Chapter 20
Quincy
The days after I’d spent the night in Knox’s bed had been awkward and disappointing. By Friday night, I was sorely in need of girl time. When I’d texted Piper and Jewel about having the night off, they’d come through like only girlfriends did.
Just after nine p.m., the three of us entered the Barn Bar, which was exactly what it sounded like: a giant old barn on the outskirts of town that’d been renovated into a bar.
The lights were low. Straight ahead, in the center, was the square bar with stools on three sides—nearly all of them occupied tonight, it appeared—and a tall wall on the back with liquor-lined, rustic wooden shelves.
To the left of the bar was a dance floor. To the right were pool tables and dartboards, all of them in use. Tables were scattered throughout. A country song pumped through us over the roar of a good Friday-night crowd.
Several people called out hellos as I beelined for the bar with my friends right behind me, keeping an eye out for an available table. The smell of beer and people wafted in the air. All of it took me away from the angst of my week.
“Thank you, guys, for coming out,” I said loudly enough that Piper and Jewel could hear me. “I wish Taylor would’ve joined us.”
“I told her to text me if she changes her mind,” Piper said.
“She won’t,” Jewel said. “We’ll keep trying though.”
“That house must be so lonely,” I added.
Taylor was Piper and Jewel’s cousin whose brother had been killed in combat a few months ago.
We’d all grown up together, though I wouldn’t say I’d ever been super close to Taylor.
She was shy and severely introverted and had an IQ that was probably higher than all three of us put together.
She’d been living in Nashville until her brother’s death.
When she’d inherited the family home from him, she came back to Dragonfly Lake to live.
Piper and Jewel had been going out of their way to include her, spend time with her, coax her out of her shell but without much success.
A night at the Barn Bar could help anyone get out of their head for a couple hours if she’d just give it a chance. That’s the reason I was here tonight.
“This is exactly what I need,” I said when we got to the counter.
“You and me both, sister.” Jewel gave me a side hug and rested her head on my shoulder as we waited for the bartender, Piper on the other side of me. “You would think, with only three employees under me, I could have more than a third of them show up for their shifts.”
“That sounds like a rough entry to management,” Piper said.
“I fired one guy today, then hired a new girl.” Jewel straightened and raised her arm to get the bartender Donovan’s attention. “This round’s on me,” she said.
Once we had our drinks, we wound our way through the people and tables, stopping to talk to everyone we knew, which was, in fact, more than half the people in the place. As we wandered closer to the dance floor, we claimed a table when Shawna Jenkins and some guy left.
As we watched people dancing, mostly groups of girls, Jewel recounted tales from the week at Humble’s.
Highest on the gossip train was that Berwin Jepp and Dotty Jaworski, a couple of older Dragonfly Lake natives who’d both been single for close to forever, had shared a long pizza lunch together on Wednesday, sparking speculation as to the nature of their relationship.
There’d been no intimate touches, according to Jewel, and notably they’d gone through multiple lemonades on the rocks without Berwin’s usual double shot of vodka.
“I hope it’s romance,” Piper said. “Everyone deserves love. Berwin always seems so lonely.”
“You and your romantic soul,” Jewel teased. “I love you anyway.”
“Can you guys keep a secret?” I asked. Knox and I had agreed to keep it private, but that didn’t include these two, my most trusted confidantes. I needed their thoughts on my situation, not that it was anything close to love or romance. Sex, though…
“Of course,” Piper said, then lifted her glass for a drink.
Jewel was studying me, and I dared to meet her gaze. “No judging,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You slept with your boss.”
I stopped with my mouth open, ready to tell them exactly that. “How the heck would you know that?”
Piper’s head whipped toward me. “She’s right?”
“One, I’ve seen your boss,” Jewel said, tapping a finger with each count. “Two, you’re living under his roof, with him twenty-four seven, and in love with his baby daughter. Three, you’re overdue to find your rebound guy after Mitchell.”
“There’s no rule that I have to have a rebound guy,” I said, choosing the one point I could legitimately argue with.
“You do,” Jewel and Piper said in unison.
“I flirted with that guy from Toledo in August.”
“Flirting doesn’t count,” Jewel said.
I looked to Piper, who shook her head. “She’s right. Man-induced orgasms required.”
“Did you orgasm?” Jewel asked.
I straightened and said with a drawl, “A girl doesn’t O and tell.”
“Bullshit,” Jewel said with a laugh. “This is us.”
Which was totally valid. I hadn’t planned to be evasive anyway. That’s why I’d sworn them to secrecy. I trusted these two completely.
“So?” Piper prompted. “O or no?”
“Ohh, there were many O’s,” I purred.
“Many!” Piper sat up straighter, and both of my friends leaned closer.
“How many times have you been together?” Jewel grasped her glass but didn’t seem to remember she had a drink because she was too involved in my news.
“One night. Three times. More than three O’s,” I spilled out. Before they could ooh and ahh too hard, I delivered the downside. “But it’s been almost a week, and he’s avoided me since.”
“Men are so stupid,” Jewel said.
Not as quick to judge, Piper asked, “Have you talked about what happened?”
I recounted the morning-after conversation from Monday, before Knox had headed off to his meeting with Ava.
“Okay…secret lovers is kind of hot,” Jewel said. “Except…”
“There’s been nothing to keep secret,” I said.
“That’s so disappointing.” Frowning, Piper bent down and drank from her straw.
“So he’s just been locked in his room or what?” Jewel asked.
“Locked in his office. Working late into the night. During the day, he leaves to write in other places sometimes.”
“He didn’t do this before?” was Jewel’s next question.
“He worked some during the day but nothing like this.”
“Which is completely understandable,” Piper said. “He’d just found out he was a dad.”
“Right. I understand he needs to work,” I insisted. “There’s a difference between needing to work and hiding from the nanny you boinked.”
“Boinked,” Jewel repeated with a laugh.
Piper wasn’t laughing. She was studying my face way too hard. “How into this guy are you, Quincy?”
“I’m not,” I insisted quickly. “Remember, leaving for school soon?”
“Plus the age difference,” Jewel said.
I bit my lower lip, then said, “I don’t know how that’d work long-term, but in bed… Let’s just say he knows what he’s doing.”
“Ohh?” Piper said.
I leaned farther into our huddle, even though no one around us could hear over the music.
“Of course, it’s been forever since I was with someone other than Mitchell, and sex with him was fine, but Knox?
” I lifted my brows way up my forehead for emphasis.
“Seriously suggest you test out the older-guy theory. Not with Knox,” I added quickly, then laughed as if it was a joke, but I couldn’t stand to think about Knox even going on a date with someone else.
Even though we were a temporary thing, if a thing at all, that would hurt.
“So he’s magical in bed,” Jewel said. “And now he’s running scared. But you obviously want a repeat.”
“I wouldn’t argue with a repeat.” I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I thought about the look in his eyes as he’d climbed over me that first time. “That’s what I thought we’d agreed on.”
“I’m sure he’s freaking out about sleeping with the nanny,” Piper said.
“The much younger, hot, sexy nanny,” Jewel said.
“The whole keep-it-secret bit proves it,” Piper added.
“My opinion?” Jewel leaned her elbows on the table and sat up straighter. “This is too much worry over a temporary thing.”
“It is,” I easily agreed. “But I can’t help being a little upset and medium offended.”
“Justified.” Piper patted the back of my hand. “Sorry, hon.”
“I’m sorry too. The best remedy is to have fun tonight,” Jewel said. She scanned the room. “Plenty of age-appropriate guys here. I’m thinking we should dance with a few of them.”
“If you feel like it,” Piper said empathetically. “Let’s be real. We don’t need guys to have fun.”
That was something I wanted with all my heart to get behind. I raised my glass. “Here’s to girls’ night with the bestest friends ever.”
“Love you, girls,” Piper said as we all clinked.
“Yeah, screw that boss of yours,” Jewel said with a grin.
“Screw him,” I said with absolutely no conviction. Because I knew, if Knox made any opening at all to me, I’d take it and screw him for real. There was no reason whatsoever to turn down a repeat of level-ten sex.
But when a good-looking, age-appropriate guy in a cowboy hat asked me to dance five minutes later, I made myself say yes. Knox was a short-term good time that was apparently over, and I didn’t need to waste any more time pining.