There. That was that. She was shaking in her Jimmy Choos, her hands rattling so hard she had to grip her purse strap just to hide it. She’d played the game with Nash, had invited him over to her house without actually saying a thing. If he didn’t come, she could play it off like it was nothing.
But if he did… If he showed up with his mussed hair and his sex eyes and that mouth that was made for sinning…
Well.
Well, then it looked like she was starting something up with Nash King. And whatever that something was included midafternoon sex.
A wave of giddiness bubbled up inside her, and she didn’t even try to hide the smile that tipped up the corners of her mouth. She practically skipped to her car. And for once, when she greeted the townspeople with a grin as she passed, the happiness shown on her face was genuine.
“Ella!” Rory called out the window of her car at her retreating seven-year-old. “Could you at least wait until I come to a full stop, please?”
“Sorry, Momma!” Ella yelled over her shoulder, but she just kept right on running around the side of her grandparents’ house and into the wooded paradise that awaited her. It didn’t matter that it was hot enough for the devil himself to sweat, that girl played outside all day if she was able.
Rory shook her head, put the car in park, and glanced into the back seat at Ava. “You gonna play with your sister, or would you like to help Mimi and me with supper?”
Ava shrugged but otherwise didn’t offer another answer. That was all it seemed to be with her lately. Shrugs, head shakes, a grunt if Rory was lucky. She hadn’t thought she’d have to worry about this sort of sullen angst for another couple of years. She absolutely wasn’t ready for this sass to be part of their daily lives, but it appeared to be here for the duration. And, truth be told, she had no idea how to handle it.
The three of them were in uncharted territory, and Rory—the leader, the know-it-all, the perfectionist who didn’t do something if she couldn’t do it right—was without a compass. She was floundering, plain and simple.
She’d found herself questioning every single parenting move she made since she split with Sean. She had no idea what it was like to grow up with divorced parents, so she couldn’t relate to what her girls were going through, and she hated that. Moreover, she had no idea how to broach the subject, if she should even talk about it, and how much—or how little—she should say. So she’d just avoided it entirely. Not her best parenting move, but the one she’d needed to make just to stay sane.
“Well, I’m goin’ in, and I’d love to have your help,” she said. “I know Mimi would too.”
That earned her an eye roll she pretended not to see because if she acknowledged it, she’d have to punish Ava for the disrespect. And quite frankly, Rory didn’t have it in her today. She was exhausted—not just from the normal ins and outs of a full day as a single mom, but from… Well, from all the teeth-rattling, earthshaking, stars-exploding sex she’d been having with a too-hot-for-his-own-good contractor. Nash had shown up at her house that day she’d offered herself up for his lunch pleasure. And it’d been a near-constant barrage of amazing sex ever since.
She should’ve been ashamed of herself for how she was behaving—bedding a man who was so much younger than her, all the while keeping it a secret from any and everyone. She couldn’t imagine what her sisters would say if they knew. Worse, she couldn’t imagine what thetownwould say—and there was no doubt in her mind they’d have a whole lot to run their mouths about.
“Momma, you comin’?” Ava called from the front porch, her hand stilled on the doorknob.
“Be right there!” Yeah, as soon as she cooled herself off thanks to the onslaught of wholly inappropriate thoughts. She blasted the air conditioning in her car, leaned back against her seat, and closed her eyes…where flashes of Nash’s naked body moving over hers came unbidden to her mind.
She snapped her eyes open, turned off the car, and hustled into her childhood home. If anything could get her mind off her hot sex partner, it’d be chopping up vegetables with her momma and daughter right next to her.
Rory strode through the front door without knocking, hanging her purse on the hook by the door. Cinnamon and cloves greeted her, and she inhaled the familiar pairing. Much as she loved the scent, it never failed to make her heart clench, remembering life in this house before she’d left for college. Not that her childhood had been bad—she’d never wanted for anything…except support. But it had been challenging. Struggling to live up to her daddy’s unrealistic expectations and failing every single time.
Was it any wonder the scent that accompanied her childhood anxieties made her stomach churn as an adult? No matter that she was a grown woman with two kids of her own, or that she hadn’t needed her daddy’s approval in a long time. Old habits died hard. And Rory feared she’d still be yearning for that approval thirty years from now.
She shook her head of the thoughts and followed the soft cadence of her mom and her daughter in conversation.
“Aren’t you a little young for a boyfriend?” Rory’s momma asked, and Rory froze in place, not daring to move an inch closer for fear Ava would clam up as soon as Rory came into view. And this she absolutely had to hear, becauseboyfriend? She hadn’t known a single thing about a boyfriend.
“I’m not gonna kiss him or anything, Mimi,” Ava said.
“Well, that’s good to know, I suppose.”
“’Sides, Kelsey’s already hadthreeboyfriends.”
Her momma hummed. “I see. Well, then I suppose I’d better book you an appointment at the salon.”
Rory scrunched her brow, having absolutely no idea what one had to do with the other.
Fortunately, it seemed, neither did her daughter. “Why do you need to do that?”
“Well, if you’re determined to do everything Kelsey does, we can cut your hair to be like hers too. How much do you think they’ll have to chop? Ten…eleven inches?”
“Mimi!” Her daughter sounded aghast, like she’d just been told they were cutting off a limb instead of hair. “I’m not choppin’ off my hair!”
“Why not? If you’re so interested in bein’ just like your best friend instead of your own person, that’s the first step.”
