Page 13 of Homebody (The Long Road Home #21)

Chapter Twelve

A n hour later Ruby and Red were both speechless and gawking at Tessa.

“Come on, you two. It’s not that strange,” she said.

Judging by their expressions, mainly shock and disbelief, it was apparent that neither of them agreed with her.

“You seriously have only been out on four dates? In your entire life?” Red asked, finally knocked out of her silent stupor.

“No. I’ve been out on six dates… with four different guys.” She’d added the last part reluctantly.

One budding but ill-fated start to a relationship had yielded three dates with the same man before he’d ghosted her.

For the other three guys who’d asked her out after she met them in her classes, it had been Tessa who’d avoided them after a single date each. When you know, you know.

The meet-up with guy number four, the ghost-er, had been her one and only time arranging a date online. After that, she’d deleted the app and never looked back, swearing off dating until her thesis was done and she had a good job…

Well, sworn off dating until now when she’d let Susan Sinclair turn her into a date for hire . Tessa refused to think of the other word that taking money to date Dean made her.

“Oh no. I just had a thought.” Ruby grabbed Red’s arm in a death grip as she turned to Tessa. “Please tell me you’re not a… virgin. ” She’d whispered the word as if it were too horrible a concept to speak aloud.

Red gasped, her wide-eyed gaze trained on Tessa. “Are you?”

“Jeez. No. I’m twenty-six years old. Of course I’ve had sex before.” She hoped they didn’t ask her for that number.

She had a feeling they wouldn’t like the pitifully low tally of men she’d had sex with any better than they liked the number of men she’d dated.

They didn’t get it. Times had changed. It wasn’t the eighties anymore. Not that Tessa had been alive then to know, but she read plenty. For school and for pleasure.

Even the experts agreed. Studies (and boy did Tessa love a good study) indicated that singles today in America were having less sex than singles in previous generations.

Ruby and Red must be forgetting that Tessa’s school experience had been greatly different than theirs. Irrevocably altered, like so many others her age.

She hadn’t been able to go out, or even have a party, the year she’d turned twenty-one and could finally legally drink in New York State.

That milestone birthday had happened during the pandemic lock-down.

She’d been quarantining alone in a tiny apartment in Binghamton while taking her courses online.

Her parents had sent birthday deliveries from where they were sheltering in their retirement community in Florida—wine by mail, cheese of the month club, and most importantly, a new laptop.

They’d video chatted on that day, and a lot during that time.

But it didn’t change the fact she’d been alone.

And definitely not having sex with anyone.

Frustrated, Tessa let out a huff. “Do you two have anything constructive to say that will help me tonight or not?”

She was about one minute away from asking the artificial intelligence built into her cell phone browser for dating advice. Whatever the AI provided had to be more helpful than what these two women were giving her, which was nothing but criticism so far.

Red visibly knocked herself out of her stupor. “Okay. You’re right. We’re here to help you. Maybe if you gave us some more information. Like where is he taking you? What are you going to be doing?”

“I don’t know,” Tessa said on an exhale filled with frustration.

“What are you talking about?” Ruby spread her hands wide while shaking her head. “How can you not know? Didn’t you ask?”

“No,” Tessa answered meekly. She’d been too shocked. She was lucky she’d gotten any words out at all.

Looking horrified, Red widened her eyes. “Then how do you know what to wear?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought we’d figure it out here, together.”

“We. ” Ruby snorted and turned to Red. “Meaning you and me.”

“That’s fine. We are the experts. Me in fashion. You in beauty. We’ll figure it out. Besides, there’s not all that many places around here he could be taking her. It’s got to be somewhere close, right?”

Red was correct. Tessa hadn’t lived here long but she knew the choices for a date night in Mudville were pretty much the diner, the drive-in movie theater, Mudville House if you wanted to be fancy or the Muddy River Inn for casual.

Ruby shook her head. “Not true. He could be taking her kayaking on the river for all we know.”

Red cringed and nodded. “That is true. I remember he was quite the jock back in high school.”

Kayaking on the river? Now it was Tessa’s turn to be shocked. “Would he really do that? Do people even do that?”

“Yes, people do that. A lot of people. Did you not notice the huge crowd in town for the Canoe Regatta over Memorial Day weekend?” Ruby asked.

“The General Clinton Canoe Regatta is pretty famous. Like worldwide,” Red added.

Tessa wrinkled her nose and admitted, “Um, no. Sorry. I guess I missed this regatta.” An outdoorsy type of girl she was not. She could only hope she wasn’t going to have to risk drowning while pretending to be sporty tonight to please Dean.

Pretending to be bad was hard enough. But playing a jock might be too far beyond her capabilities.

She didn’t even like going in a swimming pool, forget about the Muddy River that ran through Mudville. The brown-tinged water that lived up to its name could harbor any number of aquatic horrors. A shiver ran through her at the thought.

She couldn’t do this…

A dark cloud of despair shadowed with a tinge of self-loathing began to descend upon her psyche.

She’d gone to a dark place for a bit during the isolation of the pandemic.

A depression so deep it had her grateful there was no possibility of anyone dropping by to visit.

She could wallow un-showered in sweatpants.

Or, more likely, in the same pajamas she’d worn day and night for the past week straight.

Thinking back to that time, compared to now, she had to admit and appreciate how far she’d come since that pitiful twenty-first birthday during lockdown.

She was close to getting her master’s degree. So close to finishing this thesis. Yes, she had a loan debt from hell, but she was dealing with it. She was living on her own. Supporting herself. She had a job and an apartment and none of it was on her parents’ dime.

Not everyone in her situation would be able to say that.

Feeling lighter, even powerful, she decided she could do this. Heck, she was even somehow successfully pulling off playing a bad girl. She could navigate whatever this date tonight brought. Even if it did mean she ended up in a boat on the river.

Tessa let out a breath. She wished she were the kind of girl she was pretending to be… Since she was not, pretending was the best she could do.

Tonight she would lean into being the bad girl. Really bad. Then it wouldn’t matter to Dean if she couldn’t paddle a canoe or not. He’d be so distracted by her badness.

The two women who could pull off that kind of distraction were right here with her. All she had to do was use all the resources at her disposal.

Turning to Red and Ruby she said, “It doesn’t matter what he has planned. I want you to make me look sexy. Really sexy.”

Ruby’s lips quirked up into a satisfied smile. “That I can do.”

Red clapped her hands. “Yay! Finally. We’ll have you looking so hot, he won’t know what hit him.”

That was exactly Tessa’s plan.