Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
L izzie hoped that everyone would have gone to bed and she’d find it dark and empty when they got back. She was worried that some evidence of her backseat romp with Renic would show, and she really didn’t want to answer the questions.
Her hopes were dashed when she got out of the car and noticed all the lights blazing in the front entry. She didn’t want to think about what that meant.
What fresh disaster waited for her on the other side of that door?
Surprisingly, the entry was empty. The kitchen lights were off, but the upstairs lights were on, and she could hear someone pounding a hammer.
Lizzie frowned at the stairs. “The contractors are still here?”
“This late? Surely not.” Renic led the way up the stairs. Music spilled out of the open door to the Rose Room.
They found Mark and Bill the Plumber hammering in the last piece of drywall. Although the room renovation was far from finished, it smelled fresh and clean.
The two men stood up to greet them.
“Hey,” Mark said. “Carrie’s waiting for you in the lounge. She’s threatening to report you as a missing person. What happened?”
“Car broke down,” she said quickly before Renic could say more. Her cheeks heated, but she did her best to pretend like everything was perfectly normal. “And my phone ran out of juice.”
Mark stared at her. “Renic’s phone die too?”
“The GPS used up all the charge,” Renic said with a grin.
Lizzie avoided looking at him during the short awkward silence that followed. She cleared her throat. “What’s going on in here?”
Bill picked up a rag to wipe his hands. “The pipes are all fixed up, Ms. Bellamy. Just need to prime, then when it’s dry we can work on the wallpaper and the carpet and get this room back in order. Won’t be another day or two at the most.”
“Why are you working so late? This could have waited for daylight.” She inwardly cringed at the thought of overtime costs.
Bill glanced at Mark, and something unspoken passed between them. “I like to help friends out when I can. I had the time, and they said you had a wedding coming up. Mark said he was tackling the job himself, and we couldn't have that now could we?”
Renic held out his hand to Bill. “Thanks, man. I appreciate you clearing the air in here. It’ll make the night a lot warmer.”
Lizzie avoided looking at him. The man just had to keep reminding her about how he’d stood right here in this room naked. If he kept this up, her cheeks were going to burn right off.
Bill shook Renic’s hand. “No problem, Mr. Renic. I’ll be back around nine in the morning. Give you a bit of time to sleep in.”
“Oh, I doubt she lets me sleep that late,” Renic said. “She’ll be working me from the crack of dawn, I have a feeling.”
She raised her eyebrows at him and gave him a look that promised he’d be up well before dawn at the rate he was going.
His answering grin reminded her of their time in the backseat of his car.
She ignored the rush of heat through her body and pressed on. “Mark, where do we stand? Are the rooms ready?”
Mark picked up tools that lay scattered around and placed them into his toolbox. “Yep, they’re good to go. Della even put those little mint things on the pillows.”
“Floors? Dusting?”
“Done, and done,” Mark said. “It’s all done.”
Lizzie blinked. “All?”
“Everything. Della finished off her list, I did mine, and Carter helped us with the master list. Everything on it was checked off a couple of hours ago.”
“How did you manage that? It was enough work for ten people.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d been ready for six or eight more hours of hard labor.
Mark closed the lid on the toolbox and snapped it shut. “Carter called in a few football buddies, and a couple of cheerleaders. Don’t worry, I supervised. The place is spotless. Pretty sure Carrie finished the kitchen stuff but you should ask her. We stayed out of her way after lunch since she started singing. ”
Renic gave her a significant see-I-told-you-so look. “So what you’re saying is the inn not only didn’t fall down while Lizzie was gone, but it’s better than how she left it?”
“The lists were detailed enough a child could follow them, so yeah. It’s all good.” Mark patted Lizzie on the shoulder on his way to the door. “Get some sleep.”
She didn’t miss the glance he gave Renic before he left. It was like Mark knew something had happened. Men always seemed to sense when a member of their species had sex.
Bill looked from her to Renic and back. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
Lizzie shook his hand. “Thanks, Bill. Let me know how much I still owe you tomorrow, okay?”
“Uh, right. Will do.” Bill scurried out without a backward glance.
“What was that all about?” Lizzie wondered out loud.
“Maybe you make him nervous,” Renic said. “You do have that way about you.”
She frowned at him. “What way?”
“That way that makes men want to bare their souls and bodies.” He grinned wickedly at her.
She immediately pictured him naked. The bed was invitingly close, and the house was quiet. She flushed, then tried to cover it up by clearing her throat.
“I’m going to check in with Carrie.” She left before Renic could say anything else.
She found Carrie curled up on the cushy sofa in the small lounge that looked out over the backyard. A movie played on the TV over the fireplace, but the sound was off. Carrie stared at her phone, occasionally punching the screen with her thumb. There was a half-empty bottle of wine at her elbow.
Carrie looked up when she entered the room and lowered the phone. “Finally! Where the hell have you been? ”
“I told you I was taking Renic shopping to get him away from Della.” Lizzie flounced down into the chair near her friend.
Carrie stared hard at her. “You said you were going for twinkle lights. You seemed so worried about everything we still had to get done I thought for sure you’d be back by lunch. Dinner at the latest.”
“It took longer than I expected.” Lizzie looked around at the lounge. It was pristine. The books had even been dusted. “How are things here? Do I need to pick up the cake tomorrow? What about the meat delivery?”
“The bakery found another driver for the cake, and the meat made it around five, which you’d know if you checked your texts. Everything’s on schedule, so stop deflecting.” Carrie narrowed her eyes at her. “You’ve been gone for fourteen hours. I thought you’d been kidnapped. Did you have to hitchhike your way home? Was your phone broken? What did you do to Renic?”
Lizzie cleared her throat. She started to say she didn’t do anything to Renic but realized that was a flat-out lie. “I’m sorry. My phone died.”
She waved her blank phone at Carrie as proof.
Carrie looked like she wasn’t buying the excuse. “And Renic’s phone died too? He didn’t have a car charger? None of the stores had phones?”
Lizzie lowered her chin in meek submission. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I’m really sorry.” She looked up from under her eyelashes in her best puppy dog impression. “Forgive me?”
Carrie narrowed her eyes. “It depends.”
“On?”
“How much information you’re willing to spill. Come on, you’ve been out all day and most of the night, alone with the hot music guy you claim to hate. And going by the look on your face, something interesting happened. I want all the details.”
Lizzie glanced at the bottle of wine. “I’m going to need a full glass.”
Carrie eyed her speculatively, picked up an empty glass from the side table next to her, and handed it to Lizzie. “Thought you didn’t like wine without a meal to go with it.”
“It’s been a long day.”
Lizzie went through a mostly detailed account of the day but stopped when she got to Jacob Evans.
“Oh my God, I know him!” Carrie exclaimed. “He goes to Hobart with Carter. We heard him play at the Spring Fling last year. He was terrific. Wow. Think Renic will sign him?”
Lizzie laughed. “Renic’s probably emailing him the contract as we speak. Anyway, by the time we waited for roadside assistance to fix the tire, and sat through Jacob’s set, and then talked with him, it was really late. I’m sorry I didn’t call.”
Carrie tilted her head, thinking. “Jacob did the lunch set.”
“Uh huh.” Lizzie took a sip of wine while she waited to find out where her friend was going with the interrogation.
Carrie studied Lizzie. “It’s past ten.”
“So?”
“So,” Carrie said, drawing the word out. “What else have you two crazy kids been up to? That’s a lot of missing time.”
Lizzie’s cheeks heated instantly. She took another long swig of wine instead of answering.
Carrie leaned forward and peered at her. “Oh…my…God.”
“What?”
“Your cheeks are radioactive they’re so red.” Carrie pointed at her. “You had sex! ”
Lizzie tried and failed to meet her accusing gaze. “We had a nice time.”
“Oh ho!” Carrie stood up and danced a little jig. “I’m right, I’m right, I’m so, so, right! You bumped uglies with Jackson Renic.”
Lizzie held the wine glass in one hand and covered her face with the other. “Stop sounding so gleeful about it.”
Carrie plopped back down on the sofa, a big grin on her face. “Why? I think it’s fantastic. I can’t believe it. You and the man you said you hate. I knew it was foreplay. I knew it.”
Her words echoed Renic’s about Della and Mark so closely that Lizzie cringed. “It was not foreplay.”
Carrie nodded with smug satisfaction. She poured more wine. “Was too. So what tipped you over the line? I want all the details.”
Lizzie sagged back in the chair, exhausted in the face of her friend’s enthusiasm. “I think you can use your imagination. You don’t need the whole picture.”
She swallowed half the glass of wine and avoided making eye contact.
“Come on, you know you want to tell me. Was it amazing? Where were you? Did you get a hotel room? Tell me you didn’t use sleazy Stackhouse off the thruway.”
Lizzie blinked at her. “What? No. Eww. It wasn’t like that.”
“Well. Go on.” Carrie pulled her feet up under her and drained her glass.
It took the rest of the bottle of wine and part of another to tell Carrie the whole story because her friend kept interrupting.
“You did it in the parking lot of the Still & Grill?” Carrie howled with laughter. “Oh my God, that’s perfect. You know that place used to be an adult video store, right? ”
Lizzie was sure her cheeks would be permanently red after tonight. “No, I didn’t.”
“You’re right. You probably aren’t the first to do it in the parking lot. But I promise you I’ll never be able to look at it the same way again. I’ll be picturing a black SUV bouncing up and down—”
“Stop or I’m throwing this wine all over you.” Lizzie held her glass aloft, ready to make good on the threat.
“No you won’t, you wouldn’t want to stain the sofa.” Carrie grinned and looked supremely proud of herself. “Besides, you have to admit that’s a romp just perfect for a porn movie. Hot, sweaty car sex…damn. I’m impressed, and I have to say more than a little jealous. I’ve never had car sex. Not once. It always looked sort of painful.”
“It was, a little,” she admitted. “The seat belts really get in the way.”
Carrie nodded. “You should have laid the seats down. Just a tip.”
“I didn’t exactly plan it out. It just happened.”
Carrie saluted her with the wine glass. “I’m glad for your sake that it did. It’s been a pretty long dry spell for you.”
“Yeah, well.” Lizzie finished off the last of her wine and set the glass down. “It was a moment of insanity, but it’s done.”
“More?” Carrie wiggled the second, nearly empty, bottle of wine at her.
Lizzie waved her off. “If I have any more I’ll throw up.”
“Don’t waste it like that,” Carrie said. She put the bottle down. “What do you mean it’s done?”
Lizzie shrugged. “It was an itch I scratched. That’s it.”
Carrie studied her. “That’s it? You had amazing sex with a man who looks like a rock god and you don’t want to do it again?”
Lizzie hesitated. “It’s not that. Exactly. ”
“What is it, exactly?”
She tried to focus her thoughts, but the wine and the day she’d just had made them fuzzy and hard to catch. “What would be the point?”
Carrie blinked. “Having fantastic sex would be the point.”
“I mean after that. It’s not like there’s any chance of anything more than that. His life is out there, and mine’s here. There’s no future. It’s a few days, and then he’s gone. Back to the bright lights.”
Carrie leaned back, looking thoughtful. “Oh, God. I hadn’t even thought about that. You fall for him, where would that leave us? I mean, as your friend I’m thrilled for you if you find love, but what would that mean for us? For the inn? This place needs you here.”
Lizzie slapped the arm of the chair. “Exactly. You need me here. I need me here. This place is my home. I can’t leave. I don’t want to leave.”
Carrie’s look of understanding almost brought tears to her eyes. “You like him.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No.”
Carrie scoffed. “Yes, you do.”
She flashed her friend a frustrated glare. “Do not.”
“You don’t have to admit it. It’s written all over your face every time you mention his name. Ignoring it won’t help the situation, because I bet the next time he gets you alone you’ll end up with a repeat of what happened tonight. I mean, I would if I were you. You don’t need to have a future with a guy to enjoy a little sack time is all I’m saying.”
If it were anybody else, Carrie would be right. A casual fling had never been out of the realm of possibility. She just hadn’t met anyone since the divorce she’d even been interested in having dinner with, let alone anything else.
“This is different. ”
“Really?” Carrie asked.
“He’s not just some random guy I picked up in a bar.” Why was it so hot in here? “I’m not like you.”
“Hey, I only did that one time,” Carrie protested. “And what does that have to do with anything?”
“He’s a friend. Was a friend.” Lizzie pushed forward with the point she was sure she had, if only her fuzzy brain would let her make it. “He’s not a stranger.”
“You’re saying you’d rather have sex with random strangers than with a man you like?”
“What? No. That’s not what I’m saying.” She frowned. “I think I had too much wine.”
Carrie grinned. “I think you had just the right amount, because now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Where?” The room was soft and squishy around the edges. She should lie down.
“You. Like. Him.” Carrie tapped her glass for emphasis after each word.
“No.” Her protest sounded a little hollow, even to herself. So she repeated it for emphasis. “No.”
“Yes, you do.” Carrie leaned forward. “You really like him. You care about what he thinks. You care what sex would mean. It’s the natural way to up the relationship game to the next level. After sex comes more sex, which leads to more time together which leads to…” Carrie paused. “Do you more than like him? Are you falling for him?”
“Definitely not.” It came out a little more garbled than she’d meant it to. “I hate him. You can’t fall for somebody you hate.”
“Uh-huh,” Carrie said. “It would be impossible to love someone you hate. Definitely.”
“That’s right,” Lizzie nodded, then stopped when it made the room spin. “The thing is…he’s just so damn…likable. ”
“He is,” Carrie agreed.
Her thoughts swirled around visions of Renic in the SUV. The look in his eyes had been so…so… real . “His eyes swirl, you know?”
“They do?”
“It’s evil. They’re evil swirly eyes.” She wished he were here right now so she could check to see if they still did that.
“I think you need to get to bed, sweetie. Come on.” Carrie helped her to her feet and navigated her toward the back door of the inn.
“Wait. I have work. Have to get the house ready.”
Carrie squeezed her shoulders. “No, you don’t. The work’s done for today. All you need to do right now is sleep.”
They stumbled out the back door and across the lawn toward her house. “I have an adorable house, don’t I.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I have a great life. And great friends.” Lizzie squeezed Carrie in a side hug.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Carrie said.
“I don’t need any”—she burped and covered her mouth to stifle the giggle—“I don’t need a man.”
“No, you don’t.”
Carrie sounded like she didn’t believe her, so she tried again. “I had one of those already. Look how that turned out.”
“He was an immature asshole. It’s not the same thing.”
“It isn’t?” Lizzie frowned. “It feels like the same thing to me.”
“Renic is nice. Mature. He cares about you and Della. I don’t think he’s faking that.”
Lizzie started to protest that assessment, but the words slipped away. She was too tired to think about any of this right now. She stumbled over one of the bricks in front of her house and clung to Carrie for support. “See, this is why I don’t drink wine.”
“Anybody trips if they’ve had a whole bottle, sweetie. It’s not the wine. It’s the amount. Now come on, let’s get you to bed.”
“Carrie?”
Carrie opened the door and ushered her inside. “Yeah?”
“He could really hurt my heart. You know?”
Carrie closed the door behind them. “He could. But you know what? He could heal it, too.”