“Something’s blue...just not his toes.” Casey didn’t so much try to hide her snicker as let it erupt, full-blown. Piper and Ella exchanged looks that said they clearly knew exactly where she was going and burst into giggles.
“Acacia, enough!” Joel roared.
“Dial back the volume,” said Ella. “We’ve got a full roster of clients going today, just down that hallway. They come here to relax, not to listen to a grumpy man losing his cool.”
Her expression had remained calm, but it was as harsh a professional dressing down as Casey had ever seen the sweet-to-the-core Ella deliver. Casey felt no regret. Pushing Joel to the brink was the only way to lever him out of his martyr-like approach to love.
“Sorry. That was inappropriate. I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Huh uh.” Casey pointed with one finger to the center of the floor. “Stay.”
“You’re not my boss.”
“No, but I am, and she’s turned up my curiosity meter to high.” Ella looked back and forth between them with a frown. “What the heck is going on?”
Casey held her breath. She wouldn’t reveal his secret. But she wanted him to come clean here, with her girls, and get the support and extra kick in the pants needed from them to spring into action. This lakeshore could only hold a finite amount of secrets.
Joel leaned a fist against a triangular display unit of scented candles. Geez, did he really have to brace himself just to get out the words? Then he scrunched his eyes shut and ground the heels of his hands into them.
“Go on. You know you want to,” he said with a dip of his head toward Casey.
“Joel is Dawn’s secret admirer. In the mailbox journal. He knows who she is, but she doesn’t know who he is, and she doesn’t know he knows who she is.”
Piper angled her head and squinted. “Does that sentence come with a map?”
Ella’s hands flew to the neckline of her sage-colored tank top. “Joel’s blue balls are for your stepmother?”
“Hang on. I can’t raise my voice, but you girls can talk about—” Joel lowered his voice to a whisper, “—balls?”
“Any day of the week,” Piper said with a smirk.
Casey pressed on. “Did you think about what Zane and I said? That you should tell Dawn everything?”
He paced a couple of steps to the lotion display, and then back. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about. It’s why I didn’t come out to dinner after the race.”
Ella tucked her arm through Casey’s. “I assumed your manliness was threatened by the awesomeness of our relay runners.”
“You do know I could take them all down without breathing hard?”
Ella waved off his bluster with a flick of her wrist. “Rumors. Innuendo. Kind of like your alleged black ops status, medal count and ability to slice a human hair with a mere look.”
“Can we get back to the whole hot chef romances town mayor breaking news alert?” Piper asked, toying with her white braided pendant. It hung almost to the rope belt around her lemon yellow maxi dress and looked effortlessly boho chic.
Casey, on the other hand, wasn’t anywhere close to chic. Because it was a pedicure day. Bare toes were the only wardrobe necessity. Her ancient SUNY tee—black when purchased as an undergrad—had faded to gray, and the ESF department logo of a leaf was reduced to mere flecks of green. “Where did you end up after all that thinking, Joel?”
“Hoping that you and Zane would keep your big mouths shut and nothing would have to change.”
“Don’t count on it.” The old Casey, the one from only a month ago, would’ve rolled her eyes, yet agreed. But she’d changed. From that first night when she decided that a simple flirtation with Zane was worth the risk, Casey had slowly but surely been shedding some of her layers of protective camouflage. Decided that maybe, while not throwing caution to the wind, they could lower the alert level from DEFCON Five down to DEFCON Three. Or whichever way lessened things. She didn’t watch enough action movies to be up to speed on the jargon. “Because I’ve been thinking. You’re apparently dialed in to just how much I’ve got to hide in my own life. I can’t hide your feelings, too. And Zane, well, he’s morally opposed to hiding anything.”
Joel snorted. “No kidding. That guy wouldn’t bother to hide a case of the clap.”
“Wait a minute.” Ella made a T with her hands. “So Zane, Casey, Piper and I all know about this. You know that means we have to dial in Ward as well. Oh, and Gray, of course. You expect all six of us to keep your secret?”
“That’s the plan.”
“That’s insane,” hooted Piper.
Casey slid off the counter. She still didn’t get Joel’s need for a celibate, anonymous love affair when he could have the flesh-and-blood version. “What good is a relationship that only exists on the pages of a book?”
“Look, I know Dawn two ways. As her friend, who helps her out around the house and goes to the racetrack with her, and as this man who, yeah, is in love with her. She’s told me things, as a friend, about her past. About your past, Casey. About how she couldn’t live with herself if you were forced out in the open because of some way she screwed up. How protecting you is her number-one priority in life.”
Geez, how much was her secret past going to get discussed this summer? It sure didn’t feel very secret anymore. “I get that. But I’m all grown up now. I can fight my own battles. Protect myself. You and I both love Dawn. We both want her to be happy. And, when you’re not being a cocky jerk, you’re pretty darn terrific.”
Was that a streak of red on his tanned cheeks? Had she actually made the big scary special ops guy flush?
“I don’t want to scare her off.”
“You know how baby birds don’t know they can fly until you push them out of the nest? Dawn won’t leave the nest she built around us. But, if you’re honest with her, you could help her to soar.” Casey stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.
“We’ve traumatized you enough for one day. Head back to your kitchen, Chef,” Ella ordered with a smile.
“Don’t be pigs. I made sure there’s enough torte for you to share with the nail technicians. I’ll leave some extra plates.” Joel pushed the cart out the door. Poor guy had probably never been so happy to retreat in his whole life.
Ella looked at her watch. “We’ve got fifteen minutes before our pedicures. Let’s move these treats down the hall. I don’t want my clients wondering why they aren’t getting lunch during their services.” A thinking line appeared between her eyebrows. “Or maybe they should. Maybe we could offer lunch or snacks during pedicures. That would be a good profit booster.”
“Fine-tune your empire later. I’m starving,” Casey grumbled as she stuck the wine bottle in the crook of her elbow, grabbed laden plates and headed down to the empty pedicure room with its four ivory massaging chairs. Yup, she was cranky after butting her head against Joel’s brick wall of emotional scaredy-cat-ed-ness. Casey had real problems to deal with in her own love life. Issues that could affect other people and maybe even end with, albeit a worst case scenario, her stepmother in jail. Joel? All he had to do was go ‘fess up about his burning-hot love and probably be in a lip-lock five seconds later. No wonder men didn’t obsess over their feelings very often. They mostly sucked at it.
With a sly smile, Piper said, “Starving for food, maybe. Starving for attention, definitely not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The soft sounds of a harp and flute—what she called fairy music—drifted out of the ceiling’s speakers. That, combined with the scent of orange, lavender and grapefruit wafting by, was all it took to erase the lingering tension from the discussion with Joel.
Each chair had a table next to it for purses. Casey piled her undoubtedly awesome lunch on it. Clambered into the chair and held the glass high enough for the bubbles to tickle her nose.
All the trappings of a peaceful, luxurious day off.
Piper kicked off her wedges and settled next to Casey. “Don’t pretend it isn’t awesome. Don’t pretend you’re not loving every minute of it.”
Nope, Casey really didn’t have a clue. “Of what?”
“You’ve got two men literally fighting over you.”
So much for peaceful luxuriating. She’d been trying to actively not think about it for...well, the fight happened about seven o’clock Saturday, and it was now noon on Monday, so...how about every waking minute since then, which equaled too freaking many to count? “Don’t remind me.”
“Two men. Wow.” Ella leaned over Casey to grab a stuffed pepper. “Of course, only one of them has any personality to speak of, but they’re both good-looking in the extreme. It so does not suck to be you.”
“It sucks. This is as far from a fun experience as, oh, donating blood.” She drained half her glass before remembering that gulping sparkling wine wasn’t smart. Casey coughed, her eyes watering.
“Well, when you donate blood you get cookies. When guys fight over you, you get awesome sex.” Piper shook her finger and took a far more reasonable and delicate sip. “I think you’re acting more miserable than you ought to be.”
“I remember when Stephen and Will fought over me junior year,” Ella said in a wistful voice. “It made me feel like a movie star.”
No. No revisionist history allowed between friends. Casey shook her head. “They didn’t fight. They held a weekend-long video game marathon and declared the winner worthy of you.”
“And neither was anywhere close to worthy,” added Piper, “what with not having their licenses yet. And the one-two punch of braces and acne.”
Ella snatched another two peppers and sat down. “I know. That’s why I turned him down.”
“Which one?”
She flapped a hand in the air. “Whoever won. God, I don’t remember. But I do remember how great it felt. And now Casey’s got that.”
No. Nononono. If they were going to force Casey to think about it, and talk about it, then she needed them to be full of support, not laughing off her predicament. “What I have is a serious problem.”
Piper swung around, dropping her feet to the floor, planted her elbows on her knees and whispered loudly, “Is Zane not good in bed?”
“I don’t know.” That rocketed Ella off of her chair to run around and crouch next to Piper, both of them with eyes wider than the googly-eyed dolls carnivals gave out. “Wait. Nobody panic. Everything we’ve done so far has been off the charts knee-melting. We just haven’t done that yet.”
“Seriously?” Piper sighed and scooted back around to pick up her sandwich. “I was hoping you’d been saving the details to spill today. I’d counted on a solid hour of sexy stories. You’re sort of ruining our afternoon, Casey.”
No way was she shouldering that blame. At least, not solo. “Maybe if you didn’t discard men for ridiculous reasons after two dates, you wouldn’t need to live vicariously through my almost sex-life.”
Piper appeared unruffled by the jab. “Who—Patrick Welsh? Please. Realizing upfront that I don’t want to spend my life with a man who empties his pants pockets before he sits down—every time, like an annoying ninety-year-old—is a time saver. It’s practical. It is in no way ridiculous.”
Okay. That did sound kind of anal. But there were plenty more examples to trot out. “What about the guy you dumped for jiggling his leg?”
“That’s the sort of habit that slowly drives a person mad until one day they snap and stab their spouse of thirty years. Do you really want me to end up in jail when I’m sixty?”
“You’d have the same amount of sex you’re having now. None.”
Piper licked her fingers. “I’m holding out for the perfect man.”
Casey was tempted to say that she’d had him and dumped him ten years ago. That he still stared at her with puppy dog eyes when they weren’t busy throwing jabs at each other. That if she and Ward put the past behind them, Piper could be having sex tonight. Especially after that shocking admission last week that Piper still loved him. And yet refused to do anything about it. Geez. Joel, Piper...what was with people ignoring love staring them in the face?
“Hang on.” Ella tapped her spoon against her wine glass. “I thought Casey wasn’t holding out for anything. I mean, didn’t you say that Zane was supposed to be just a fun fling? A sex toy?”
Piper grinned. “A good time in the sack don’t let the door hit you in the back?”
Her friends cracked her up. Casey grabbed a handful of peppers. “Yes. That was the plan.” Mmm. Sweet and briny, cheesy goodness.
Ella pretended to count on her fingers. “The math doesn’t add up. Haven’t you been with him twenty-four/seven for like three weeks now? I slept with Gray in less than half that time.”
“Hussy.”
“Prude,” Ella shot back with a head toss and a wicked smile.
Worse—she was serious. Really serious about the curious professor. “The problem is that Zane ended up being too much fun.”
“You guys are having too much fun to bother with sex? Yeah, I hear the words coming out of your mouth, but they don’t compute. Might as well be in Lithuanian.”
Casey wasn’t surprised by the confusion. Not given her history of keeping things light and fast with any man who caught her eye. “Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t maintain a strictly casual level with Zane. He’s too smart, too funny, too hot, too tender. He’s irresistible.”
“And that’s somehow a turn-off?” asked Piper.
“When it turned into a relationship instead of a hook-up, we slowed things down a little bit. Spent nights talking to each other instead of just jumping into bed. Everything progressed well in that area, though. Really well.”
“Let’s see—you’re getting a pedicure. And I saw on today’s schedule they’ve got you down for a manicure, too.” Ella grabbed Casey’s hand and buffed the nails against her shorts.
“Which is unheard of for forest girl,” added Piper. “Does that mean tonight’s the big night?”
Casey snatched back her hand. In a perfect world. One in which her boyfriend—and how had that happened?—wasn’t trying to unearth her very secret past. “Maybe. I thought it was going to be. But at the marathon, Zane told me that he’s falling in love with me.”
She swiveled her head back and forth trying to gauge her friends’ reactions to the huge news. The whole disposable-guy approach to dating meant that nobody ever stuck around long enough to fall in love with her. Or at least not long enough to confess to it.
“Good thing I’ve already got the bubbly open for an announcement that epic. Congratulations!” Ella leaned over to press a swift kiss on Casey’s cheek. And almost fell off the chair in the process. These bucket seats were made for comfort, not for spontaneous spurts of affection.
Piper clapped her hands together five times, fast. “Didn’t he also mention that he’s probably taking the Hobart job? Which means he’s staying in town and you guys can live happily ever after?”
See, how was that a good thing? How was falling in love and feeling the super strong urge to bare her soul to this amazing man worth celebrating? “Not exactly. He got a new book contract. He won’t stop digging into the stupid Sunshine Seekers Lone Survivor stuff.” Casey took a vicious bite out of her sandwich. Tearing into its deliciousness was a pale outlet for her frustration, but it was all she had at the moment. “For God’s sake, he’s at it right now, trying to squeeze info out of the old and addled in the nursing home over at Keuka Lake.”
“Do you really think anyone would rat you and Dawn out?”
That was the question that kept Casey up at night. That...and wondering how many kinds of awesome it would be when Zane finally stuck more in her than just his tongue. “Maybe. I
don’t know. Zane could charm a giggle out of a Buckingham Palace guard. And he’s so smart that if there’s a single loose end after all these years, he’ll find it and start tugging. If I want to stay with him, I’d have to keep lying to him.”
That option didn’t sit right with her. Look at how miserable she’d been lying to Ward. Not to mention the shitstorm that developed once the truth came out. Casey couldn’t even imagine going through that with someone she’d committed to share, well, everything with. Because wasn’t that the whole point of love—not holding back?
Ella topped off everyone’s glass. “You lie to lots of people, most people, about your past.”
“You’ve been lying to Pierce for years,” Piper pointed out. “He doesn’t know about it. What’s the difference?”
Talk about a softball of a question. “Pierce doesn’t care.”
“I think that scene at Dano’s the other night proves differently,” said Ella in a soft, deliberate voice. “Pierce took a stand for you. Heck, he took a floor to his face for you.”
Okay, that was a teeny, tiny bit thrilling in retrospect. And in principle. “I know he cares about me. But it’s all on the surface. If I tell him I had a bad day but I don’t want to talk about it, he changes the subject. He doesn’t care enough to poke, to make me uncomfortable. That’s what made him so perfect. It’s easy and smooth with Pierce. Like kayaking across Seneca Lake on a calm day.”
“This is going to come out totally dirty, but I don’t mean it that way.” Still, Piper covered her mouth with her hand and giggled for a few seconds before raising laughing blue eyes. “Does Zane, um, poke at you?”
“Remember that time in college when I started getting headaches and you made me go for acupuncture? That woman put thirty-seven needles in me, and that was way less than Zane pokes at me. He does it because he cares enough to shovel through the bad stuff to come out the other side. He cares enough to argue with me. I never knew how awesome that could be. I don’t argue with Pierce.”
All for You Page 25