“I’m sorry.”
I searched his face and wondered why the apology.
“For leaving you,” he continued. “Not just that, but the way I left it. Those things I said?—”
“There you are!” Joy rushed across the porch. “I was searching everywhere. Come with me. We have everything fixed up for you.”
Curious, I descended the steps at her encouragement.
Joy clasped her hand in mine and offered a compassionate smile. “You’ll feel better in no time. All you need is rest and food, and we’ve got everything taken care of. Maybe we can get rid of this gloomy day so you’ll have sunshine. There aren’t windows in the heat house, but the skylights make it feel less confined.”
We meandered to the heat house, which was a cabin located at the back of the house on the right side. The flat roof gave it a boxy appearance, but they had planted purple phlox near the south-facing door.
“We’re thinking of putting in a paved path all the way to the porch,” Joy said. “It would make it easier for visitors.”
My eyes widened. “Visitors? While you’re in heat?”
She stopped at the door and fluffed her curly blond hair. “Men aren’t allowed in the heat house except for mates. Even then, we have to be sure they’re either trying to conceive or the woman invited him. But someone has to bring our meals, so we agreed to take care of each other. The women, that is. We’ll bring food and anything else the person wants. Evenvibrators,” she said, her voice falling to a whisper.
My cheeks flushed.
Joy canted her head. “Maybe you’re not in here for those reasons, but whatever you need, let me know. I mean it. Anything. I’m sad you’re not staying in the main house, but it’s understandable. So we fixed everything up special.” She opened the door. “Isn’t it delicious?”
When I entered the cabin, Melody’s pink hair caught my eye. She was kneeling by the kitchen counter on the right. After slamming a cabinet, she sprang to her feet, her green eyes wide withexcitement. “This is the cooler for drinks,” she said, patting a tall mini fridge at the end of the cabinet. “I just loaded it up. It also has a top freezer.”
They had put a basket of fruit on top of it.
I took in the heat house in quiet astonishment. I’d always imagined these were just rooms with a bed and a toilet. Despite it being a quaint cabin, there was nothing simple about it. A wall along my left cut the cabin in two until it reached an opening to a room.
A few steps ahead of the front door to the right was a round kitchen table and chairs. The kitchenette had a corner cabinet, sink, microwave, and mini cooler.
Mel sat on the counter and watched my reaction. Her jeans had black and red patches sewn in, and she knocked the heels of her sneakers against the counter while pointing to a shelf on the left side of the cabinets.
“It’s a snack station,” she said. “We had a three-tier shelf we weren’t using for anything. Hope wanted to put it in the bathroom and fill it with towels, but then I got this ingenious idea to set baskets on the shelves and fill them with snacks.” She jumped down, her sneakers squeaking against the brown tile. “We made a list of everyone’s favorite foods, so when it’s their turn, we’ll change out the goodies according to what they like. We put these out for you. It’s just a variety we thought you might like. If you have any requests, hit me up.”
Straight ahead and a little to the right, a divider wall separated the living room and what I guessed was the bedroom on the left. From my vantage point, both rooms had wood flooring. A grey sectional faced a large television mounted to the divider wall, and pink pillows and a pink round rug complemented it beautifully.
“That’s a fake plant,” Melody pointed out, gesturing to the greenery in the corner by the TV. “We wanted plants, but since we won’t be in here all the time, they’d die from neglect.”
I gaped at the skylights overhead.
“I hope they don’t leak.” Melody hooked her thumbs in her jeans pockets. “There’s one right over the bed, so I guess you’ll be the first to find out if it rains. How do you like the living room? That color scheme was my idea.”
“It’s modern looking, like something in a magazine.”
She beamed and led me straight ahead to the bedroom. With a dramatic sweep of her arm, she announced, “And this is theboudoir. Notice the red comforter in the color ‘passion’ that Joy suggested would spark arousal during that needy time of the year.” She plopped down on the bed, which jutted out from the left wall.
The upholstered headboard offered comfort to anyone watching the giant television mounted on the divider wall across from it, but what really caught my interest was the bookshelf on the far side. Since the shelf was only four feet tall, they decorated the top with books, more fake plants, and candy jars.
I crossed over and reviewed the books, searching for familiar titles.
Melody crawled to the right side of the bed and switched on the lamp. “Hear me out: we didn’t exactly put those books there for your entertainment. My aunt gave those to us so we could, um…”
Joy bumped up against the end of the bed. “Sometimes there’s only one kind of book a woman wants to read when she’s in heat, so those were a gift to us. But you’re free to enjoy them. That is… if you like racy books.”
I glanced at the titles. “These are okay. Especially this one. But if you really want something steamy, let me know, and I’ll make you a list. Romance is my favorite genre, but I like the ones with a good story. I know of some really sexy books if that’s your preference.”
Lying on her back, Melody crossed one leg over the other. “Hope willlovethat. You should see her turn scarlet whenever someone talks about sex. You’d think the woman never had it.”
