Chapter 11
PETEY. LIZZIE. THE CAESAR.
DARCY
Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.
It’s her.
She’s here.
Covered in mud, hair a mess, eyes wide—borderline horrified, actually.
She’s in my house, talking about turning a pig, who’s got it out for her, into bacon. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her voice right away, but then again, in our short time together, I never heard this kind of anger coming from her.
She said she’s not going to stay, but fuck that. She has to. No way I’m letting her go now I have her. I mean, she doesn’t seem as happy to see me as I am to see her, but I think she just needs to get over the shock of it. It’ll be fine.
The moment I walk back into the mudroom and see her face, it’s clear this is not going to be fine anytime soon.
There’s a new energy in the room I immediately dislike, so instead of letting her speak first, I beat her to it.
“Here. It’s the smallest stuff I had, so I hope it works.
You should stay, Elizabeth. Billie. Sorry.
Everyone who’s worked on the house is coming, and I know they’re looking forward to seeing you.
” I wish I had a stronger argument. One that doesn’t involve asking her to stay because I want her to.
Because I want to see her and talk to her more than I care to do either of those things with anyone else.
She seems to mull over my words, a single nod telling me I’ve won this battle at least.
“I’ll stay for a bit, but I need you to understand what happened between us, it’s never happening again.
A repeat wasn’t on the table to begin with, which is exactly why I didn’t give you my full name or my phone number, but now it’s definitive.
This is already messy enough as it is, but we can look past the fact we’ve seen each other naked and be…
I don’t know. Friendly. Professional. Civil. Take your pick.”
I hate those options, so I give her no response while my insides twist into knots.
“Can you say something?” She smacks her hands on her thighs.
Her annoyance with me is practically a third person in the room at this point.
“Just don’t give me any more of this fate shit.
I need you to agree we won’t let what happened a few weeks ago make anything weird for Leo or Neve.
I love them both too much to do that to them, and I have a feeling you do, too. Am I right?”
“I do love both of them. Leo is practically my brother, but truthfully, I don’t see how me having one of the best weekends of my life could make anything weird for him.
I wouldn’t change it. I wouldn’t take it back.
” We begin a staring contest I know I won’t lose.
“We said no lies then, and I refuse to start lying to you now. If you want me to pretend I’m not ecstatic to see you, like this doesn’t feel like the universe tugging on the invisible string that’s had me tethered to you since the moment I saw you, then… ”
“That’s what I want. Pretend you don’t know me. Because let’s be real, you don’t. It was a couple of days. Just a blip. We can move on. You can pretend until reality sinks in for you, too.” Her words are a million paper cuts. The kind that sting, and bleed like a motherfucker.
There’s nothing I can say or do right now to change her mind, so I move on. “I’ll give you some privacy to change while I find Leo and Neve. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”
I want to call her out on the lie, but I opt to leave, find our friends, and get her a drink.
“Damn, Bill. You are actually pulling that outfit off.” Neve whistles as her friend walks into the small den, and I stare so hard, so unblinkingly, my eyes start to water. Elizabeth in my clothes is… fuck.
I nearly spill the drink in my hand, passing the extra spicy Caesar to Beth before I make a mess. She takes it, eyeing the glass like she’s never seen one before.
Neve giggles. “I definitely don’t look that cute in Leo’s clothes.”
“Not true,” my best friend says, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend’s middle and pulling her back to his front.
“You look fantastic in my clothes, babe.” He leans down to kiss her neck, and I look away because I might be a little jealous.
My eyes, the traitors, settle right back on the woman who’s turned my day upside down. Her face is scrunched up adorably.
“Ew. Get a room, you two. And preferably not here. No one needs to hear whatever loud kinky shit you’re into.” She points a finger at them, but her stern voice is quickly erased by the smile on her face.
I try to cover up my laughter with a cough, but it’s no use. They all turn to me like I’m the one whose sex life she’s talking about.
“So…” I draw out the word, making the moment exactly as awkward as I imagined it would be.
“You two are into loud, kinky stuff, eh?” My attempt to defuse the situation with a joke doesn’t land.
Neve crosses her arms and gives me that look I’ve seen on our video calls when I’m taking too long to choose between fabric swatches.
I clear my throat, tucking my hands into my pockets and promising myself to shut the fuck up.
“Anyway,” Elizabeth starts, “You two obviously picked up on the fact Peter—Darcy—and I have met. Yes, we slept together, and no, we did not know who the other person was.”
Always the straight shooter, this woman. God, I like her.
Neve gasps loudly enough, I wonder if any other guests will walk in here to see what’s going on. Thankfully, no one does.
“Billie, are you telling me this is the guy you had hotter than hot sex with in Halifax? Romance book sex? Darcy is the guy?” I hear Neve, but I watch Beth’s cheeks grow redder and redder. It’s impossible not to be a little flattered by those words, and my face must show it.
“Wipe that smug look off your face there, Petey.” Elizabeth rubs her forehead, dislodging a twig that’d been stuck in her hair.
She mutters a curse, tucking the stick into her pocket.
“To answer part of those inappropriate questions: yes, he is the guy I had sex with while I was in Halifax last month. No, this doesn’t change anything, as we’ve already agreed to move on like adults.
It’s not something that’s going to happen ever again anyway, so it’s fine. We’re fine. Everything is fine.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself a little too hard there, Lizzie.” I guess I’m not done being smug.
Neve laughs, and then she laughs some more. She laughs so hard, her eyes are glistening. Leo watches her like she’s the fucking best thing he’s ever seen. He doesn’t stop until she finally takes a breath, wiping at her lashes.
“Oh, wow, that was amazing. Petey. Lizzie. The Caesar.” She laughs again, snorting this time when she tries to hold it in and fails.
“That’s too good. Well, all right then. Looks like you have this all figured out.
Let’s carry on.” She grabs Leo’s hand, taking one last look at us and shaking her head with a giggle.
“Let’s go get some more charcoots, babe.
” No one likes cured meat and fancy cheese more than Neve.
A fact Leo made me well aware of when I was deciding what to serve today.
As they walk out, Leo sends me one final look that practically screams, “We’ll be talking more about this later.”
“So, that went well,” I say, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
The daggers Beth throws my way are sharp.
Yikes. I’d better do what she said and act like an adult about this.
“Listen, Neve seems fine. Leo will ask me a few questions, but this won’t faze him.
If you want to forget about the whole thing, pretend it never happened, then okay.
I’ll follow your lead.” I don’t want to, but I know it’s the right thing to do.
“I don’t want to make anything difficult for you.
I’m a visitor here and this town is your home, so…
whatever you want.” I raise my hands in surrender, and her shoulders come down from where they’ve been tensed, tight around her ears.
“Thank you.” She lets out a relieved breath, and it makes my chest ache. “I really do appreciate it.”
I guess this is all she needed. Right before she reaches the door, she turns back to me, and hope balloons in my chest. “Oh, and we should probably call each other Darcy and Billie.” Cue the high-pitched cartoony sound as the hope deflates like a sad popped balloon in mere seconds.
“Yeah,” I say through a tightness in my throat. “You got it.”
And then she’s gone.