CHAPTER 21
Tally
Frazzled from my interaction with Walker, I enter the bookstore in a daze. For once, I wish he was just real with me.
Because the way he looked at me when I came down the stairs tonight, like his heart was pounding just as wildly as my own, like he saw me and wanted me for more than just this physical attraction, had a fissure of hope slicing through my chest. But it only lasted the briefest of moments before he shut down and shut me out. Again.
I don’t blame him, really. Why would Walker be interested in anything with me?
I’m a child compared to him. And I’ve acted like nothing but a child—screwing up repeatedly, acting out when I didn’t get my way, taunting him, teasing him.
God, it’s like I’ve lost my damn mind since I came back to this town.
I keep saying I’m going to change, that I’m going to do better, and then I go and do something stupid like try to touch the man.
I sigh as my eyes trail to the table where the Liberty Ladies are all grabbing snacks.
It seems that everyone brought something for this little shindig; platters of cheese and fancy meats, sweet treats and desserts.
A punch bowl is filled with a suspicious blue liquid.
I’m just about to find out precisely what it is when Babs slams down an oversized blue rubber dildo with three heads beside the punch bowl with a loud thwack.
“What the hell?” Penny hisses.
Babs grins. “I told you I had one, just like in the book.”
“Please tell me that’s brand new,” Rayna says, covering her mouth.
“Can I touch it?” Mindy asks.
Ruby licks her lips. “Where do I get one of those?”
“,” Babs says proudly. “You can get anything on there.”
“This is book club?” I whisper to my sister, my eyes unable to look away from the dildo still shaking wildly. “And does that have a suction cup on the bottom of it?”
“Yes, so you can use it in the shower,” Babs explains loudly.
My mind goes to Walker again. Great, I’d made it a whole two minutes without thinking about him. Shaking my head, I nod toward the punch. “Is that safe to drink? Or is it somehow related to that other thing?”
Babs’s face scrunches. “If you’re making a joke about alien cum, that’s disgusting.”
My mother—who rode over here early with Penny—covers her mouth in a bid to hide her laughter. The rest of the women look at me and shake their heads like I’m the inappropriate one. “No, I wasn’t even thinking that. Though now I am.”
Rayna tsks. “This is very inappropriate talk, Tally. You’re in the presence of the Ladies of Liberty, remember.”
Penny snorts beside me as I start to apologize. I steer clear of the blue drink, though, because I can’t get the thought of alien cum out of my head. Every time someone gets near the table to fill their plate with food, the suctioned dildo heads dance and one bobs so low it touches the drink.
The blue liquid drips onto the table cloth. “I’m going to be sick,” I mutter to Penny.
She shakes her head. “I’ll grab us wine.”
I’m not sure that will help, but when she returns from behind the checkout counter with two mugs and a bottle of red wine, I take the one she offers and wait for her to fill it to the brim.
“Oh, Penny, did you hear Stew’s getting a divorce?” Rayna says.
“I thought his wife died,” Babs interjects.
“Who’s Stew again?” I ask.
All the woman grow silent as they stare at me. “The mailman, Tally. Really. You’ve been gone so long you forgot the man who used to deliver you those dirty magazines when you were a teenager.”
“Cosmopolitan?”
“They always had sex tips on the covers,” Rayna says, like she’snot standing next to a three-headed dildo and about to discuss alien dick.
“Wait, wasn’t the mailman like forty back when we were kids?”
My mom nods, and Penny stage-whispers, “Don’t engage with them.” Then to the group, she replies, “Yes. And his wife didn’t die. He just said he wished she would.”
“So you have talked to him about dating!” Babs claps her hands in excitement.
“No!” Penny huffs. “He talks to whoever will listen. He’s in his fifties, and I’m not dating.”
“Okay, fine. I guess he’s too old for you,” Mindy agrees. “But what about Eli?”
“The same Eli who just hit on my sister in a group chat with half the town? Thanks, but no thanks. There’s someone perfect out there for me, I know that.
But he’s not out there”—she motions to the window outside—“in Hope Harbor. So stop trying to set me up. I’m all set with my book boyfriends for the time being. ”
I mouth a “Sorry,” and she shakes her head before pouring more red wine into her glass.
“I mean the book boyfriends do have three dicks, so …” Babs says with a shrug as she stares longingly at the dildo, shimmying like a wind chime on the table.
At that moment, Rosie rushes in from the back. “Sorry I’m late.” When she sees me her face breaks into a big grin. “Yay, you made it!”
Just as she goes to grab a seat, the front door swings open with a loud jangle and a breeze blows in, followed by a grumpy-looking Walker and a smiling Eli.
“What are the two of you doing here?” Penny exclaims.
The men eye each other and then Eli shrugs and throws a thumb in Walker’s direction. “He was standing outside. I was just walking by and thought I’d come browse.”
“The sign says closed,” Rosie teases.
“But you’re all here,” he points out.
I glance at Walker, who still hasn’t said anything.
“Well, you’re in luck,” Babs cuts across.
“I’ve got an extra copy of The Alien Baby Daddy.
” She waves a copy of a book with a blue monster standing over a pregnant woman on the cover.
Strange. Babs sees my shudder and points a finger at me.
“You’ll be eating it up when you find out how many heads he has. ”
“Ah, hell,” Walker mutters.
“What kind of heads?” Eli asks, reaching for the book.
Babs drops her gaze down Eli’s body. “Ya know.”
Eli’s hand snaps to the front of his pants as his voice hits the highest note. “Mrs. Wilcox!”
“You asked!”
“Okay, let’s be serious ladies. It’s time to start,” Rayna commands.
I glance at Walker, whose face is scrunched up in a painful scowl.
“You can go, you know,” I offer.
He shakes his head and grabs a chair near the door. “I’ll just be right here. You don’t have a ride home.”
“I can take her.” Eli winks in my direction as he settles in the seat next to me. “I’m sticking around to learn all about the—” He hesitates. “Alien heads.”
“I’m going to the same house because we live together,” Walker retorts, annunciating the words in a possessive way that has my stomach doing a little flip. Then he sits down, tips his head forward like the conversation is over, and stares at Rayna.
“Alrighty then,” she claps. “Now, tell me ladies, how did you feel when he first took out his three penises?”