Chapter 24
Devan
“ I like the dress,” Marilyn says, lying on my bed.
I stand before my full-length mirror and pitch right and left. The long skirt flows near my ankles where I’m wearing gold sandals with rhinestones. This dress is light green and unlike the one the other night, it has a more complete bodice, allowing me to wear a bra. “He didn’t say how to dress.”
Jill’s eyebrows dance. “Because he wants you undressed.”
“He said dinner,” I remind my friends.
Jill sits straight. “Have I told you about the time Todd said we were going to dinner, but he didn’t tell me that he was the one who would be eating.”
“Yes,” Marilyn and I say in unison.
“Oh.” She pouts. “Sorry, with all this Justin talk, I’m missing Todd.”
“When is he getting back from that conference in Atlanta?” Marilyn asks.
“Sunday night.” Jill’s smile widens. “I’m going to surprise him at his apartment.” She gestures wide with her hands. “I have it all planned out.”
“Okay,” I say. “If this was part of your big plan, would you wear this dress” —I gesture to the one I have on— “or this one” —I point to one shorter and more casual— “or just go with capris?”
“My plan includes a bubble bath and no clothes.”
I shake my head. “You’re no help.”
“I know,” Marilyn says. “Wear the one you have on. It fits great and you’re beautiful.”
I turn again to the mirror and lift my long hair. I have it all down and flowing. It’s warm on my neck. “I don’t know. It feels a little stuffy.”
“That’s my plan,” Marilyn says. “Don’t wear panties.”
My eyes open wide. “What?”
Jill bounces on the side of the bed. “Oh my God, she’s right.” Jill lifts her hand to me. “I mean, look at you. You’re the proper schoolteacher, but just before the waitress brings your meal, casually lean close and whisper, ‘I forgot to put on panties.’”
I shake my head. Without trying, I imagine the scene. “I can’t do that.”
“You’ve never done that. It’s not that you can’t do it,” Marilyn says. “Justin wants to know your speed.”
Jill chimes in. “Nothing says light speed ahead like going commando.”
“Where is he taking you?” Marilyn asks.
“I don’t know.”
“You need to ask more questions.”
“I like the surprise.”
Marilyn’s eyes widen. “You like surprises. I bet he does too.”
My phone lying on the bed between my two friends lights up. As it does, I hear my mom’s voice from downstairs.
“Devan, Justin is here.”
With two sets of eyes on me, I sense the drop in temperature of the room. No, it’s rising—exponentially—as my cheeks flush. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” they both say.
Hiking the skirt of the dress, I snag the waistband of my panties, drag them down my legs, and step out of them. “There.” The bikini-cut white panties with lace trim lands on the floor.
Jill and Marilyn clap.
“We want details,” Jill says. “Remember, with Todd out of town, I’m living vicariously through you.”
“Oh God.” I feel faint as I consider what I just did.
My friends scurry from the bed. “Snap out of it.”
“Should we splash water on her?”
“No,” I say. “Mascara.”
It’s not that I wear a lot of makeup—just a little mascara, eyeliner, and pink stain on my lips.
“Devan,” Mom calls again.
“If he breaks up with me, you’re both fired as best friends.”
Jill has her arms crossed over her chest. “He most definitely won’t break up with you.”
Taking a deep breath, I open my bedroom door. Before stepping into the hallway, I look back. “Throw those in the laundry. I don’t want Mom to wonder.”
They both laugh.
“And stay up here.”
“You’re no fun,” Jill says.
Marilyn elbows her. “She will be later tonight.”
Shaking my head, I walk down the hallway, ultra-alert of the airflow beneath the skirt of my dress. As I descend the stairs, the skirt fluffs. I push away images of the iconic Marilyn Monroe picture. I’m about to turn around and gather my panties when I see Justin at the bottom of the stairs.
His mesmerizing blue stare is on me as his cheeks rise and his lips curl into a smile.
A trimmed line of facial hair frames his chiseled jaw.
As my focus moves lower, I wonder if someone told him the color of my dress because his untucked button-up shirt is a shade darker.
He has his sleeves rolled up to near his elbows, and his tan muscled forearms are visible.
My focus moves over his jean-clad legs. His cloth loafers make me grin.
I’ve never seen him wearing anything but boots or tennis shoes.
“Hi,” I say with a smile, my nipples beading from the intensity of his stare. Once on the kitchen floor, I spin around, a full circle. “I hope this is all right. You didn’t tell me where we are going.”
“All right? Devan, you’re gorgeous.” He takes a step closer, and I’m immersed in an intoxicating cloud of fresh, clean scent mixed with a little spice of cologne. His large hand reaches for mine as we move closer, our lips brushing one another’s.
It’s then that the rest of the room comes into focus, and I see that we’re alone. “My mom must trust you. She’s not standing watch.”
Justin smirks and lowers his voice. “She wouldn’t trust me if she could read my thoughts right now.”
The rumble of his voice and provocation in his words has my core twisting. Breathing deeply, I again ask, “Where are we going?”
“I happen to know the chef at Bynard’s.”
Bynard’s.
My expression no doubt shows my excitement. At the same time, I’m worried I’m not dressed formal enough. Bynard’s is a five-star restaurant on Lake Monroe. “It’s prime season. How did you get reservations?”
Justin’s eyes open wide. “Shit, do we need reservations?”
I laugh. “It’s okay. We can go someplace else.”
He offers me his bent arm. “We’re going to Bynard’s. As I said, I have a connection and we have a reservation for seven thirty.”
Wow .
I take a step back. “Are you sure I’m dressed okay?”
“If you ask me, you’re overdressed.”
Heat flares in my cheeks at my secret.
Once we’re both in the truck, Justin leans closer, taking my breath as he kisses me deeper than he did in the kitchen.
For a moment in time, our tongues slide over one another’s.
When he pulls back, his grin is spectacular.
“I would have never been able to drive all the way to Bloomington if I didn’t do that first.” He starts the truck, and we begin our journey.
Along the way we talk about our day. I tell him about the big science department meeting. There are a few proposed adjustments in curriculum that we all needed to know and understand. “It’s so weird to never have taught a class and be the one to make major changes.”
“Do you feel good about the changes?”
I shrug. “It isn’t anything like things you hear on the news. It’s pretty basic stuff, like having my lesson plans ready before school starts. There’s an internal review board. That way if anyone complains that I’m teaching the anatomy of an arachnid, the team has a ready response.”
“Oh, arachnid anatomy,” he says. “I can see how controversial that could be.”
“You have no idea. In some species, their different appendages can grow large enough to take on the appearance of an extra leg.”
Justin laughs. “I didn’t know that.”
“Explaining that to seventh-grade boys…”
He lifts his hand. “Oh, stop. I see the problem already.”
“Yep. The subject came up when I was student teaching and thankfully, the teacher was able to jump in. The scary thing is that now I’ll be the teacher.”
Justin’s hand lands on my dress-covered thigh before his blue stare meets mine. “I have faith in you.”
“How was your day?”
“Nothing as exciting as leg-sized appendages.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I’m a terrible judge, but what I felt the other night and before at my apartment was large, but isn’t exactly going to be mistaken for a third leg.
Justin’s expression sobers.
“Is something wrong?”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in the V of his open shirt collar. “Fuck. I didn’t want to talk about it tonight. I want tonight to be about us.”
“Is it bad? Is there a problem? With us?” I ask.
“No,” he answers quickly as the light mood of our talk slips away.
Instead of asking, I wait.
“I found out today,” Justin says, “the developer offered your dad more money for the farm.”
“Oh.”
I suppose that should make me happy. I mean, my parents deserve to benefit from their years of hard work. The thing is that now that I’m back, I don’t want them to sell.
“What are you thinking?” Justin asks.
Looking down at his hand still on my leg, I try to come up with words. “I want my parents to reap the benefit from all their hard work.”
Justin nods.
“I also don’t like change. I thought I did. I thought I wanted a different life than Riverbend. I don’t regret leaving for college. Now that I’m back, I realize how much I love this place. I don’t want to see it change. I don’t want it to turn into every other town.”
He squeezes my leg. “Dad has come up with a way for us to buy your farm.”
“If the developer is offering more,” I say, thinking aloud, “then that means you’d need to pay more.”
Justin nods again.
“When do you need to decide? Does my dad know you’re interested?”
“Jack knows. We’ve talked.”
“Before we started dating?”
“Yeah.” He grins. “You and I are an extra wrinkle.”
“A wrinkle?”
“I’m stuck in the middle. Of course, I would like us to get the land at the lowest price, but I don’t want to shortchange your parents.” He smiles my direction. “I’d like to stay in their good graces.”
“Don’t take on more than you can handle or spend more than you can afford because of me.”
“Devan, it’s happening so fast that I can’t keep up. However, since walking into your apartment and seeing you standing there, your hair all piled on your head. Your Ball State t-shirt…everything I do is because of you.”