by Maria Geraci
“Nothing.”
“By nothing, do you mean have I noticed that Doug keeps checking you out? He’s about as subtle as a kid in the third grade. Next, he’ll try to pull your hair. Speaking of which…your hair looks different. What did you do to it?”
“I colored out the gray.”
Pilar rolled her eyes. “What gray? You and Claire could be sisters,” she said, referring to Mimi’s seventeen-year-old daughter.
“Ha! I wish. And the gray was there, believe me.”
“Well, your hair looks great. Just like the rest of you.” Pilar lifted Mimi’s hands and smiled in approval. “Look at that. You even got a manicure!” The smile quickly vanished. “Where’s your wedding ring?”
Mimi automatically rubbed her left thumb up against her ring finger. After nearly eighteen years of marriage it felt strange not wearing her ring. “I took it off this morning.”
Pilar’s face fell. “Oh, babe. I know you and Zeke are having problems, but please tell me you’re having it cleaned or resized or something.”
“I took it off this morning to do dishes and forgot to put it back on.” Pilar looked like she didn’t believe her. “No, really, I was just so nervous about this meeting I would have forgotten my head if it wasn’t attached.” Mimi swallowed hard. She’d never been a good liar, and Pilar was too shrewd for her own good. “It’s the truth,” Mimi said, avoiding Pilar’s beady eyed-stare. “But…you’re right about Zeke and me. We’re still having problems. We’re kind of in a time out.”
“A time out? From what?” Pilar demanded.
“From our marriage.”
“Does Zeke know that? Because I saw him at The Bistro this morning and we had an entire conversation about couples Bunco.”
Mimi and Pilar belonged to Whispering Bay’s oldest established Bunco group, affectionately known around town as the Bunco Babes. Every Thursday night the group rolled dice, drank frozen margaritas, and gossiped. It was the best girls’ night out in town. The group consisted of twelve members, all fierce and loyal friends. Once a year every April they allowed their significant others to join them. The men liked to pretend that they had to be dragged along, but it was all an act. The truth was, everyone looked forward to couples Bunco. Even Zeke, the original grumpy cat.
“Believe me, Zeke knows we’re taking a time out. He’s sleeping at the office.” At least, she assumed he was sleeping at the office. She hadn’t asked and he hadn’t offered up the information.
“But this is temporary, right? I mean, you guys are going to work it all out.”
That’s exactly what Mimi had thought when they’d first gone to counseling. But that had been a year-and-a-half ago and nothing had changed.
Mimi gave her friend a shaky smile. “It’s hard to work out your problems when one of you doesn’t think any exist.”
“Who else knows?” Pilar asked softly.
“No one yet. Zeke asked me to wait. But I can’t hold off forever. I mean, people are going to notice he’s not living at the house. We’re telling the kids first, of course, then our families, and then…everyone else.”
“So Allie doesn’t know either?”
Allie was Zeke’s younger sister. Although Mimi was only four years older than Allie, she felt more like a mother to her than a sister-in-law. Allie would take the news hard. She was engaged to marry her high school sweetheart Tom Donalan this summer and Mimi had promised she would help with the wedding, a promise Mimi would naturally keep. Just because she and Zeke were having problems didn’t mean her relationship with her sister-in-law would change.
“I’m having lunch with Allie tomorrow. I plan to tell her then. After I have a couple of stiff drinks.”
“You don’t think Zeke has already told her?”
“This is Zeke we’re talking about. Remember?”
Pilar smiled sympathetically. Like the rest of Mimi’s close friends, Pilar knew Zeke well enough to know that when it came to discussing his feelings (or anything else remotely personal), Zeke was the poster boy for the strong and silent type. Allie might be his sister, but like the rest of the people in Zeke’s life she was on a need-to-know basis. And there was precious little Zeke Grant thought people needed to know. Plus, there was the fact that Zeke was still hoping this whole time out thing would blow over and they could pretend it never happened.
“Please let me know if there’s anything I can do.” Pilar drew her into a tight hug. “And pretty please, and I’m speaking as both a friend and a lawyer here, don’t do anything rash.”
“I promise,” Mimi said, swiping away a tear. “Oh, God. Do mayors cry? Because I’m pretty sure they don’t.”
“Mayors do whatever the hell they want. It’s part of the benefit package.”
THAT MAN OF MINE
Stupid Boy by Cindy Miles
From Cindy Miles, bestselling new adult author of STUPID GIRL, comes the next installment of her blockbuster Stupid in Love series – STUPID BOY.
Brax Jenkins and Olivia Beaumont are the most envied couple at Winston University—but the so-called “virginity dare,” orchestrated by Brax’s old fraternity, almost tore them apart. Now, a new dare is taking shape, and it’s sure to set emotions ablaze—more than ever before.
Special Excerpt:
By the time I’d finished a very poor attempt at studying for an Art test and exited the library, the tell-tale signs of pending dusk had crept onto Winston’s manicured campus. The early November air felt crisp against my cheeks as it whisked through, rustling the leaves and sending several pirouetting to the ground to land in scattered colors on the grass like some strange abstract stained glass. Knowing darkness would soon swallow everything, I hurried to the campus coffee house and café that stayed open until midnight. Inside, students sat at tables studying, their laptops open, the light illuminating their faces and coffee cups by their sides. As I took my place in line I selected my usual pre-packaged turkey sandwich and a bottle of lemonade and stood, waiting to pay.
“That’s all you’re eating?”
I jumped at the voice behind me and turned to find Kane there. Instantly, my insides froze. He gazed down at me, his hands shoved into his pockets, those broad shoulders sort of hunching toward me, almost…cornering me; his eyes as worn and soft as the leather jacket he wore.
“Um, yes,” I answered. I gave a hesitant smile. “Not very hungry, I guess.” What was he doing here? Suddenly I felt closed in—a feeling I avoided at all costs.
“So what’s good here?” he asked. His Boston accent was heavy and void of the letter r, just like Brax’s, only…softer. Quiet. The kind of voice that you had to pay close attention to or else you’d miss what they were saying completely.
I couldn’t believe he was talking to me. I shrugged, pretended he didn’t bother me, and held up my sandwich. “Turkey?”
He said nothing as he lifted three turkey sandwiches from the cooler; his smoky gaze remained riveted to mine. Then, he bent his head close. “Kane McCarthy.”
I looked at him then, taken back by how his voice washed over me and made my skin tingle. I forced myself to breathe; I wasn’t used to being in this kind of situation. Guys just didn’t go out of their way to talk to me. I made sure of it. But I didn’t balk. I mean, after all—Kane was my potential reformation Dare. Right? Murphy’s words rushed back to me. Reform the barmy beast! I breathed. Smiled. Pretended. “Harper Belle.”
Again, his eyes softened, and as we stepped up to the cashier he gave her a nod and inclined his head toward me. Before I could say a word, the cashier had rung our orders up together, and Kane handed her a twenty.
I looked at him, embarrassed. “Oh no, really, that’s okay, you don’t have to—”
Kane’s eyes moved over me. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I do.”
Purchase STUPID BOY!
About the Author
Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the M
onth Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA ® award. She lives in north Florida with her family, which includes a very needy chihuahua, an extremely needy dachshund and a not-so-needy cat (guess which one she likes best?). You can reach her at www.mariageraci.com.
Copyright Information
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2015 by Maria Geraci
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Book cover design by The Scarlett Rugers Design Agency
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eISBN: 978-1-942356-07-3