Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jocelyn
Roxy leans back in her lounge chair. We’ve turned off the outdoor lights, and both of us are sitting out here in the dark with Cam and Piper while Carly gets Ava to bed. Margie and Cornelia also went to bed. It’s still and peaceful.
“I don’t know how she does it,” Cam states as she takes a sip of a mojito that she just made herself.
“How who does what?” Roxy asks.
“Carly. I mean, she works all day, is a mom all night, and somehow manages to get to happy hour and ladies’ night nearly every week,” she explains before taking another sip of her drink.
“Yeah, no idea. I can barely take care of myself,” Piper agrees.
We all look down at the youngest of our group. “Pipes, you just graduated from college. You should definitely be only taking care of yourself,” Roxy says.
“I know. But someday, I think it would be cool to have a kid,” Piper says in a breathy voice that hints at her big dreams for the future.
“You’d have a big kid,” Cam says with a laugh.
Piper giggles. “Yeah, a real Scottish Highlander type.”
We all burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny out here?” Carly asks.
“Oh, Piper’s just telling us about how she wants giant Highlander babies someday,” Cam teases.
“Oh? I’m all for it. I could use more mom friends,” Carly says. I’d never thought about that before.
“Do you have other mom friends?” I ask because I’m honestly curious.
She shrugs as she sinks down onto a chair. “Not really. I mean, a few of my colleagues have kids, but they are all a lot older than Ava. And I’m sort of friends with a few of her friends’ moms, only they are all married, and I’m sort of like the odd woman out when we get together.”
“I vote for Roxy to have a baby,” I say.
Roxy punches my leg. “No way. I’m not responsible enough for that.”
We all turn to Cam, who holds up her hands defensively. “Oh, no. No way. We’re expanding the business. I don’t have time for that.”
Everyone sighs. “Guess you’re the resident momma for a while,” Roxy says as she gets up and walks over to the pool, sitting down and dipping her toes into the cool water.
I look at her and then past her down toward the beach, where little waves are bringing the tide in. It’s a beautiful night with just a sliver of moonlight. The stars are epic, and I just met my extended family.
I grin up at the night sky.
“You should invite your grandmother, aunt, and cousins over here,” Carly says.
“You think?” I ask. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that earlier.
“Yeah. I think everyone is having a chill day tomorrow. We’d love to meet them,” Piper says.
There’s a round of “yeses” from my friends. I pull out my phone and text my aunt. I grin more. I have an aunt!
My mom has a younger brother, but Uncle Teddy isn’t really around a lot. He’s a travel photographer, and he’s always on assignment somewhere. It truly has been just the three of us for most of my life.
“Can I ask a serious question?” Roxy says as she twists from where she sits on the edge of the pool.
“Sure,” I reply.
“Do they know where your dad is?” she says as she looks back at me.
I shake my head. “Nope. They haven’t heard from him at all since he left twenty-eight years ago.”
“Wow,” Roxy says.
“Yeah, something like that,” I state as I grab a margarita and lean back on my chair.
“That was super cool of Hutch to take you,” Piper says, changing the subject.
I nod. Should I say something about our kiss? I contemplate that for a second, but then when I look around, I find all my friends staring at me.
“What’s going on there?” Piper asks the obvious question. Fuck it.
I sigh and sit up and turn to them. “So…I sort of, maybe, kissed Hutch,” I blurt out and then bite my lower lip as I take in their expressions.
Roxy raises a single eyebrow. Carly raises both of hers. And everyone else just nods.
“Why are none of you acting surprised by this revelation?” I ask.
“Because we”—Roxy points to everyone with a circular motion of her finger—“have all been expecting this for months now. Hell, I’m shocked it took you this long.”
My eyes widen. What the hell? Why am I the last one to know that I like Hutch?
Roxy laughs. “You should see your face right now. Don’t look so surprised.
You two are like a classic slow burn. The body language is off the charts.
Actually, I think you might be insta-crushes who have trust issues and never acted on the crush and then friend-zoned each other until all that pent-up sexual frustration came boiling to the surface,” she says.
My mouth falls open. Roxy is usually good at this game of calling out couples’ tropes, but this is oddly specific and spot on.
I did, in fact, have a massive crush on Hutch the first time I met him.
But I guess my daddy issues and coming out of some back-to-back lackluster relationships had me running from anything that hinted at commitment. And clearly, Hutch has his own issues.
“Seriously, you got all that from just watching us together?” I ask as I stare at my friends.
“I mean, I didn’t get all of that, but I could definitely tell you two were into each other,” Piper says.
I groan and slap my forehead. “How am I the last one to know?” OK, that’s sort of a lie. I mean, I know I have a crush on him, but could Hutch have a crush on me?
Cam laughs. “I think that’s how love is.” She holds up a hand. “I’m not saying you’re in love yet. But it’s like, other people can see the chemistry, and you’re so in the weeds, you can’t even make out where you are.”
“Isn’t the saying that you can’t see the forest through the trees?” Piper asks.
“Or is it the trees through the forest?” she adds with a shrug.
“Well, whatever it is, I didn’t see it,” I say. I contemplate my next move because I have no idea what to do.
“What do I do now?” I ask.
There is a chorus of giggles from my friends. “You kiss that boy again. That’s what,” Cam says.
“Maybe, say you want to test the waters,” Piper suggests.
“Just launch yourself at that Viking and climb him like a tree,” Roxy states.
Carly laughs. “Talk to him. Hutch is a great listener. Just talk to him, and it will all fall into place.”
I look at Carly and wonder how she can be so wise and not see that her and Bray belong together. But I decide tonight isn’t the night to bring that up. We can discuss her love life another night.
I look down at my sundress. “Should I change?” I ask them.
“Just be you,” Carly urges.
Fuck. Who am I? The guys will be back any minute, and here I am having a full existential crisis. Wonderful.
“I…I mean, I’m still sort of figuring that all out,” I admit aloud.
Roxy laughs. “Girl, you are a slightly loud, opinionated, romance-loving smarty-pants who loves all things autumn and hates all things sports, well, other than one former football player and several dozen or so sports romance books,” she says.
She’s not wrong. But I also feel I have so much more to figure out.
“Write about it,” Roxy says as she watches me process her words.
“Huh?”
“Write about it in your paper. Right about this trip and meeting your family, and figuring out who you are. You’re on this…
journey. Write about the journey. It doesn’t have to have some neat bow wrapped around it.
Journeys are messy and you learn things the hard way sometimes.
I think that’s what you should write about,” she says.
Holy fuck! She’s so right. I sort of hate that she’s right because it means I have to outline yet another paper, but this one feels…like the one.
“You’re right,” I admit.
“I know I am. I’m brilliant like that,” she says with a wink.
I can hear the guys walking down the beach in the distance, and suddenly my belly is filled with butterflies.
“Go on, then. Go talk to your man. We’ll make ourselves scarce,” Carly says as she motions for everyone to stand up. “I saw a card game inside. Let’s go play that.”
Cam shakes her head. “All this talk about romance has me wanting to take Fletcher for a walk down by the beach.”
Roxy laughs. “And by walk, she means, rolling around naked in the sand.”
Everyone giggles. And I smile at my friends.
“Thanks, ladies. I appreciate your advice,” I say as I stand and head toward the guesthouse.
“Go get him, tiger,” Cam says loudly.
And for the first time in a long time, I think I’m going to be bold and admit my feelings to a man, a man I already absolutely adore. I just hope he feels the same way, or this will be hella awkward. But what’s that saying? Oh yeah, carpe diem.