom,” I said, scrubbing my hair frantically. “I forgot. She’ll be here in fifteen minutes. She thinks Tyler is coming with me. She doesn’t know we broke up.”
I snatched the soap from him, rinsing my hair while I washed my body. This was a nightmare. A fucking nightmare. “Josh, you need to be in the garage when she gets here.”
“I can’t meet your mom?”
“No.” Dear God, no. Hi, Mom, Tyler and I broke up, but here’s my fuck buddy, Josh. Isn’t he cute? Lord help me.
My hands were actually shaking from the adrenaline.
“I’m getting pretty cold over here,” he said, slipping his hands around my waist from behind and kissing the side of my neck.
I wiggled. “Josh, I don’t have time for this. I told you this wasn’t your shower.”
“Okay, okay.” He let go of me with a laugh.
He wouldn’t be laughing if he knew Evelyn.
“You sure I can’t meet her? I’m good with moms,” he said, while I smacked conditioner in my hair.
“No. You can’t meet her. Just…” I viciously scrubbed my face and rinsed, doing a quick spin to get the soap and conditioner off. Then I jumped out, grabbing the closest towel. “Just don’t come out. And don’t let Stuntman back in the house either. He hates her worse than he hates Tyler.”
I tripped all over the bathroom, plugging in my hair dryer, slapping on lotion, putting on mascara. Josh got out and went into the bedroom to get dressed.
Ten minutes. I had ten minutes. If my hair was wet, she’d know I had forgotten. She’d be worse if she knew I’d forgotten.
Ugh. She was going to give me so much grief about Tyler. Well, it was only a matter of time. Or maybe, You ruin all the good things in your life. Whatever it was, it would be tinged with disappointment and judgment and I didn’t have enough warning to get into the right headspace to deal with her.
I’d been so distracted, and Tyler was the one who’d saved the date in his calendar. And of course she wouldn’t call me to confirm or let me know she was on her way like a normal person. She’d prefer it if I fucked up and got the date wrong or forgot. I turned on my hair dryer.
Dry faster, dry faster! Damn it, why did I even wash it?!
At 10:29 I came out of my room, ready to answer the door. She was never late. She’d be here exactly at 10:30. But when I came down the hallway, putting in my earring, Mom was already in the living room.
Talking to Josh.
NINETEEN
Josh
The hair dryer was still running in Kristen’s room when the doorbell rang on my way to the garage. I called down the hall, but she didn’t hear me. Figured I might as well make myself useful, so I answered it.
The woman on the front porch wasn’t what I expected. She could have been Kristen’s grandmother. Maybe she was her grandmother. She looked like she was pushing seventy. Still good-looking though. Kind of regal.
I saw Kristen’s high cheekbones, petite frame, and large eyes. Her gray hair was pulled tight into a neat bun. She wore pearls.
When she saw me, she gave me a raised eyebrow and looked me over like I was a wine list that didn’t have her year.
“Well, hello. Is my daughter available?” Her eyes flicked coolly to my wet hair.
“She’ll be right out. Come in. I’m Josh, her carpenter,” I added, giving her a hand to shake.
“Evelyn Peterson.” She shook my hand firmly and then looked around the living room while she fished a small bottle of hand sanitizer out of her purse and squirted some into her palm.
It was a little rude, but I watched this with amusement.
I saw where Kristen got her scowl from. Evelyn did not look pleased.
“I hope you don’t take the state of this house as evidence of a poor upbringing,” she said, rubbing her hands together and eyeing an empty beer bottle and dirty plate on the coffee table. “Kristen grew up with a housekeeper, but I’d like to think I instilled a sense of pride in her.” She wrinkled her nose at one of Stuntman Mike’s half-chewed bones on the floor. “Even if it’s not always apparent.”
Kristen’s house was spotless. You’d be hard-pressed to find a dust bunny under the couch. Who gave a shit about a beer bottle and a plate?
She moved around the coffee table and picked up a green dachshund sweater from a stack Kristen had been inventorying. It read I SEE YOU LOOKING AT MY WIENER. Evelyn grimaced and set it down with two fingers.
My mom would have thought that shit was hilarious. Evelyn wasn’t a wiener-joke kind of lady, I guess.
I was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Too pretentious for my taste. Still, I was kind of her host at the moment, and I had to entertain her until Kristen took over.
“Uh…can I get you something to drink? A water?” I asked.
Her steely gaze settled back on me. “Thank you, no. Where is Tyler?”
“I’m not sure. I just work here,” I said. It wasn’t my place to tell her about the voicemail breakup.
She narrowed her eyes. “Hmm.”
Kristen c
ame around the corner, her hand to her earring, and she stopped cold when she saw us together. Then she did something I have never, in the entire time I’ve known her, seen her do.
She turned red.
“I was beginning to think I needed to send out a search party,” Evelyn said curtly.
I braced for Kristen’s snarky retort, but to my surprise she didn’t reply. Instead she stiffly kissed her mom hello.
“And where is Tyler?” Evelyn gave Kristen an air-kiss. “I hope we’re not going to be late. You know how I hate being late.” She glanced at a diamond watch.
Kristen’s eyes flicked nervously to me. “Actually, Tyler won’t be coming. We broke up.”
Evelyn’s lips pressed into a line. She waited a long beat before she replied with a cool, “I see.” She turned to me. “Joshua, would you care to join us? Our reservation is for three.”
Kristen spoke quickly. “He has a lot of orders—”
“I believe this was my brunch invitation,” Evelyn said. “You’ve deprived us of our threesome and failed to inform me in advance so I could make the proper arrangements to fill the seat. I’d like to invite Joshua, and it’s my invitation to extend.”
Her tone had a finality to it. I looked at Kristen. She’d gone totally silent.
Kristen, silent.
This alarmed me more than I could comprehend.
Something protective told me not to leave her alone with this woman. This Tyler thing seemed to be some sort of hot button between them, and I got the impression a buffer was needed. Maybe that’s why she asked. The empty chair might piss Evelyn off and just make things worse.
“Sure, I’d love to come.”
Alarm ripped across Kristen’s face.
I looked down at my clothes. “I’m not sure I’m dressed for it though.”
I didn’t know where we were going, but both Kristen and Evelyn were in dresses and heels and I was in jeans and a Burbank Fire T-shirt. I didn’t have anything else to change into.
Evelyn sighed. “You’ll fit right in with all the other underdressed millennials there, I suppose. I’m sorry Kristen didn’t make it possible for me to give you more notice.” She turned for the door. “Oh, Kristen? You really should put your trash cans where they can’t be seen from the street. Curb appeal matters, dear.”
Evelyn came in a black Town Car with a driver. On the twenty-minute trip to the restaurant, she picked lint off Kristen’s dress and commented on her damp hair. In between the nitpicking, I learned she was a tenured law professor at UCLA and a judge.
Man, she was uptight. I wondered if she ever hugged Kristen as a child. I couldn’t picture it. I couldn’t even imagine her smiling. Come to think of it, she didn’t even have laugh lines. Just two deep wrinkles between her eyebrows where she drew them down.
Kristen seemed paralyzed. It was the weirdest thing. I kept looking at her, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She reminded me of a cornered animal so frightened that its fight-or-flight response had shut off and it just sat there, frozen and terrified.
The restaurant was in Simi Valley, and I was definitely underdressed. The other millennials were no help. They were in sport coats and button-downs. A hostess led us to a white linen-covered table with a small vase of roses on it by the window.
“We’ll have menus,” Evelyn said to the hostess in a bored tone. “I don’t trust buffets,” she explained. “Too many people pawing at it.”
Kristen and I shared a look. The buffet looked incredible. We both wanted to hit that up. It had a damn ice sculpture on it and a Bloody Mary bar. A fat prime rib sat on the carving table and iced crab legs and shrimp flanked the omelet station.
But I didn’t want to be rude. I was a guest. And Kristen didn’t look like she planned on arguing either, so we took our menus.
I don’t know why Evelyn let Kristen have one though, because when the server came, Evelyn ordered for her—eggs Benedict. Kristen didn’t comment, but I happened to know she hated poached eggs. She didn’t like runny yolks. And she definitely didn’t like being told what to eat.
I didn’t get this dynamic at all. Kristen was sitting there, but she was nowhere to be seen. Her flame was completely extinguished, like her mom drained all the fire right out of her.
Our drinks were delivered. I sipped an orange juice, and Kristen took a long swallow of her mimosa.
Evelyn pulled artificial sweetener from her purse and squeezed it into her coffee. “So, Kristen. What did you do to run off Tyler?”
What the fuck? My hand tightened around my glass.
Kristen carefully set down her champagne flute. “How do you know it wasn’t me who broke things off?”
Evelyn looked amused, like the question was absurd. “Was it?”
Kristen sat rigid. A student in the principal’s office. “He reenlisted.”
“I see.” Evelyn set her spoon down on the saucer. “Well, I can’t say this surprises me.”
Something angry flashed in Kristen’s eyes, but she seemed to push it down. She pressed her lips together for a second. “And why is that?”
Evelyn raised her coffee cup to her lips and took a sip. “Well, a driven man like that wants the same in a partner, wouldn’t he?” She turned to me. “And Joshua, what is it that you do? Or do you build dog merchandise full time?”
The question was condescending. For all she knew, I did build dog merchandise full-time. And what the fuck was wrong with that?
“I’m a firefighter and paramedic.”
“Do you have any higher education?”
Why did I get the feeling the question was meant to be insulting? She had to know not many firefighters also held doctorates. An associate degree in fire science was about the norm. But if I had to guess, anything under a four-year degree wasn’t going to impress her. I couldn’t care less. I was proud of what I did for a living. But she clearly meant to highlight what she considered to be a shortcoming.
“I never went to college. I went into the military after high school. And then the fire academy, of course.”
Evelyn spoke over her coffee. “And how long have you been sleeping with my daughter?”
“Mom!” Kristen stared at her, openmouthed.
I sat back in my chair and dragged a hand down my face. Well, Kristen’s bluntness was definitely hereditary.
Evelyn set her cup on the saucer and put her hands together. “Really, Kristen. We don’t need to play games. We’re all adults.” She gave me a disapproving glance. “I do hope this wasn’t the reason why Tyler decided to search for greener pastures, however. For once I thought you were on the right track.”
Kristen flushed again and my hackles came up. Was this lady for real?
“I didn’t have anything to do with him breaking up with her,” I said, feeling a little indignant. “And neither did she. It’s been hard on her, and I’m surprised you’re not more concerned about how she’s feeling at the moment.”
I felt Kristen’s wide eyes on the side of my face.
I went on. “And if you bothered to ask her, she’d tell you that he broke up with her in a voicemail like a coward.”
Maybe that would knock that joker off the pedestal Evelyn seemed to have him on.
Evelyn’s expression remained placid, and she didn’t get a chance to reply because the server came and started setting food down in front of us.
Kristen looked at her eggs with dismay. She was pretty picky about her food, and she got cranky when she didn’t eat. I got the feeling she’d muscle through this because her mom seemed to have some sort of mind control over her, but she’d hate it.
You know what? Fuck this.
I picked up her eggs Benedict and gave her my French toast. “Kristen doesn’t like her eggs like that,” I said to Evelyn, not even trying to mask my annoyance.
Kristen looked at me like I’d just given her one of my kidneys. I put a hand under the table and squeezed her knee.
Evelyn watched the whole thing with unmasked distaste.
/>
I couldn’t fucking believe this was Kristen’s mom. How did this lady raise someone so cool? If it wasn’t for the uncanny family resemblance, I’d think this was some elaborate joke.
Evelyn draped a napkin over her lap. “Joshua, you might find my impatience with my daughter a little confusing. You haven’t known her very long. The thing that you don’t realize is that Kristen has a tendency to self-sabotage.”
“I highly doubt that,” I said, my jaw tight. It wasn’t her fault Tyler reenlisted.
She chuckled. “You would. But then you’re the most recent proof, aren’t you?”
Kristen’s fork hit the plate with a clatter. “I realize you’re disappointed that Tyler and I broke up,” she said with sudden vehemence. “But it is none of your business. Who I’m fucking is none of your business.”
Evelyn’s eyes smoldered. “Of course. Why would anything you do be my business? I raised you to be a prosperous person, poured myself into your development, and you’ve spent the last five years systematically undoing everything I instilled in you. First you stopped playing piano, turned your nose up at Juilliard. Then you walk away from Harvard so you can play house with Sloan. You discarded the elite college education I paid for by dropping out of law school to sell clothing for dogs…”
Piano? Law school??
Harvard???
Evelyn scowled. “Now you’ve botched the only relationship I’ve ever approved of. But of course, continue on, Kristen. See how far you can fall. You could have been making a respectable living, for God’s sake.”
I was beginning to lose my fucking cool. “She does make a respectable living,” I snapped. Shit, she made twice as much as I did, easily.
Evelyn sent me a cutting glare. “Our opinions on what constitutes a respectable occupation are likely very different, young man. And I’ll thank you to stay out of it.”
Like hell I’m staying out of it. “She started her own successful business from the ground up. She gets to be her own boss and she gets to do it from her living room. I’d think you’d be proud.”
“Yes, it’s not exactly a meth lab that I’m running, Mother,” Kristen said, smirking into her mimosa.