Page 33

Oh shit, she knew.

I ran a towel through my hair for the third time. There wasn’t a drop of water left on me. One more time, and then I’d go downstairs and have a conversation with my guest. She had said nothing after I brought her a towel. I didn’t need to change, but I needed time to get my bearings.

“So, we’ve both seen your husband naked. We have that in common.” I whispered. We hadn’t exchanged enough words to know if she wanted to claw my face or tell me to stay away from her man. Had Simon told her, or did Bonny spill the beans?

Pulling a t-shirt over my head, I poked my head out of my bedroom.

With a deep inhale, I decided it was time to put on my big boy pants, even if they were made of flannel and had superheroes on them.

The universe decided fifteen minutes of Zen had been enough.

It was time to face my discomfort head-on.

“Do you want any coffee?” I called down the stairs.

“I’m good, but thank you.”

“Tea?”

“Never been a fan.”

“Caramel macchiato made with almond milk?”

I headed downstairs, taking my sweet time on the descent. Lucy had taken off her hoodie and continued crimping her hair with a towel.

“Now you’re just making fun of me.”

“Not you,” I admitted. “All flatlanders.”

I probably shouldn’t poke the beast, especially considering the beast’s husband had poked me. “I’m sorry. We should be nicer to Southerners.”

“Really? We call you mountain folk when we’re being nice. Potato pickers, sometimes.”

“Hicks,” I added.

She nodded. “Oh yeah, we definitely use that.” Did she know we wore the title like a badge of honor? They might call us hicks, but did they know how to survive in the forest with a pocket knife and rope? When the zombie apocalypse came, I’d team up with a hick over a flatlander.

I debated on where to sit. Was this a ‘sit across the room and stay outside of clawing range’ discussion? Or were we going to have a quiet, intimate conversation side-by-side? She decided when she scooted over and patted the couch. It’d be rude if I took a seat anywhere else.

Even waterlogged, Lucy remained beautiful. I bet if she spent the days chasing pigs in the mud, she’d still walk out looking like a model. If Lucas grew up looking like either parent, he wouldn’t be short for dates.

Lucy’s face scrunched up. “This is awkward, isn’t it?” When she laughed, it broke the tension.

“I can’t begin to explain how weird this is.”

“I wanted to talk to you about Simon, but I guess you knew that.” Lucy fidgeted, playing with her fingers as she squirmed in her seat. “Okay, I’m just going to say it. I know you and Simon are you and Simon.”

Nope, that didn’t make it any better. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. It’s just…”

She shook her head. “That’s not on you.”

Lucy spun about on the couch, bringing one knee to her chest. She held it in place as she faced me. I know she worked as a nurse, but if that didn’t pan out, she could work the runway. Even damp, those piercing blue eyes commanded attention. “It’s me who should be apologizing.”

“Now I’m confused.”

The room grew silent as she started to speak and stopped half a dozen times.

It looked as if Lucy was as lost for words as me.

I guessed neither of us had ever been in a situation where we shared a lover with another person.

I would have paid money for a timely interruption.

If I thought hard enough, maybe Amanda would hear me and come running through the door.

“I think I gave you the wrong impression about me and Simon. My entire world changed when I came back to the States. I agreed to the divorce, but with so much upheaval, I think I came back here and fell into old habits.”

“I’m not sure I follow…”

“Part of me wanted to see if Simon and I would work out. New setting, new career… I think I wanted some stability. In hindsight, I sounded like I was going to get Simon back. Our time as husband and wife ended before I left for Ghana. I apologize for being an idiot and making it seem like we’re still us… a couple.”

Wait, did Lucy admit that she and Simon weren’t together? After talking to Mom, I realized it wasn’t so cut and dry. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and misread her words. “So, you and Simon are…”

“I signed the papers.”

“Oh.”

This wasn’t the conversation I expected.

In my head, at any moment, she would backtrack and tell me to stay away from her man.

Could she be both beautiful and reasonable?

Dammit. She was perfect. We had gotten through the marriage conversation, but it ignored that her ex-husband was playing kissy face with another man.

“Did he…” I couldn’t stop my face from turning red. If he hadn’t told her, I didn’t want to out him by accident. Simon deserved to work through his sexuality without me throwing him to the wolves.

“Tell me he met a cute guy?”

“Yeah…” Did Simon describe me as cute, or did she? I couldn’t take the compliment without blushing. If I got any hotter, I’d squeal like a tea kettle.

“Oh… you were worried… did you think…” Lucy laughed hard enough that the couch shook. When she reached out, resting a hand on my arm, the tension in the room vanished. We had gone from adversarial to old friends. “Honey, I’ve known Simon has a soft spot for soft men.”

“Really?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. Beautiful. Check. Humanitarian. Check. Progressive. Check. If Lucy got any more perfect, I might ask if she was seeing anybody. If Amanda had been here, she’d have already made Lucy a cocktail and suggested they take the party back to her place.

“Simon and I talked about it when we first started dating. If I remember, before me, he had been seeing a guy. Levi, I think?”

The disbelief on my face had found its way into my throat. “You’re telling me you knew your husband’s?—”

“Boyfriend, at the time?”

“Your boyfriend had a thing for guys, and it didn’t bother you?

” Dear God, was I archaic? Had I gotten so fixated on something being black and white that I didn’t see the shades of gray in between?

Holy shit, even my mom was more progressive than me.

My world might as well have been tossed in the blender. I needed to do a self-evaluation.

“I loved… love Simon. I always will. That includes every part of him.”

“Has anybody ever told you that you’re perfect?”

She gave me a wink. “If it makes you feel better, it took me a while. I had my insecurities. I still remember sitting on the park bench with him and asking if he found a guy attractive. Eventually we argued about whether he was a briefs or boxer man.”

That sounded like Simon. “I guess, for some reason, I thought you’d be upset.”

“He’ll always be the father of my son. As long as you’re okay with Lucas’s mom being in the picture, I think it’ll be okay. Ultimately, I want Simon to be happy.” Her eyes narrowed as the corner of her lip turned up. “The way he talked, it sounds like you make him happy.”

I had barely finished processing Lucy being in my living room. Now, she let it slip that I made Simon happy? I couldn’t tell which raced faster, my mind or my heart. The ridiculousness of the situation made me laugh. Lucy had delivered a compliment on behalf of her ex-husband.

“Sorry, I can’t help it. This is just so damned weird.”

She giggled. “I guess it is. But now I understand why Lucas asked why there was another man on top of Daddy.”

I nearly choked. “He didn’t…”

Lucy nodded, trying to stifle a laugh. “You’ll get nothing past that boy.”

Mom would never let me live this down. The angst I had been feeling over the last week could have been washed away with a candid conversation.

A little honesty and Lucy had gone from rival to confidant.

I could see why Simon married her. Heck, at this rate, Amanda would need to work to keep the title of bestie.

“Does this mean we’re friends now? Cause I’ll be honest, this is not how I imagined this conversation going.”

“If you’re going to date my husband— ex-husband, I think it’s a requirement.”

“Yep, it’s still a weird statement.”

“Let’s make it even weirder. Give me your phone.”

She held out her hand and didn’t pull back when I hesitated. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out slowly. A gay man handing over his phone to somebody ranked high on the scale of trust. “Careful what you click. Some things you can’t unsee.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Considering we have the same taste in men, I’m tempted.”

Poking at the phone, I leaned forward to steal a peek.

She pulled back, hiding the screen as she typed away.

I waited patiently as she paused. Her lips pursed as she pondered what to type next.

When her eyes went wide, she typed furiously.

It ended with a familiar swoosh of a text message being sent.

“There you go.”

She spun the phone around and handed it back to me. I was almost terrified to see what she had sent.

Jason: Simon, your extremely talented, thoughtful, AND beautiful ex-wife says we have things to talk about. Would you do me the honor of getting cupcakes?

“Cupcakes?” Even the mention of the word sent me back to elementary school. I could hear Bonny laughing. I still couldn’t think about the baked goods without hearing her cackle.

“Sweet, and the perfect bite. Trust me, there’s no way he says no to that.”

Lucy got off the couch, pulling the hoodie over her head. I had considered tonight a loss, and a waterlogged precursor to the convention. Never in a million years did I think I’d be having a heart-to-heart with Simon’s ex-wife. In no universe did I foresee her encouraging me to date Simon.

“I’m rooting for you, Jason. Outside of the kitchen, I haven’t seen his face light up like this in years.”

I stood, and she gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek.

A minute later, she was out the door, dashing across my yard to her car.

Despite the downpour, I had a ray of sunshine to look forward to.

Tomorrow might be a complete disaster, but I was going to face it with my head held high.

Right now, not even Mother Nature could spoil my mood.