Chapter 19 Phoebe #2
“Nope. I told you. I’ve been hand feeding baby bats for weeks. I was lucky I took a shower, let alone talked to anyone outside of the rescue.”
“Okay, well...he’s an author.”
“No way.”
“Yeah. Pretty famous.” I lowered my voice. It wasn’t like he could hear me, but I felt weird about saying it out loud. “I read one of his books.”
She leaned forward, her voice low. “Did it suck?”
I laughed. “No. Quite the contrary. Not my usual genre. I prefer a smokin’ hot romance, but um...wow.”
“Does he write those spy thriller dude books?” She hopped off her stool and took her empty plate over to the sink and started cleaning up the dishes.
“No. I think technically he’s a horror writer, but it feels like more than that. It’s like he really knows how to drill down into the psyche and the fears of people and use it against them.”
“Sounds like you might have a lady boner for more than just those impressive shoulders and the way he fills out jeans.”
I flushed. “Maybe. He’s ridiculously attractive. Like almost too much.”
“As if that’s a thing.” She filled the dish basin and started scrubbing the pan. My sister had conservation running through her veins from water usage to saving the planet, and of course saving all the endangered animals she could manage. “He’s got a whole lot of beard action going on there.”
“Yeah. You wouldn’t recognize him from his dust jacket.” I went over to my weekender bag where I’d stashed the book. I didn’t exactly want to hide that I was reading his book, but I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it. And reading it while I was away made me feel closer to him. God, I was a sap.
I handed her the book.
She dried her hands and took it, flipping it to see the photo of him in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. She held it up. “This is the guy you’re banging?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Geez.”
“Well, you look like you got yourself rocked before I pulled up.”
She wasn’t wrong. In fact, it was quite rude how he’d gone from giving me an orgasm full of sparkles to a fight in the space of a minute.
“The color of those cheeks of yours says that’s a yes. Looks like a totally different guy.” She flipped pages into the center of the book and skimmed a few pages. Then kept reading as she walked around to the other side of the kitchen island to sit at her stool.
“It’s good isn’t it?”
She looked up, her eyes unfocused. “Sorry.” She slammed it closed. “I’m borrowing this.”
I laughed. “It’s really good. Scary as hell.”
“I’ve got a litter of raccoon babies to take care of. They eat every two freaking hours. Cute little suckers.” Her sky blue eyes went misty. “Mama got hit by a car.”
I could feel her pain. I reached over and squeezed her arm.
She sniffed. “It’s fine. I’m not letting the little babies die.” She pulled her phone out of her butt pocket and opened it, sliding it over to me. “Just look at Dwight.”
“Dwight?”
“Yeah, we’re naming them all after characters from The Office.”
I laughed. “He does look a little like Rainn Wilson.”
“Right?” She laughed. “Melody has the first shift. I take over after dinner.”
I swiped through the photos of the little pink babies. Their eyes weren’t even all the way open yet. “Super sweet.” I clicked the phone shut and slid it back over to her.
“You really are a master at changing the subject.”
I laughed. “Well, something happened between the last time he released a book and now. He’s beyond talented. I barely slept last night after I finished the book. I’m never going to look at a red suitcase the same way again.”
“I believe you. But you are always underselling yourself. Creative people never think they’re good enough. Well, the real ones. The ones who aren’t talented at all seem to scream about how awesome they are.”
“Speaking of.” I pulled out my own iPad. “Check out the fence I got to paint this time.”
I went around the island to show off the massive flowers I got to paint directly on the honey colored fence that framed out the courtyard of the restaurant.
It was attached to the hotel and they asked me to highlight all the flora and fauna from the region.
It had been one of the most intricate projects I’d done so far.
And padded my bank account for a good portion of the year’s expenses.
That felt really good. It had been a long time coming when I was solvent enough to be ahead of my bills instead of them chasing me like Michael Myers in Halloween. Slow and steady lumbering, but definitely still coming after me with that scary music in the back of my head.
Now I actually had a cushion and could concentrate on things that excited me instead of taking every job offered to me.
“This is amazing, Phee. Like seriously impressive.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a big deal.” She flicked my ear. “Don’t sell yourself short. I hate when you do that. I don’t know anyone who could do that kind of scale without a team of people behind them. Our donors still talk about the intake room that you illustrated for me.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She shook me. “I want to take that family of bats home that you drew on the tree.” She slid off the stool.
“And it was a tree from near the lake. Not just some generic leaves. Intricate details in your own style. And when we use it as a background for our social media people always ask who the artist is.”
I flipped the cover back onto my iPad. “Thanks, Lib.”
She looped her arms around my neck. “You’re so amazing and I’ll never stop being your hype woman.”
I hugged her back. We’d been each other’s support. The king of the family had always been Keaton and had left so little time or attention for us. “I need that.” I rested my head on her shoulder for a moment before I stepped back.
“Now, tell me about this guy.”
I sighed.
She took my hand and dragged me over to the couch and sat me down. “How long have you guys been doing the devil’s tango?”
I snickered. “Really?”
“What? I watch a lot of YouTube when I’m staying up with the animals. My favorite people are always looking for creative ways to say sex in those Am I The Asshole compilations.”
“You could watch something a little better for your brain. Or listen to a book.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Those put me to sleep. And I need all the help I can get. If I ever have a kid at least I know I’ve got the mental fortitude for midnight feedings.”
“Stop changing the subject!”
“Fine, fine. It’s been a few weeks.”
“Weeks?” Her eyes went wide. “And you didn’t tell me!”
“You’ve been a little busy.”
“Girl, all you have to do is text me with an eggplant and peach emoji and I’ll be over to discuss.”
“Um, we don’t need to discuss the specifics.”
“I should be able to get the specifics from my sister. Is he packing? He looks like he’s packing.” She wigged her fingers. “Big hands.”
“That is not the only indicator, Lib.”
“I know. Believe me I know, but he has that BDE walk.”
“Liberty,” I gasped then dissolved into giggles and slid down on the couch to hide my face. “Look, he definitely doesn’t have any problem in the bedroom.”
“So, why are you hiding your face? Own that shit. If he can take you to orgasm town, then we are ahead of the game already.”
I straightened up. “Sex isn’t the problem. At all.”
She blew raspberries at me. “Must be nice.”
“We have communication problems. He’s a vault and drives me nuts. I know something happened to him.”
“The vibe thing?”
“That and he’s just way too touchy about me seeing his work.”
“Is it an artist thing?”
I shook my head. “It’s more like a dog guarding his food like someone is going to take it away.”
She pulled her legs up crossed them under her. “So, you think a trauma response?”
I really did. I’d even did a bit of a deep dive on social media to see if there was any weird gossip about him, but there was barely anything media beyond reviews and interviews. “I know his mom died when he was young.”
“That’s rough.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s it. I mean maybe some of his guarded tendencies could come from that, but I mean he’s seriously like angry when he thinks I’ve touched any of his things.”
“How angry are we talking.” Her eyes flashed.
“Not that kind of angry. It’s more accusatory. Like he expects me to do the worst every single time. I know we haven’t known one another that long, but he should know I wouldn’t ever betray him.”
Liberty reached out and squeezed my arm.
“If it’s a trauma response maybe he doesn’t have any control of it.
Even a dog can have one thing happen and it changes their brain chemistry forever.
When I volunteered at the animal clinic, there was this one dog who was playful and fun until a dog cornered her. After that she was really reactive.”
“He’d be thrilled that we were talking about him like he’s a dog.” I laughed. “Especially since he keeps trying to convince me he doesn’t love Mouse even though they’re both joined at the hip at least half the day.”
“I don’t trust people who don’t like animals.” She crossed her arms.
“It’s definitely him being miserable. You should see all the things he’s bought for that dog. He loves him.”
“And you?”
“Of course I love Mouse.”
“No, Dutch.”
“I—” I didn’t have an answer. “I might be falling for him, but...”
“I’d say a little more than falling. I’ve never seen you like this about any guy even after you were together with that Evan guy for six months.”
“How can I love him if I don’t really know the important parts of the real him?”
“Think you guys need to have a talk. A real one.”
I flopped back on the couch. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am.” She bounded off the couch. “Now I have to go babysit Dwight and the gang. Thanks for feeding me.”
I pushed myself up. “Of course. I missed you.”
“I missed you too, boo.” She hauled me up off the couch. “Now, go take an everything shower and do a face mask. You’ll feel loads better.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybes. Go do it. That’s an order.”
“I’m the big sister, you know.”
She drew me into a swaying hug. “I know, which is why this is so fun for me. I love being the one to order you around and give advice for once.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
She laughed and gave me a smacking kiss on the cheek. “Pamper yourself and then wait for him to beg.”
“Go away.”
She laughed on her way to the mud room. “You know I’m right.”
When the door slammed, I headed down the hall to my bedroom to do as I was told for once in my life. I was tired of being the strong one.