by Elle Spencer
Just like Lacey had done on several occasions to her, Quinn bent down and gently kissed her forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
“I’m in no condition to travel…in my condition,” Lacey mumbled, her eyes slowly closing.
Once Quinn had Lacey medicated and tucked in under an extra blanket, she went to the other side of the bed and lay down next to her. She grabbed the remote off the table and turned on the television. “What’ll it be? Doctor Phil or Days of Our Lives?”
Lacey rolled onto her side, facing Quinn with her eyes closed. “Neither. And you don’t have to stay here with me.”
Quinn rolled onto her side and ran her fingers through Lacey’s hair. “How many nights did you lie next to me and talk to me until I forgot about the pain and fell asleep?”
“Many.”
“Okay, then. Let me be here for you.”
“You paid me to be with you.”
“I’ll send you a bill.”
Lacey opened her eyes. “I can’t afford you.”
“What are you talking about? You’re a regular on a hit show now. And you’re getting a raise. Things are looking up.”
“It’ll end. They won’t keep me forever, so I need to be frugal.”
“Are you forgetting about all the publicity? You won’t struggle to find work anymore, Lace. Hell, your old soap would take you back in a second.” Quinn paused, hoping that was the opening Lacey needed to tell her what the hell happened in New York. Did she go talk to her old producer? They’d offered her what sounded like years of future work, which was more than Quinn could offer. She had no idea how long the producers would keep Lacey on Jordan’s Appeal. For all she knew, it would only amount to the rest of this season and then they’d move on with another storyline.
Lacey closed her eyes again. “I just want to sleep.” Her phone beeped, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Can you look at that for me?”
Quinn grabbed the phone off the table. “You have a text. It’s from Daniela. She says, I’ll be in L.A. on Friday. I’m not giving up on us.” Quinn’s eyes widened. “Wait, is that Dani? Your ex?”
Lacey’s eyes popped open and they stared at each other for a second. “Shit,” she finally said.
“Double shit,” Quinn added.
Lacey threw the covers back and sat up. “She could ruin everything.”
Quinn grabbed the covers and urged Lacey to lie back down. “Where do you think you’re going? You need to rest.”
Lacey plopped back down on the bed and grabbed her forehead. “You’re right. I’m in no condition to…I’m not even sure where I was going. God, my head hurts.”
Quinn held Lacey’s phone up. “I could text her back for you.”
“And tell her what?”
“To find another sugar mama.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“No?” Quinn said with the raise of an eyebrow.
“We were good. Happy. Content.”
“Until you lost your job.”
“Isn’t money why most people divorce?”
Quinn shrugged. “Yeah. Money and sex.”
“Dani and I were no different. We broke in half because the financial stress was too much.”
“She left you,” Quinn flatly stated. “Things got difficult and she left you.”
Lacey winced at that. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“She walked out on you when you were at your lowest.”
“She’s not a bad person,” Lacey said. “Stop trying to demonize her.”
“Don’t tell me it was complicated, because that’s just…” Quinn shook her head as she tried to find the right word.
“Why do you care?” Lacey asked in frustration. “I’m not taking her back. At least not until we’ve completed our mission. Is that what you’re worried about?”
“No, Lacey, I’m worried about you. How the hell could you ever trust her again?”
Lacey shook her head. “It never mattered. Dani was incapable of doing anything wrong in my eyes. She owned me.”
“Wow.” That felt like a pretty big admission. Someone owned Lacey Matthews? “She still does, apparently, but you’re so in control with me, I can’t picture you being owned by anyone.”
“Dani was my first love. My first everything.”
“You’re thirty years old. Get over it and find someone who loves and respects you enough to stick around when the going gets tough.”
Lacey closed her eyes. “Could you harass me about this later, when I can fight back?”
“No. I have a captive audience and I’m going to tell it like it is.” Quinn didn’t want to start another fight, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Lacey being with that woman.
Lacey threw her arm over her face. “God, I hate you right now.”
Quinn softened her tone. “No, you don’t. You hate that I’m right.”
“The divorced woman lecturing me about love? Epic.”
“I can lecture you because I know all about betrayal, Lace.”
“Who was she?”
Quinn rolled onto her back and sighed. “I don’t remember her name, but she was an angel.”
Lacey’s eyes popped open. “I was talking about him, not you.” She slowly blinked. “You’re the one who cheated?”
It took a moment for Quinn to answer. “Not exactly.”
Lacey propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Quinn. “Oh. My. God.”
Quinn looked away. “Don’t judge me until you hear the story.”
“Who says I want to hear it? Maybe I just want to judge you without knowing.” Lacey plopped back down on her back. “Fine. I’m too sick to argue. Tell the story.”
Quinn hesitated. “I haven’t ever told anyone the whole story. Jack knows bits and pieces, but not the details.”
“It’s fine,” Lacey said. “I’m delirious, so I probably won’t even remember it in the morning.”
Quinn sat up and crossed her legs. She picked at the blanket for a moment, removing the little nubs that build up over time. “Fine. I’ll tell you. My husband, and god, I hate calling him that, even though we were married for five years. Anyway, he had a big party which is one of the reasons I never host parties now. Anyway, we were all way past drunk and he brought this beautiful girl into the bedroom and I stood there, just staring at her. She was…” Quinn’s voice trailed off. She squeezed her eyes shut. “He played me and I fell for it.”
Lacey sat up. “What do you mean?”
“God, it’s so embarrassing. I was drunk as hell but I was so into her. I remember running my fingers through her long, brown hair. It was so soft, and she was so pretty. Her skin felt like velvet and her lips…” Quinn cleared her throat. “Anyway, I knew what it meant. I’d known for a while, years probably, that I…you know…like women. The problem was, my husband also got his confirmation that night. He watched us. He watched the way I was with her. It hurt like hell to watch – that’s what he told me the next day.”
Lacey rested her hand on Quinn’s back. “He put you in that situation so he could test you?”
“I guess he had his suspicions. Maybe he saw the way I looked at women. According to you, I’m not very discreet about it.”
Lacey slowly shook her head. “No, you’re not. Your sex eyes give you away.”
Quinn chuckled. “I’ll have to work on that.” She turned to Lacey. “I want what I felt that night with her, but I also want the morning after. I want the love that goes with it. And I don’t want to have to hide it.”
“I understand,” Lacey said. “Everything in that department has gone to hell for me, but I understand wanting it.”
Quinn focused on her hands for a moment. “He’s going to out me. He’s just waiting for the right moment…when it will hurt me the most.”
Lacey looked up at the ceiling. “So, let me get this straight. He’s the one who brought a woman to your bed. And now, he’s plotting out how to mess with your career? Your life?”
“He’s probably writing a tell-all book as we speak, that’s how much he hates me.”
“You know, this may be none of my business, but your ex-husband sounds like a world-class douche bag.”
Quinn laughed. “You got that right.”
Lacey leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, they popped open. “Quinn?”
“Yeah?”
“Our plan is perfect.”
Quinn turned so she was facing Lacey. “How so?”
“Instead of you doing this big coming out thing, where you’ll have to answer pointed questions about your past, you can just let the rumors fly and it won’t matter. That woman will probably try to make a few bucks with her story, but no one will care, because YOU won’t care.”
That wasn’t altogether true and Quinn knew it. “My mother will care. She doesn’t do scandal very well.”
“Your mother will get over it. Besides, mothers love me. Especially soap-loving mothers.”
Quinn wanted to believe it was true. She wanted to believe everything would be just fine. But she knew her mother. And where did Lacey get off? “I don’t understand you. I mean, you care about what happens to me and you give me advice, but I’m not allowed to do that with you?”
“It’s not that,” Lacey admitted. “It’s just…I don’t want to admit that the love of my life screwed me over, because what does that say about me?”
“The only thing it says…is that you loved her with your whole heart. Not everyone can say that.”
Lacey slid back down on the bed and covered her face with her arm again. “And now, I’m scarred for life.”
Quinn lay down next to her, propped up on her elbow. “Yeah, I wish I could’ve known you before she did this to you. I’d probably like you a lot more.”
“Fuck you, Quinn.”
“Fuck you, Lacey.”
Lacey took her arm away from her face. Her eyes were teary. “You really don’t like me?”
If you weren’t so sick, I’d kiss you. Quinn rested her hand on Lacey’s stomach. She could feel the heat from her flu-riddled body emanating through the t-shirt. “Eh, you’re okay,” she said, gently rubbing circles on Lacey’s stomach. “Just rest now, okay?”
“Promise not to murder me in my sleep?” Lacey joked.
Quinn smiled. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lacey didn’t have the energy to do anything except lay in bed and watch TV. That was getting old, so she grabbed her laptop and typed into the search bar, Quinn Kincaid’s husband. Greer Farris. Action movies. Way too good looking. She lost interest almost immediately, so she typed in Quinn Kincaid’s divorce.
“Shit.” Lacey had no idea it had been such a big deal. The tabloids covered it for months. Paparazzi chased them both endlessly. Everyone had an opinion about who cheated on who. “Gross!” Lacey grimaced when she read that there was speculation about Quinn and their co-star, Brock Tennison.
No wonder Quinn was so private now. Lacey couldn’t blame her. They’d been relentless, trying to get the real story, or any story at all, even if it was completely false.
Her phone beeped. Quinn had dinner ready. The last thing Lacey wanted to do was eat, but she pushed herself out of bed. She went into the main house wearing a big wool sweater with pajama bottoms and slippers. “Sorry, I didn’t have the strength to dress for dinner.”
“That’s okay, I didn’t cook. Which you should be grateful for.” Quinn had several take-out containers lined up on the kitchen island. She pointed at the first container. “Thai coconut soup. I love this when I have a cold.”
Lacey sat on a stool across the kitchen island from Quinn. “That would be fine.” Nothing would taste good. She was doing this purely for Quinn, who was playing the doting nurse.
“No, you have to hear the other options.” Quinn placed her hand on the next container. “Good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup.”
“Dani is sick too. She’s not flying out here tomorrow, thank god.”
Quinn slowly blinked as she stared at Lacey. “Did you…kiss her?”
“What?”
“Why is she sick too?”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “First of all, it’s not mono. And I know you see Dani as the devil incarnate and all, but it’s really none of your business.”
Quinn put her hand on the third container. “Chicken pot pie.” She kept her eyes down and waited for a reply.
“I’ll have the coconut soup with a side of jealousy.”
Quinn narrowed her eyes. She pushed the soup container across the island and pulled a spoon out of the drawer. She slid the spoon so hard it almost flew off the other end but Lacey caught it with both hands.
“Whoa!”
Quinn grabbed a fork and the chicken pot pie. She went into the living room and turned on the television, choosing Lacey’s old soap opera from the list of recordings. She turned the volume up and pointed at the TV. “Oh look. It’s your asshole husband with his new wife and kid.”
Lacey shuffled over and curled up in the corner of the sofa with her soup. “Everything changes and yet somehow manages to stay exactly the same in the soap world.”
“And the writers don’t ever say to each other – let’s be realistic?” Quinn sarcastically asked.
“And the women are all bitches.”
“So you fit right in.”
Lacey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
Quinn threw the remote on the table. “Sometimes, you’re like a caged animal, Lacey. You bite the hand that feeds you.”
Were they going to fight again? Lacey didn’t have the energy. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want that bitch in my house or anywhere near me, so you should move out.”
Lacey looked up in surprise. Seriously? Did she really just say that? “I told you, Dani isn’t coming here. And is this your thing? Every time you get angry or scared, you’ll tell me to move out?”
Quinn ignored Lacey’s question. She poked around the chicken pot pie with her fork and then stabbed if forcefully. “She’ll come here eventually, and I want nothing to do with it.”
Lacey stood up and went back into the kitchen. “Thank you for dinner.”
Quinn followed her. “You barely took one bite! You need to eat or you’ll never get better. And that’s not really an option since we start shooting again in two days.”
Lacey put the container in the fridge. “Maybe later. Right now, I’m tired, and I don’t want to fight with you.”
Quinn scoffed. “You love fighting with me!”
Lacey held onto the fridge door handle, keeping her back to Quinn. “I hurt you, with the jealousy comment, or with mentioning Dani, or I don’t even know what hurt you. I just know I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Quinn gently took Lacey’s arm. “It’s okay. Please, just come back to the sofa and sit with me. I’ll spoon-feed you some chicken pot pie.”
“Will you change the fucking channel?” Lacey had no desire to see who had replaced her on the show that had been her life for so long.
Quinn took Lacey by the hand and led her back to the sofa. She turned off the television and got a small bite of the chicken pot pie on her fork. “You’ll love this. It’s made from scratch.”
“Hmm...” Lacey gave her a thumbs up as she chewed, trying to appear grateful.
“I know it’s hard, seeing the people we love for who they really are, and I don’t mean to demonize Dani, but I can see the forest for the trees better than you, because I’m not invested.”
Lacey was taken aback. Sure, Quinn was being presumptuous, but Lacey had grown accustomed to that. Not invested though? Was she really that detached? Because she sure as hell didn’t act like it. “You’ve never even met her. How could you possibly…”
Quinn fed her another bite, shutting her up. “I’m sure she’s a saint. She’d have to be, to put up with you.”
Lacey
stopped chewing. “Are you trying to start another fight?”
“I’m trying to feed you, so open up.”
Lacey took the bite and put up her hand. “I can’t eat anymore.”
Quinn held up another bite. “Come on, honey. A couple more bites.”
“I’m not your honey.”
“Thank god.”
“I’m only here because…”
Quinn gave up on feeding Lacey and set the fork down. “Yes, I know. You came rushing back from New York because we have a contract.”
“I came back because I have two contracts now. One with you and one with the studio. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let Dani mess with my career again.”
“Or your heart?”
Lacey stood up and went to the door. “Don’t worry. She’ll never know where you live.”
Quinn ran to the door and blocked Lacey’s way. “That’s not my only concern.”
Lacey folded her arms, wanting to protect herself. “I don’t have the energy for this. You’re looking for a fight…or something…I don’t know, I’m just confused right now.”
“That’s how we communicate,” Quinn said, throwing her hands in the air. “We’re complete assholes to each other. But we’re straightforward assholes who care about each other and sometimes we even make each other laugh. I don’t get any of that anywhere else. So that’s something, right?”
Lacey’s eyes filled with tears. “Well, right now…in my current state…I need a little bit of love more than I need a whole lot of the cold, hard truth.”
Lacey waited a few painfully long seconds for Quinn to say something, but she just stood there, dumbfounded. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Lacey took her by the shoulders and physically moved her out of the way so she could go back out to the guesthouse. “And if you ever threaten to kick me out again, you better mean it, because I won’t come back.” She didn’t wait for a reply. She went out to the guesthouse and fell back into bed.
***
Later that evening, Quinn took the chicken noodle soup to the guesthouse. She set the take-out container on the bedside table and crouched down, so she was eye level with Lacey. “Can we call a truce until you’re feeling better? I’d hate to think I’m winning a war of words just because my opponent is weak.”