Chapter 15 Lucy
Lucy
Lucy hopped on one foot to pop on her sandal and then scurried to the entryway mirror. She flattened her palm across the stomach of her sundress. Light pink was a gamble. She wasn’t the most elegant eater in the world, and it would really suck if she spilled spaghetti sauce on the front.
The clip holding half her hair felt like it was ripping out strands.
She unclipped, wrapped, and re-clipped. The mirror confirmed she’d wasted her efforts – her wavy locks were springing in all the wrong directions.
She tossed the barrette on a side table, smoothed her locks, then peeked out the window.
No sign of Jade yet, although she wasn’t due for a few minutes.
Lucy had tried to distract herself – errands, house cleaning, doggy playtime, and yet, these last two hours had dragged by at the speed of a glacier.
The sound of crunching gravel made her chest flutter.
Breathe. Why was she so damn nervous? She didn’t even want to answer her own question – she knew why.
She hadn’t had feelings for someone in forever.
Truly, forever. Sure, she’d liked people in the past, had a few relationships, had some amazing sex.
Okay, and mediocre sex with a terrible kisser once, but she didn’t want to dwell on that now.
This whole-body flush feeling was so out of the norm that she felt like she was being lust electrocuted. She was jolty and shivery and didn’t know what to do with this burst of energy.
And it was all a little scary. After they’d kissed a few weeks ago, and Jade stopped talking to her, it stung. Bad. Lucy would probably need to address that at some point but didn’t feel like ruining the time they were about to spend together.
She opened the door. Um – wow. Jade was killing it in skinny ripped denim, sandals, and a snug, white button-down shirt, showing a peek of deep cleavage.
Lucy ripped away her gaze. Jade strolled up to the porch, so effortlessly cool, her purple undercut with fresh lines carved in the right side.
Lucy gnawed on the inside of her cheek to refrain from whistling.
‘That dress is super cute,’ Jade said as she stepped onto the porch. Chucky nudged himself past Lucy and pushed against Jade’s legs with his tail wagging.
Lucy made an awkward curtsy, then straightened. ‘Thanks. Chucky helped pick it out. He was like ru-roa, that one, and threw a paw.’ I did not just do a terrible imitation of Scooby-Doo. Pull it together.
‘He did great,’ Jade said, petting Chucky’s scruff.
Seriously, breathe out the nerves. Tonight was just a typical Saturday night and Lucy was just having a casual dinner with freaking beautiful Jade.
No biggie. They’d shared a quasi-meal before on her couch.
They chatted all the time. They were friends for God’s sake. Her thumping heart needed to chill.
Lucy tossed her matching cotton-candy pink purse across her shoulders and scratched behind Chucky’s ear. ‘You be good. When I come home, I better not find that you brought over any bitches.’ She cracked herself up and glanced at Jade. ‘I can say that word ’cause—’
‘Female dog. Got it.’ Jade chuckled and held open the screen door. ‘Ready? I can drive.’
‘You drove over here. The least I can do is drive us there.’ Lucy followed Jade down the porch steps to the truck.
‘Besides, Betty Yellow likes having guests. Makes her feel useful.’ She opened the truck door for Jade and released a trapped cloud of heat and humidity.
With her long ballerina legs, Jade hopped into the raised truck without needing the step like Lucy did.
Lucy shifted into reverse and tossed her arm behind the seat as she backed down the driveway. Her eyes flickered to Jade, whose glossy grin made Lucy want to melt.
‘You drive a stick-shift?’
Lucy pushed the gear into first, then second, as she gained speed. ‘Yep. Love it. I don’t think I would do an automatic.’
The evening sun blazed through the window and illuminated Jade’s face. ‘Why?’
So many reasons. Lucy always struggled to explain why things from ‘back in the day’ were so comforting to her. Saved by the Bell episodes. Obsessing over Rachel and Ross. Perfecting the ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’ dance – which she was damn good at, if she said so herself.
‘A sense of power, maybe? My dad taught me when I was super young, like twelve or thirteen. He didn’t want me to get stranded if there was only a stick-shift option available. I think since he was raised in the no cell phone, no internet era, he forgets I could just call an Uber.’
‘Such a dad move.’ Jade flattened her arm against the window edge. ‘Sounds like he loves you a lot.’
‘Yep. I think I earned the whole “daddy’s little girl” title.’ Lucy shifted lanes. ‘So, you drive a Prius, huh? I think we need to come up with a name for it. Since it’s all New Agey and has fancy things like a back-up camera and moon roof, we need a good name. Flashdance?’
‘Flashdance? For my car?’ Jade chuckled. ‘Um … not sure that works.’
Lucy tapped the steering wheel. ‘Sparkles? Galactic? The Milky Way?’
‘The Milky Way? Nope, hard pass.’
Lucy grinned. ‘Oh, oh! How about Starlight? You know what, I’m actually not even going to give you a say in this because you clearly have terrible taste. Starlight it is. You’re welcome.’
Jade laughed again, a sweet, full laugh, and Lucy soaked up the sound. ‘Starlight is perfect.’
Fifteen minutes later, Lucy backed Betty Yellow into a parking spot with the ease of a NASCAR driver and hopped out.
She raised her hand in salute to shield her eyes against the bright evening sun and followed Jade.
A garlicky, meaty haze enveloped them before reaching the door.
She filled her lungs with the savoury scent. ‘Yum.’
‘My God, how much garlic does this place use?’ Jade opened the door for Lucy.
Chivalrous. I like it. ‘So much. We have to promise we’ll both eat it, so we’ll neutralise each other’s stinky.’
Jade grinned. ‘Deal.’
The Italian restaurant was hopping, and thankfully when Lucy called earlier, they had a reservation available. She had an 8 p.m. sharp (no pun intended) date with a syringe, and even though she normally wouldn’t have made a reservation, tonight she couldn’t chance an hour wait for a table.
A hostess escorted them past the massive wine display, plants, and paintings of Italy, and sat them down at a red-and-white-chequered table.
Delicious smells filled the air – hearty tomato sauce, sage- and fennel-stuffed sausage from a table near theirs, and the restaurant’s signature fresh baked bread.
Clanking dishes and laughter surrounded them, and Lucy thanked the heavens they’d got a quiet-ish booth in the corner.
After debating which meal sounded the best and placing their order, Jade sat back in the chair and scanned the room. ‘This place reminds me so much of one of my favourite spots back home – a ma-and-pa Italian place right outside downtown. I had the best manicotti of my life there.’
The server set down a wooden platter with a small loaf of crusty bread and pointed at the four dollops of butter in front of them. ‘Honey, fig, garlic, and plain.’
‘We made a pact, right? I’m starting with garlic.’ Lucy tore a chunk of warm bread and spread a hefty pat of butter on the pillowy interior. ‘Would you ever move back to Chicago?’
‘Hmmm. I don’t think so. I loved the city. So much. It has everything one could ever want, but there’s nothing there for me anymore.’ Jade picked up the knife to cut herself a slice.
Lucy sank her teeth into the perfect combo of crunchy exterior and soft interior. ‘Don’t you have family there?’
‘Yeah, my parents.’
Lucy raised her eyebrows.
Jade slathered a combo of honey and fig butter on half and garlic on the bottom half. ‘Let’s just say I have a very complicated relationship with my folks.’
‘Oh yeah? How so?’
‘My parents are pretty successful. My mom’s a VP at a telecommunications company and my dad’s a lawyer.
And they always expected that I would do something …
great, I guess. My older sister’s a doctor.
My younger sister is at Harvard earning her PhD in history.
And, well …’ She gave Lucy a lopsided grin. ‘Here I am.’
‘And here you are … what? A successful business owner?’
‘Thank you.’ Jade chewed slowly and swallowed.
‘I thought I’d go to school for graphic design, maybe go work at some big firm.
But I hated it so much that I dropped out my sophomore year.
’ She added another dollop of butter to her slice of bread.
‘When I told my parents I was going to cosmetology school, they freaked out. They couldn’t fathom why I would go to “beauty school”.
They said they wanted me to be as successful as possible, and cutting hair was not sustainable.
Of course, the whole spiel was for my own good – and then they said they were cutting me off. ’
‘What?’
‘Yeah. I was on my own, and they wouldn’t help pay for a single thing. They even kicked me off the family cell phone plan. So dumb.’
Ouch. Lucy loved her dad, and she might not always get the emotional support she needed, but she was always her dad’s number one. She couldn’t imagine a world where she didn’t feel one hundred per cent supported. ‘I’m sorry. That sounds really, really hard.’
Jade shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I mean, so many people have it worse, you know? Who am I to grumble that my rich parents didn’t give me enough? I’m a walking billboard of privilege. I hate even complaining about it.’
‘Someone will always have it harder. Doesn’t diminish your reality, or your struggle, you know?
You had to fight for what you wanted. That’s real.
’ Lucy added an extra helping of fig butter onto the bread.
‘Also, how do I not know this stuff about you already? I mean, I’ve seen your boobs for God’s sake. ’
‘I knew it!’ Jade laughed.