Chapter 25
Magnolia
The following day passed by in relative calmness. I had planned on getting up early and tackling some projects around the house, or at least getting to the store to buy some more supplies we would need. Neither happened. I woke to the sun beating down through the window and realized I had slept until almost noon.
Sleeping that late had basically made all my plans for the day nonexistent. I even tried to talk Lexie out of going tonight—my gusto for the date drying up with the dawn of a new day.
“We could go to home improvement stores instead, my treat. ” I naively thought it would work because Lexie loved to shop, and she especially loved to redecorate.
“We’re going,” she sing-songed at me.
“Think of the possibilities!”
“The possibilities will still be there tomorrow. Now go shower.” She sniffed in my direction and then plugged her nose to really drive her point home.
“Lexie…”
“Shower. Now. And shave.” She threw a towel at me and stomped off, letting me know that my plan to cancel tonight was absolutely not going to fly.
As I scrubbed myself clean, and did in fact shave all my important bits, I had to admit I felt significantly better than I had yesterday evening. A good night’s sleep and talking it out with your bestie did wonders for your soul. The thought of Matt filtered through my mind and I sighed. Why did I agree to a date?
Yes, he’s super cute and nice, but if I was being honest with myself, my life was a bit of a mess right now. Adding someone else to it seemed unfair. Frowning, I got out of the shower and started drying off and wrapped my long hair in a towel, so it started to dry faster.
Lexie barging her way into the bathroom interrupted my regret. “Please let me dress you, and please let me show off your tattoo.”
Lexie loved my tattoo, and I had to admit, I loved it as well, obviously. It was a mixture of dark and light, and the artist had done a fantastic job.
The small towel showed the bottom of it—the tree’s roots glided down my thigh, the roots connected to a beautiful rendition of a weeping willow. The branches of the tree reached from the middle of my back down to my ribs and glided into the twisted trunk with the roots that graced my thigh. I let my towel fall a bit to expose my back where the branches started and uncovered the bird cage drawing that nestled in there. It was one of those wire cages you would have expected to see in the Victorian era.
Although, instead of a bird in the cage, it was the silhouette of an angel with broken wings and the birdcage was left open. If you followed the branches down, you would find the saying, “Heaven’s not a place that you go when you die; it’s that moment in life when you actually feel alive.”
I never intentionally hid my tattoo, but it was such a big piece, and like I said, the artist had done beautifully so the attention to detail was immaculate. But when I showed it off, it was like a free pass for anyone and everyone to ask me about it.
“If it means that much to you, fine.”
She squealed in excitement. “There’s no way Matt will be able to keep his hands to himself!” She clasped her hands together, further showing how happy she was with this, completely missing that her remark made my stomach knot uncomfortably. Instead of giving her a smile, all I could really muster was a grimace, but the damage had already been done.
“Finish up here and meet me in my room in fifteen minutes. It’s already five o’clock!”
Dragging my feet, I finished my facial cleansing and moisturizing routine, then headed to Lexi’s room.
Almost two hours later, I felt as though I was prepped and primed and way overdressed for a night out in Rockland, Maine. I had to admit the outfit Lexie put me in was sexy but cute—though a bit too sexy for me, but she wouldn’t budge.
I took a cursory glance over myself one last time while Lex touched up her makeup. My outfit was a white cut-off top that had barely any spaghetti straps, and while it was tight around the front there was basically no back. It flowed when I walked due to my larger chest size, and you could make out the entire side of my ribs. Thankfully, she put me in dark-washed, cut-off jeans that complimented the white shirt, but there were enough rips in them to showcase how the tattoo extended from my back all the way to my thigh. If I wasn’t careful, someone was going to be getting way more than an eyeful.
Jace had kindly offered to pick us up, so we still had a few minutes left of “get ready” time.
“Lex, you ready?”
“Just about! I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Heading down the staircase, I heard a knock at just the right time. “Come in!” I hollered, and Jace stepped through the foyer.
“Holy shit, Magnolia.” Jace stood, mouth agape, but that only lasted a few seconds before he started laughing, and I ended up blushing at his response.
“Jeez, thanks, asshole.”
“No, no, no, please.” He couldn’t stop laughing. “You look good, I just can’t wait to see Matt’s reaction. No, scratch that. I can’t wait to see Sloan’s reaction.”
“I didn’t know Sloan was going to be there tonight.” I heard Lexie start down the stairs, and I turned to frown at her for putting me in this position.
“Don’t look at me like that. I had no idea.” She raised her hands in mock surrender, then pointed a steely look at Jace. “Care to explain?”
He shrugged. “He asked what I was up to tonight, and I said a few of us were meeting at the bar for some drinks. Said he might show up. Didn’t mention you two would be there, though.”
Some of the tension I had been holding was released and I felt marginally better. Maybe I would be lucky, and he wouldn’t be there tonight.
“We can stay here, babe, no problem,” Lexie said and started to take off her shoes.
“Wait…” Jace started to say, but I interrupted him before he could continue.
“It’s fine, really. We are both adults.”
Jace’s face lit right back up, and he held the front door open for both of us so we could make our way to the bar.
I sat in the back seat because it was blatantly obvious that Lexie wanted to sit next to Jace. Once we got into the car, Jace wasted no time striking up a conversation.
“Did Lexie tell you the good news?” he asked me.
“I think you’re going to have to be more specific, Jace; Lexie talks a lot.” I teased her. I met her eyes in the rearview mirror and there was a hint of panic in them, which caused me to frown briefly. But before I could ask her what was wrong, Jace answered.
“She’s no longer unemployed! She’s coming to work for Dexter and me as our new receptionist! Isn’t that exciting?”
I’m pretty sure my eyebrows rose past my hairline, and thankfully, I was struck a little bit stupid. Luckily, Jace was driving so he didn’t see my surprise.
Unemployed? I mouthed at her, knowing she could see me in the rearview mirror. She shrugged as her only defense but said nothing else.
“It’s going to be great! Our workload has increased a lot, and now we can have some help with the day-to-day. I thought for sure she was going to shut me down, but I realized there was no way she had a job lined up yet. It just seemed like a win-win.”
Not really wanting to comment on this, or to continue this conversation before speaking with Lexie, I just hummed out what I hope sounded like approval. Thankfully, since the town was the size of a peanut, we had made it to the bar and that effectively ended the conversation.
Once Jace pulled into a parking spot, I unbuckled and quickly got out to catch Lexie before she could walk into the bar with Jace.
“We are going to talk about that later,” I whispered to her, and she nodded.
I moved out of her way so she could catch up to Jace, but I kept back a few feet. Entering the bar, I felt multiple eyes on me, but I saw Matt stalk toward us in a purposeful manner.
“You look amazing,” he said as he wrapped me into a brief but tight hug. “Let’s go sit down.”
I had to hide my disappointment when I saw Dexter and Lydia sitting at the table. Lydia’s smile turned into a frown at her first glimpse of us.
“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were coming,” she said as we approached the table.
I decided to ignore that comment and kept it light. “Hey Dexter, Lydia. Good to see you both.” My response further deepened her frown.
The conversation at the table was a little stiff from that point on. Jace offered to go get drinks and grabbed Lexie’s hand so she would go with him, effectively leaving Dexter, Lydia, Matt, and me alone at the table.
“How’s the house, Magnolia?” Dexter asked, and I had to hide my shock at the fact he was trying to talk to me despite his girlfriend’s unhappiness.
“It’s been a busy few days. I have to admit, I haven’t done a damn thing.”
Lydia scoffed. “Isn’t that the whole reason you’re back?”
A chair slid out from next me, and the way it ground against the floor sounded like nails on a chalkboard and caused my hackles to rise.
“Shit,” Matt said from beside me, and I looked to see who now occupied the spot.
Cassie.