The twisted vines comple.., p.48
The Twisted Vines Complete Boxset, page 48
“Now that you’re making the money, are you going to be moving it on up?”
“That’s laughable.” I grab a menu and scan it. None of these eighteen-dollar appetizers are particularly appealing, but I don’t drink often enough to skip food.
“Why is it laughable?” She sounds serious.
I look up from the menu, and it hits me how clueless she really is. It’s not her fault. She hasn’t had to budget off of a teacher’s salary in, well, forever.
“First, I have credit card debt to pay down. Second, my automobile is eighteen years old. Third, Ethan leaves for college in three years.” I squeal this last part because the notion increases my anxiety.
“It burns me up every single time I think of the twat asking you to pay half of Ethan’s tuition. What an asshole. He makes as much money as Terrell.”
“Preacher, meet the choir.” It’s our common refrain. “Nevertheless, our divorce agreement doesn’t stipulate who pays for college. And every chance he gets, he tells Ethan he’d better stay on me about saving money for his college unless he wants to be taking out student loans. Like I have all this extra each month. Like Santa Barbara isn’t expensive as all get out. But it’s fine. This is the break I needed. If I can just do well at this job… in a few years I might be able to save money for retirement.”
“Retirement? How old do you think you are?”
My mouth drops in disbelief at her unwitting question.
“I’m going to be forty.” Do I really need to remind her?
“When? Someday.” She laughs at her crackpot Harry Met Sally joke, but I slap her hand down.
“Not someday.” I shake my head, mouth half-open. “Next. Week.”
“Still. You have it in your head you’ll be single until you die.”
“I do not.” The denial is automatic, but she’s not far off. My brutal, soul-shattering divorce dispelled any notion a man is a reliable solution for anything. I learned the hard way a man is not an acceptable retirement plan. With my new job, I will make enough I could tell Jason to take his child support and shove it. But I won’t do that, because he should pay child support.
This conversation has all my muscles tightening. I lift the martini glass and chug.
“If I didn’t drag you out, what color would your hair be tomorrow?” She lifts a strand of my hair.
“You don’t like my auburn?” I jut my chin out, pretending to be affronted. But I decided yesterday it’s a little too red. She rolls her eyes, but this is a topic I would appreciate her input on. “I was thinking about trying warmer brown.”
“You’re not supposed to dye your hair every Saturday night.”
“I’m going gray. What the hell else am I supposed to do?”
“You change your hair color more frequently than I change my nail color.”
“So?”
“So, your hair is going to fall out.”
“Who says?”
“The box. The box says. Read it sometime.” As if Jenn has ever read the box. She goes to a salon that’s so fancy I get nervous walking in front of the doors. It’s the same sensation I get when I stare at dessert and my thighs expand. Only with the salon, the AC blasts through the open glass doors and my credit card balance grows.
I excuse myself to the restroom, and when I return, the place has filled up. Every barstool at the U-shaped bar is occupied, and nicely dressed patrons hover in the areas that are open behind the stools. Two freshly poured blue martinis sit in front of my partially emptied glass.
“Another round?” I ask.
“Drink up,” Jenn says.
“Did you pick an app?”
“Order what you want,” she tells me while twiddling her fingers at someone across the bar. There’s a man in a black t-shirt across the way. He nods at her and smiles. Then he returns to the conversation with his companions. He’s a good-looking guy. Reminds me a bit of Chris Hemsworth. We are in California… Could it be? I lean forward and study the man. No, it’s not. Recognizing celebrities isn’t my strength, but it’s definitely not Chris Hemsworth. The tattoos spanning his finely shaped bicep aren’t in any of the Us Weekly photos.
“See something you like?” Jenn asks.
I read the menu and point at the tuna nachos. “Okay with you?”
“I wasn’t talking about food.”
“Huh?” I ask. Because I really need food. My stomach is on the verge of queasy, and I’m getting lightheaded. She tilts her head in the direction of the Chris Hemsworth knock-off.
Her phone lights up on the bar with Terrell’s name and a small circle with their wedding photo. His call saves me from having to respond. It’s odd she’s flirting with anyone here. She’s as married as married gets. Terrell would tear apart any man who approached her—limb by limb. And I am definitely not here to flirt. I wave the bartender down so I can put in my order for nachos. He attempts to take the menu, and I grip it.
“We might order something else.” Jenn plans to toast my new job by getting toasted. My worst hangovers are all due to Jenn, and one thing age has delivered is the wisdom to know when one must eat. A Jenn night is one such occasion.
“Well, I’m out with Stella.” Her whine catches my attention. “Stella has something to celebrate, too.” I sense her exasperation. There’s color in her cheeks. She looks pissed.
I mouth the words, “What’s wrong?”
She tilts her head and frowns. She glares at the phone and then disconnects without a word.
“What’s going on?” It’s not like Jenn to hang up on Terrell.
“Our babysitter vomited, and one of us needs to go home to relieve her. Carol knew I had plans. That’s why she called Terrell, not me.”
“What about Sierra? She’s old enough to look after Darius by herself now, right?” Sierra is her fifteen-year-old daughter. I like her a lot. She’s growing up fast, but she’s sweet, dependable, and good friends with my son. Darius is eight years younger than his older sister, and as Jenn will tell anyone, the only reason he’s here is thanks to IVF.
“Are you kidding? Ever since some of her friends got driver’s licenses, she’s lost all interest in babysitting.”
“That’ll change once she needs to pay for gasoline,” I say, but it hits me that it’s quite possible Terrell and Jenn won’t make their daughter pay for her own gas. And that’s just one more conversation Jason and I have yet to have. I’d like to make Ethan, my son, pay for his car insurance and gas when he turns sixteen, but it won’t work unless Jason is on board.
“Honey, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go.” She waves down the bartender with a credit card between her fingers.
“Oh, it’s no—”
“Yes, it is a problem,” she blurts. “I planned this night out with you over a week ago. Terrell knew I had this planned, yet he’s off with the boys and he says he can’t leave.”
I don’t ask, but I know he’s with Jason. They work together for West Coast Pharmaceuticals.
“He says they’re out celebrating, too. Some new big account.” She purses her lips so tightly a hundred tiny lines form above and below her lips.
“Seriously, don’t worry about it.” My stomach sinks. “Terrell didn’t tell Jason about my new job, did he?”
“Oh, no, he knows better than that.” She averts her gaze, and my stomach is putty on the floor. Of course he did. Lovely.
I get off the stool and straighten my dress. The cotton is thin and clings a bit too tight for my taste. Her hand wraps around my arm.
“What are you doing? Get back on that stool. We’ve got food coming.”
“Let’s get it to go.”
“And you need to finish your drink.” She waves that hand, and it’s not until I realize the bartender is nowhere to be seen that I snatch her arm down.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
“I’m going to make sure you still celebrate tonight. And you are going to have fun. And in the morning, you are going to call me and tell me all about it. And thank me. Because let me tell you something… that man over there has been checking you out. And he’s hot. And you haven’t had sex since circa 2016.” The accuracy in her estimate is both surprising and mortifying. “Nothing on Netflix is going to be better than this.” She wags her finger in my face. “Do not let me down. Live it up.”
The man who has been flirting with her approaches, and he looks good enough to lick. He’s unshaven. It’s a look I don’t normally go for, but when a man has biceps and pecs shaped like his, who really cares about the rough around the edges bit? His sandy blond hair is cut short on the sides and longer on the top. The lighter highlights along his crown give him the look of someone who spends a lot of time outside. I’m not generally around men with firm, well-defined pecs like his, and I sort of want to reach out and squeeze them, which is clearly a sign I need to eat food. Alcohol loosens inhibitions and leads to dirty thoughts. Not that I am having dirty thoughts.
He thrusts his hand out, and Jenn pushes my elbow, urging me to take his hand. I glare. She laughs.
“He said his name is Trevor. And I told him your name is Stella.” She’s speaking to me like I’m one of her kindergarteners. Shit.
“Hi. I’m sorry.” I have no idea what they said while I was staring at his chest. Judging by his smirk, he’s not offended. “My mind can go…” I flutter my fingers to fill in. “Especially when I’m drinking.” He full-on smiles, and my queasy stomach twists. “Blue drinks.”
I don’t know why I add that. What I really want is to throw in a Phoebe and say something like, “So, Trevor, take off your shirt and tell us all about yourself.”
Jenn signs her check, and my internal alarm blares when she says, “Well, you two have fun. And Trevor, don’t let her go home. This girl is due for a good time. Honey, I am so sorry I have to bail on your celebration. I will make it up to you.”
And with a small wave and an air kiss, she leaves. Inside, I am screaming for her not to leave. What the hell, Jenn?
“I promise I won’t bite.” His breath flickers over my ear, and I jump. I’m in massive platform heels, and he still has to bend down to speak into my ear. The music is rather loud, but we’re in an upscale place, so he didn’t have to lean into my ear. No, he’s teasing me. He sees me panicking.
“What are we celebrating tonight?” He lifts his beer to his lips.
“It’s nothing. New job. You don’t have to stay out with me.” I reach for my clutch on the bar. His hand falls on my wrist. The touch is light and electric and startling.
“Hey, I promised your friend. She said you hardly ever go out. I’m the same way. Let me at least buy you dinner.”
“Oh, but…” I search for the woman I saw him with earlier across the bar.
“You’re saving me from being third wheel.”
“Where’d your friends go?”
“Probably back up to their room. We’re all staying here.”
“Oh. At the hotel?”
He nods and pulls out a stool. The bartender delivers the nachos I ordered and also delivers an enormous cheeseburger and a family serving of fries to Trevor. He unrolls the silverware and puts the cloth napkin on his lap.
“Sit. Would you like some fries?”
Fries to go with my nachos. That’s some celebrating right there. But I’m starving, and thin, salty french fries are my Achilles’ heel. So, I do what any girl one and a half cocktails in would do next to a younger Chris Hemsworth lookalike. I sit and alternate ogling the fries, his arms, and his chest.
“You really don’t mind?” I ask as my fingers deliver a captured fry to my mouth.
“Not at all. Help yourself. We can order more.”
“You can have some of my nachos,” I offer. The raw tuna is delicious, but there’s not as much of it as I might like sprinkled over the fried chips. A plentiful supply of guacamole and fresh salsa are on the side.
He cuts his burger in half, and the muscles in his bare forearm flex from the movement. I should ask him where he’s from. Or how long he’ll be in Santa Barbara. I should say something, but I’m so busy stuffing fries in my mouth and watching his muscles twitch and flex that I don’t.
This is what happens when you go almost ten years without a semblance of a date. And here I am, staring down the barrel at forty, and I can’t form a coherent sentence when a good-looking man sits down beside me at a bar. Jenn is right. I need to get back out there.
If she hadn’t forced me out tonight, my hair would now be colored a warmer, softer brunette, I’d have on new toenail polish, and I’d be on the sixth episode of one of the Friends seasons, or I’d be watching something naughty like Sex Life. Now, that woman lived. Billie, the star of Sex Life, put it out there. In her twenties, no less. When I was knee deep in dirty diapers, she was having the sex of her life with a gorgeous billionaire. And I have devoted my thirties to paying bills and raising said child while enduring the world’s longest divorce from the biggest A-hole.
Trevor wipes his lips with his napkin. His burger is no longer on his plate. We’ve made small talk, but I’m so in my head I can only hope my end of the conversation made sense.
“Do you live near here?” he asks.
“Not really. Goleta?” I say. I doubt he’s heard of it.
“Did you get enough to eat?” It’s only then that I notice half the nachos are missing, as are almost all of his fries and my second blue martini.
“Yeah, I’d say so.” I’ll definitely be going for a long walk tomorrow. A woman my age should not be eating a platter of fries. But hey, I’m celebrating, right? In less than a week, I’ll be forty. What an ugly word.
“I have a great view from my hotel room. Any chance you’d like to come up and share a glass of wine?”
Holy smokes. Is he asking me up? He’s asking me up. This gorgeous guy with a body from a superhero movie is asking me up to his room. He’s not from here. I’ll never see him again. Ethan’s at his dad’s until tomorrow afternoon. It’s been ten years. Ten years of battery-operated devices and my fingers and television and books.
What would Billie do?
TWO
ONE NIGHT ENGAGEMENT
Trevor
She’s nervous. I read the situation wrong. We’re not near a military base. She’s not a woman who simply wants to score with a man in uniform. And, for better or worse, I am no longer a man in uniform. I should pay the bill and call it a night.
She tilts her head, and her front teeth sink into her lower lip. One hand is on her hip, one on the bar. Wheels are turning behind those dark eyes. She’s debating.
The soft blush on her cheeks hints that this is not normal for her. Her gaze darts around the crowded bar area, to our empty plates, to the bartender who is working up a sweat mixing drinks and popping tops. There’s a mirror on the far wall, and our gazes meet in the reflective surface. She sees me grinning. I can’t help myself.
“No pressure.” It’s an admittedly weak attempt at persuasion. “We don’t have to do anything. But upstairs, it’s not crowded, and we can talk more easily.” I stretch my arm out against the bar and flex my bicep a tad. Her eyes follow the movement.
“Just one drink won’t hurt, I guess.” She reaches for her clutch and bumps her empty martini glass. “Oh, but I’ve had two drinks. A third…”
“I’ll get you an Uber. Or, if you like, you can drink water and let some time pass before driving home.”
She smiles and nods, and I assume this scenario is acceptable to her sensibilities. She’s a gorgeous woman. Her hair is reddish brown. When the overhead lights hit certain strands right, there’s a pink hue. She has long fingers with rounded, polished nails. I estimate her height without heels to be about five foot seven or eight. She’s got full lips, and her dress accentuates luscious tits and curvy hips.
I can tell by the way she answers my questions, and the questions she doesn’t ask, that she’s out of her element. And of course, that blush. When the light catches just right, she looks almost overheated. Not that I hold it against her. I’m feeling it, too. The attraction hums between us, and I’d like nothing more than to get her up to my room. To roam those curves and to fan that blush to a flame.
My fingers lightly coax her lower back, guiding her out of the bar and down the hall. She wraps her arms around herself. Visible goosebumps line her upper arms. One finger taps against her skin. The brighter overhead lights reflect off a silver ring on her ring finger. It’s enormous and covers from her knuckle to the base of her finger. It wouldn’t be like any wedding band I’ve ever seen, but still. I will not take another man’s wife to my room, so how to knock out that one percent chance before I hit the elevator button?
“You’re not married, are you?”
“No. No.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, looks down to the ground, then jerks her head up. “Are you?”
“Nope. How on Earth is a woman as gorgeous as you single?” It’s an overused, cheesy pickup line, but I am picking her up, so it fits.
“Ah, well. Luck, I guess.” I sense there’s more there, but she’s not up for spilling her sordid history. And I am one hundred percent okay with that.
“My good luck,” I tell her. She beams.
When the elevator doors open, there’s another couple to one side. I stand in the back corner and pull her up against me. Her ass rubs my crotch, and it’s like raising a racing flag with a man screaming start your engines. My dick obeys.
Unaware of my predicament, she continues fidgeting, and from the mirrored panel I watch her gaze flit from the floor to the buttons on the panel to the couple standing in front of us.
The elevator dings, and the other couple exits. The doors close, and the elevator rises, taking us one floor higher.
