“I’ll never tell,” I replied playfully. “Why don’t the two of you get back to work and stop harassing me?”
“Fine,” Meredith said with an exaggerated eye roll.
“We expect details after the salon closes,” Chaz said, retreating from the room backwards.
“I can’t,” I replied. “I’m having dinner with Gabe.”
Meredith and Chaz stopped in their tracks and stared at me for a few moments then looked at each other. They wore matching dopey grins on their faces when they focused back on me.
“Upstairs?” Meredith asked.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“At his place?” Chaz asked.
Again, I shook my head. “Negative.” I paused for effect and to watch them squirm. “I’m meeting him at the diner at six thirty.”
There was no immediate reaction from them for several seconds, maybe a full minute, then they looked at each other and let out girlie squeals before they clasped hands and jumped up and down. Their reaction was hilarious, but I wasn’t about to let them know it. I nudged – okay, kicked – the door closed in their faces, which only made them laugh and squeal harder.
“What have I done?” I asked out loud once my two friends had moved on.
“Given yourself a fighting chance at happiness,” Mere said through the door.
I whipped the door open and found them still standing there. “I thought you’d gone back to the salon.”
“We know, that’s why we waited in case you slipped up and mumbled something juicy,” Chaz replied.
“There’s nothing juicy to confess,” I told them. “It’s just dinner.” The disbelieving looks on their faces would’ve been comical if panic hadn’t started to move in.
“Just breathe, baby,” Meredith said, reading me so well.
“It’s just dinner,” Chaz said, repeating my words.
It’s just dinner. It’s just dinner. It’s just…Dear Lord, what have I done?I prayed that Emma wasn’t working in the kitchen that night because news of it would reach my mother before the dinner rolls made it to the table. It was too late to back out and I surprisingly didn’t want to anyway.
“YOU CAN STRIP DOWNto your undies or nothing at all,” Josi told me. “You’ll be covered with a sheet so you do what makes you feel comfortable. You’ll lie down with your face in the hole here,” she pointed to the massage table, “and pull the sheet up to your lower back.”
“Got it.” I gave her a thumbs up.
“I’ll just step out for a few minutes,” she said before she ducked out of the room.
I removed my clothes, folded them, and laid them on the chair. I didn’t have a shy bone in my body so I didn’t hesitate to remove my boxers before I positioned myself on the table and pulled the sheet over my legs and butt.
“Come on in,” I said after Josi knocked on the door and asked if I was ready.
I heard Josi sorting through bottles of what I presumed were massage oils then I heard her rubbing slick hands together as she got into position beside the table. I expected it to feel weird having a stranger’s hands massage me, but I quickly got past that as soon as she began rubbing my neck.
“Someone has been under a lot of stress,” she said softly. “It feels like I’m trying to massage rocks instead of muscles.” She dug her thumbs in a particular troublesome spot and it felt so good that my eyes rolled up in my head. I made an incoherent noise that made her laugh. “Just close your eyes and relax,” she told me. “I’ll have you sorted out in no time.”
I did as she suggested. I closed my eyes and silently gloated that Josh was finally going to have dinner with me. I meant what I told him too; I would track him down if he stood me up. Josi spread out from my neck to my shoulders and I felt the tension escape my body with every second of the hour-long massage that Sally Ann gifted me.
Josi worked her way down my spine to just above the sheet and then she moved down to my feet. I’d never had anyone massage my feet before, but knew that I could easily become addicted to it. I was almost sad when she finished my feet and began working my calf muscles with her capable hands. My eyes started to get heavy and I fought to stay awake.
I must not have been successful at it because the next thing I knew Josh was standing beside me giving me a gentle shake. “I’m starting to get really hungry, sleepy head. Someone promised me dinner.”
“Hmmmm,” I said when his hand on my back switched from nudging to massaging. “So good.”
“Yeah, Josi has mad skills,” Josh said, his voice laced with humor. “I’m going to have to pour you into your car.”
