Beth continued her sandwich making while Tripp pulled a Tupperware container of Lula Mae’s homemade chicken noodle soup from the refrigerator. He’d just poured enough into the pot when Beth’s cell phone started ringing. Britney Spears’s “Toxic” filled the air.
“Be right back,” she said as she wiped her hands on a towel.
Right after they’d gotten into the house, she’d deposited her purse on the table near the entrance. As she headed that way, the oversize T-shirt she wore swayed around her thighs. Thighs that had been straddling him not that long ago.
He grinned.
“Hey dad,” Beth said as she came back into the room, phone held to her ear as she paused on the threshold of the kitchen. “Oh no. Do you need anything?” A beat of silence. “Are you sure? I’m not at work; I can get you something.” Another beat of silence. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s fine. It isn’t a big deal if I don’t go. Just feel better, dad. And call me if you need anything. Okay?” After another moment she said, “I love you,” then hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dad isn’t feeling well. He has a migraine and can’t come over to watch the kids. I need to call Mel and tell her I can’t make it tonight,” she said as she started to press buttons on her phone.
“Why do you have to cancel?”
“Because.” Beth looked up at him. “I already promised Nora she could go to the basketball game at the high school and I don’t have a sitter for Penny and Grant. Besides, Grant doesn’t do well with strangers.”
“I can watch them.”
“W-what?”
“I can watch Penny and Grant tonight. It isn’t a problem.”
Her mouth hung open for a second, words apparently failing her. “You’re serious?” she asked after a moment, setting her phone on the counter.
“Yes, I’m serious. What, do you not trust me with them?”
“Tripp, I trust you more than most. I just didn’t think that babysitting was how you’d want to spend your Friday night.”
“I like spending time with the kids, Beth. We can order takeout and watch a movie. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be fun.”
“All right.” She was standing in front of him now, looking up into his face. “You never cease to amaze me, Tripp Black.” She put a palm on his chest, stretching up and brushing her lips across his. “Thank you.”
Chapter Sixteen
A Tea Party with a Possum, a Snake, a Turtle, a Toddler, and a Thirty-Five-Year-Old Man
At six thirty the chime of the front doorbell pealed through the house. As Beth was still in the process of getting dressed—and as he’d been kicked out of the room because he kept distracting her—it was Tripp who opened the door to find Mel and Bennett on the other side.
It was a given that when the girls got together for nights such as this, they drank. Tripp knew Beth had every intention of partaking in multiple margaritas, so obviously she—or any of the other ladies, for that matter—wasn’t going to be driving. Bennett was acting as DD for his wife, and he’d drive Beth to the restaurant and back as well.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Mel said as she stepped over the threshold, patting Tripp’s chest with her palm before she headed down the hallway. “Where’s your girlfriend?” she asked over her shoulder.
“Bedroom,” he called out before turning to Bennett.
“I hear you’re babysitting tonight. Looks like I’m not the only one having a sober evening,” Bennett said as they headed for the living room.
“The only thing I will be drinking is imaginary tea.” Tripp nodded to the low table in the corner, where Penny was setting up the tea party with all of the guests of honor.
The first was Mordecai the possum. Yup, Penny had a stuffed animal possum. Tripp had won it for her in the Papa Pan’s Pizza claw machine last week. The thing was so ugly it was cute. A chair had been placed behind it so that its front paws rested on the table, and its whiskery little nose was pointed toward the butter dish.
The second guest was Elsa the lizard. This stuffed animal was so large that Penny was able to make it sit up right in the chair. How it was possible for the thing to look regal, Tripp would never know. Maybe it was because of the blue and silver scales, or the fact that the end of its tail trailed on the floor like a train.
The third guest was Steve the turtle. The little plastic figurine was about the size of Tripp’s hand, and therefore too small to sit on a chair. Instead the turtle had been placed right there on the table, its head stretching out toward the toy blue berry muffin that sat on a tiny plate with pink roses.
“My goal tonight,” Tripp told Bennett, “is to get Steve over there to come out of his shell.”
Penny looked up at Tripp and giggled.
“Hey,” Grant called out from where he was currently playing tug o’ war with Duke in the kitchen. Tripp had brought the dog, along with a few toys, over with him. “Don’t forget we’re drinking Dr. Pepper, too!”
“My bad. Imaginary tea and Dr. Pepper,” Tripp amended, holding his palms up in the air.
“Sounds like a real party,” Bennett said.
“Oh, it will be, my friend. It will be.” He gave Bennett a sideways smirk before his attention was entirely diverted to Beth, who’d just walked into the living room.
Her hair was curled around her shoulders and absolutely begging for his fingers to dive in. That pouty mouth of hers was painted a soft pink that he had every desire to kiss off. The turquoise sleeveless shirt she wore showed just a hint of cleavage and her jeans looked like they’d been painted on.
He crossed to her on instinct, a moth to a fucking flame. “Come here,” he said as he put his hands on her waist, pulling her in close. “You look incredible.” He pressed his lips to her mouth, deciding that kissing her lipstick off was a much safer bet then putting his hands in her hair.
She wouldn’t be able to easily fix the latter.
When he’d made her good and truly breathless, he moved his mouth to her ear. “Feel free to text me any of your drunken inappropriate thoughts throughout the night.”
She pulled away and looked into his eyes. “What makes you think I’ll have such thoughts?”
“Because I know you, Beth Boone.” He pressed another quick kiss to her lips before letting go.
“It’s possible that you do,” she said as she reached up and swiped her thumb across his lips, wiping away the lipstick. When she dropped her hand she looked over to Penny and Grant. “You guys going to be good for Tripp?” she asked.
“Mmm hmm.” Grant barely looked over as he continued to play with Duke.
“Yessssss,” Penny said as she ran over to Beth, arms held out wide.
Beth leaned down and scooped her niece up in an easy swoop, placing the child on her hip. Penny leaned forward, kissing Beth with a loud smack on the cheek. “Tripp said I could pick the movie tonight.”
“Oh, did he?” Beth looked at Tripp. “I’m thinking you’re in for a night with a Disney princess or two.”
“And?” He shrugged. “Ariel is a pretty cool chick. I could hang with her.”
“I’m totally all about Sleeping Beauty,” Bennett said, looking at Mel with a massive grin. “Beautiful blonde who doesn’t like to wake up.”
Mel narrowed her eyes at her husband, her mouth in a frown. “You’re hilarious.”
“I know I am.”
Beth set Penny back down, kissing her on the top of her little blond head before straightening. Beth’s eyes were back on Tripp as she spoke, “I’ll have my phone on in case you need to call me.”
“I know you will. But I’ve got everything under control. Which means you should have fun tonight and not worry.”
“Yeah.” Mel linked her arm in Beth’s and started to tug her toward the door. “No. Worrying.”
“I’ll do my best.” Beth blew Tripp a kiss before she let herself be led away.
“I’ll see you later. Have fun with the kiddos,” Bennett said before he f
ollowed the two ladies out.
Penny stepped closer to Tripp, wrapping her arms around his leg and looking up at him. “Are you ready for the tea party?” she asked.
“All right, but dinner is going to be here in about twenty minutes, so when it gets here we’re taking a break.”
“Okay.” Penny nodded and let go of Tripp’s leg. She reached up for his hand, her tiny fingers engulfed by his massive ones. “Let’s go!”
He complied, letting her lead him over to her expertly set table. And for the first time in Tripp’s life, he had tea with a possum, a lizard, a turtle, and the cutest toddler on the face of the planet.
* * *
When Bennett dropped Mel and Beth off at Caliente’s—Mirabelle’s one and only Mexican restaurant—the place was fairly busy. They walked in and were led to a table in the corner of the back porch, where Grace, Paige, and Hannah were already sitting.
“I figured it was safer for us to stay a little bit away from other people,” Hannah told Beth and Mel as they sat down. “Less likely to be overheard by strangers when our conversations veer to certain topics.”
“Are you saying our conversations are inappropriate?” Grace held one hand to her chest, feigning offense.
“Oh, whatever do you mean?” Paige, a northerner born and raised, asked with a thoroughly exaggerated southern twang.
Paige had gotten back from her trip with her husband Brendan three weeks ago, and besides one hurried run-in at the Piggly Wiggly, they hadn’t gotten the opportunity for an in-depth catch up.
But before Beth could even open her mouth Paige was speaking. “All right, woman, spill.”
“Why do I have to go first?” Beth asked. “You just went on an Italian adventure.”
“We can get to that later. I want to know how you snagged Tripp.”
“You know he’s babysitting the kids tonight,” Mel smirked.
“Seriously?” Paige’s palm came down and smacked the table. “Yeah, you are definitely starting.”
“Should we wait until Harper gets here?” Hannah asked.
“Harper isn’t coming.” Mel shook her head.
“She isn’t?” Paige broke a chip in half before dipping it into the bowl of salsa.
“No,” Beth chimed in, fully aware of why Harper wasn’t showing up. She’d been given permission to share from the source, too. “She had her post-baby check-up today and got the all clear from Dr. Walker.”
“I don’t think she and Liam will be leaving the house all weekend,” Mel added.
“Sooo,” Grace grinned as she waggled her eyebrows. “She is coming, just not here. She called me the second she left to tell me she wouldn’t be joining us tonight. I’m pretty sure the only place she stopped on the way home was to stock up on the essentials.”
“What, you mean condoms and wine?” Beth asked.
“Obviously,” Paige nodded. “So, speaking of getting some, let’s bring the topic back to Beth.”
“You’re a woman on a mission, aren’t you?”
“You bet I am! Come on, Tripp has been friends with us for over three years now. Three!” Paige held three fingers up in the air to emphasize her point. “And not once has he brought a woman around. Then, all of a sudden, you come around and he’s done for.”
“All of a sudden?” Beth laughed. “Are you forgetting the part where I’ve known him for two of those three years?”
“That first year doesn’t count,” Mel chimed in. “For one, you had a boyfriend.”
“Jackass,” Grace coughed into her hand.
“Exactly.” Mel nodded. “And two, you didn’t live here.”
“But I have lived here for the last year, and we’ve been neighbors for months. Most of that time was just massive amounts of resentment and contention.”
At that moment their waiter came up with a tray holding five beautiful, lime-green margaritas, salt coating the glass rims.
“Okay, it’s been a slow burn,” Paige amended her statement when the waiter walked away. “But now everything is on fire, and I want to hear all about it. So start from the very first spark.”
“You’re not going to stop until I do, are you?”
“Nope.” Paige shook her head, lifting her margarita glass to her mouth.
“We want to know what’s got you so happy,” Hannah grinned.
“You mean that smile she’s been rocking?” Grace asked. “Regular sex will do that to a girl.”
“Of that there is no doubt. And you better not leave anything out.” Mel gave her stern teacher look, which always meant business.
“Fine.” Beth grabbed her own margarita, taking a sip—actually, it was more like a gulp—to fortify herself before she began her tale. “So there I was…”
* * *
Beth was on her second margarita, feeling a mighty nice buzz, before she finally broached the particular topic she’d wanted to ask her friends about.
“I need advice,” she said as she pushed her now empty plate of chicken enchiladas aside.
“On what, exactly?” Paige asked.
“How soon is too soon for Tripp to stay the night?”
“Wait.” Hannah held up her hand. “I thought you said you had slept in the same bed as him.”
“I have, just not at my house. It’s always at his place and when the kids are with my dad.”
“And you don’t know when it’s okay to have him stay the night when the kids are there?” Grace asked as she lifted her margarita glass to her lips.
“No, I don’t.”
“Babe, that’s not something any of us have experience with.” Mel shook her head. “We all started our relationships without that particular element.”
“Yes, but you all had things to deal with.” Beth sat up straighter in her chair. “Hell, Mel, you’d been shot not that long before you and Bennett started up. And Paige, it took you months to let Brendan into your bed.”
“Actually, it was his bed that I let myself into, and he was only too eager to let me.” Paige waved her hand in the air. “But please continue.”
“Hannah, you and Shep had this heartbreaking past that made you question starting things up with him again. And Grace, well…Grace, your husband was blind to the fact that the two of you had been in love with each other for years. So all of you had elements to contend with, even if they aren’t the same as mine.”
“Okay, okay you made your point,” Grace said as she finished off the last of her margarita.
The waiter came up to the table just as the empty glass was set back down. “Another round?”
“Please.” Mel smiled at him before returning her attention to her friends.
“And it’s not just about him staying the night, either,” Beth told her friends. “It’s our relationship as a whole. I…I worry that we’re moving too fast. And the impact that could have on the kids.”
“Speaking of the kids.” Mel looked at Beth. “Are they still sleeping in bed with you? Because that would put the kibosh on Tripp staying the night real quick.”
“Only during the really bad storms, which have been happening a little less frequently lately.”
There was a beat of silence as everyone took a moment to think, and it was Hannah who spoke first this time.
“I think you should do what feels right when it comes to how your relationship progresses. That’s my piece of advice for you. I fought what I felt for Shep for weeks when I came back down here. And it just made everything harder for both of us. I mean, when I really think about it, I actually fought what felt right for thirteen freaking years, which was being with him. It was only when I stopped fighting it that all of the good stuff started to happen.”
“Like him moving in with you at the inn, getting married, and having a baby?” Paige asked.
“Exactly.” Hannah grinned hugely.
“I agree with Hannah,” Mel nodded. “I remember how great it was when I stopped fighting what I wanted with Bennett. When we both gave in to it.”
“I
, on the other hand”—Grace touched her chest—“never fought what I wanted with Jax. It was him who was fighting, and we all know where that got us.”
“I’m not fighting anything.” Beth paused for a second then started to chew on her bottom lip. “I mean, I don’t think I’m fighting anything.”
“Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t.” Paige shrugged. “But there has to be some instinct that’s leading you in a certain direction, and if the instinct isn’t there yet, maybe it’s not the time. I think it’s just going to feel right when it is right, and there will come a moment when you stop overthinking and just do.”
“Wasn’t that how it was when you decided to start something with Tripp in the first place?” Hannah asked. “It just felt right?”
“I…” Beth trailed off. Well, yeah, straddling Tripp in his backyard while he’d touched and kissed her had felt pretty damn right. Everything after had felt even better.
“What do you want, Beth?” Grace asked.
“Because, really”—Mel raised her eyebrows—“that’s the ultimate question.”
Chapter Seventeen
Closer
After the third round of margaritas, they all had a fourth. Because the drinks had been spaced out over four hours, and because Beth had kept up with her water intake, she wasn’t drunk. Though when Bennett dropped her off at eleven o’clock, she was feeling pretty damn good…and wasn’t overthinking anything.
Beth unlocked and opened the front door before turning to wave to Bennett and Mel, who were sitting in his idling truck parked in the driveway. Then she stepped inside, locking the door behind her. The hall light had been left on and she dropped her purse on the table by the front door before making her way down the hallway.
The only sound coming from the living room was “A Whole New World” from the end credits of Aladdin. The only light came from the movie flickering on the TV and the soft glow from the lamp in the corner. When Beth stepped into the room, the scene before her had her heart catching in her throat.
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