Chapter 19
After she heard the door close as he left, she reached for her phone to text her sisters. I need a sister meeting. I’ll provide the coffee. Bring me something decadent to eat. It’s that kind of morning.
Katie wrote back immediately. Color me intrigued.
Likewise, Julia said. Pupwell and I are on the way. Will stop at the diner for the decadence.
Yessss! Cindy replied.
How lovely was it to have her sisters nearby when she needed them?
She had to tell someone about her night with Jace, and there’s no one she’d rather tell than them.
After two more sips of coffee, she reluctantly put the mug aside and forced herself out of bed, groaning as she walked on aching legs to the shower.
“Girlfriend is out of shape,” she muttered.
The hot water on her aching muscles was blissful. After the shower, she felt a tiny bit more alive than she had before but was still dragging when her sisters arrived twenty minutes later.
Katie took one look at her and said, “You look like something the cat dragged out—all night long.”
“It wasn’t quite all night, but damned close.”
“Oh!” Julia put a bag from the diner on the table. “Do tell!”
Cindy poured coffee for her sisters and ice water for herself. “Jace kissed me, and one thing led to another, which led to pretty much all damned night, and now I can barely walk.”
“Girl!” Julia did a little happy dance around the tiny kitchen. “It’s about freaking time!”
“Tell us everything,” Katie said. “Was it good?”
“If it was any better, I might not have survived it.”
“That’s the best kind of good,” Julia said with a knowing grin. “That’s how I knew Deacon was the one for me. I never get tired of it with him. In the past, I’d be mentally composing my grocery list after twenty minutes. With him, I’m not thinking of anything else.”
“You did not make a grocery list!” Katie said.
“I did, because I was so bored.”
“I wasn’t making any grocery lists last night,” Cindy said. “I could barely remember my own name for most of it.”
“Ah, I love that,” Katie said. “That’s how it ought to be.”
“This is so exciting!” Julia opened take-out containers to reveal freshly baked muffins and a side of Rebecca’s delicious breakfast potatoes.
“Thank you so much,” Cindy said, diving into a corn muffin. “I’m famished.”
“Sexual marathons burn a lot of calories,” Julia said.
“You ought to know,” Katie said. “She went ‘missing’ for days when she and Deacon first got together.”
Julia stuck out her tongue at her twin. “We were getting to know each other.”
“Is that what it’s called?” Katie asked.
“It hasn’t been that long since you first got together with Shane,” Julia said. “You remember what that’s like.”
“It’s still like that, even after we got married,” Katie said. “When we’re together, I don’t need anything or anyone else.”
“I love that for you,” Cindy said.
“Now you have it, too,” Julia said.
“I wouldn’t go that far. We had one crazy night. That doesn’t mean it’s forever.”
“But it could be?” Katie asked hopefully.
Cindy was almost afraid to let herself go there, like if she gave it too much importance, she might be setting herself up for disappointment. “I just don’t know.”
“Where is he?” Julia asked.
“At a meeting.”
“Is it the eight a.m. meeting at the church that Jeff goes to by any chance?” Katie asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s good that he still went, even after being up all night,” Katie said.
“He never misses a day.”
“That’s important.”
“You guys… I really like him. Like, really, really like him, but it’s all so…”
“Big?” Julia asked.
“It could be.”
Julia nodded as she released a wistful sigh. “I remember what that was like when Deacon came swooping into my life and became the most important thing over the course of a few days and how terrifying that was.”
“That’s a good word for it,” Cindy said. “Terrifying.”
“We all have good reason to be terrified of making a bad decision in the partner department,” Katie said.
“Yeah,” Cindy said. “Exactly.”
“Don’t you think you’d know in your gut if he was someone you needed to be worried about?” Julia asked. “You with all your intuition and all that.”
“I’d like to think so,” Cindy said, “but Mom didn’t know what she was getting until it was far too late. That’s what is so scary about taking this kind of risk with someone. You just never really know.”
“We’re not Mom,” Julia said. “We know what to look for in a way that she didn’t, since she had never been exposed to what we were.”
“That’s true,” Katie said. “We do know more. It never would’ve occurred to her that the nice young officer she met at a dance was a monster. We’re wired to expect the worst while hoping for the best.”
“How do you ever really know, though?” Cindy asked.
“With Shane, it wasn’t just how he treated me, it was how other people responded to him,” Katie said. “He was obviously well loved and respected by his family and friends.”
“Jace doesn’t really have much in the way of family, and he hasn’t been here long enough to make a lot of close friends,” Cindy said. “Although everyone at the bar loves him.”
“For me, it was how Deacon treated Pupwell and then seeing him with his nieces. He was so sweet and cute with them.”
“You just have to put in the time and be vigilant,” Katie said. “No one is perfect, but we can’t go into every new relationship thinking that all men are monsters. We know that’s not true.”
“No,” Cindy said, “but enough of them are that I’m never sure who I can trust.”
“But look at Mom,” Julia said. “If she can take a second chance on love, then surely the rest of us can take a chance, too.”
“I think about that a lot,” Katie said. “The way she is with Charlie is like meeting her for the first time, the person she was always meant to be rather than the person she became to survive being married to Dad.”
“That’s a good way to put it,” Julia said. “I love who she is with Charlie. Watching her take that chance with him inspired me to give Deacon a shot. And I’m so glad I did. He’s the best thing ever.”
“I love seeing you guys and Mom and Owen so happy,” Cindy said.
“We want it for you, too, Goose,” Katie said, evoking Cindy’s childhood nickname, given to her because she was supposedly a silly goose.
“Haven’t heard that in a while,” Cindy said, grimacing.
“Because you’re not silly like you used to be,” Katie said gently. “You don’t laugh and joke and tease, and before you say anything, we know why.”
In front of a crowd of family and friends, her father had told her to stop acting like such a goddamned fool. The memory of shame and humiliation brought tears to Cindy’s eyes all these years later.
“Don’t do that,” Julia said. “Don’t give him even one more minute of your time.”
“I wish it was that simple,” Cindy said, dabbing at her eyes with a paper napkin.
“I know,” Julia said. “Believe me. I get it.”
“We all do,” Katie added, “but how about some good news?”
Cindy nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Shane and I are trying for a baby again, but I’m only telling you guys. Just in case.”
“Aw, Katie.” Cindy hugged her sister. “I’m so glad you’re doing that.”
“Part of me wants to skip the whole thing after the miscarriage, but Shane convinced me that would be silly. We need to keep trying until we get it right.”
“And the trying isn’t awful, right?” Julia asked with a grin.
“Not at all. It’s wonderful. I just wish I could shake the anxiety.
I had myself convinced I was done with having babies when we’d only just started.
Thankfully, Shane was super patient and helped me come around to trying again.
He said at least we know now that we can.
We just have to keep trying until we get the baby we were meant to have. ”
“He’s so sweet,” Cindy said.
“I love him so much,” Katie said.
“I hope you guys know that you’ve inspired me, too,” Cindy said. “It’s not just Mom. It’s you two and Owen and even Charlie. You were all able to get past stuff that should’ve ruined you forever to have your happily ever after.”
“You’re going to get yours, too, Cin,” Julia said, squeezing Cindy’s hand. “I just know it.”
“I agree,” Katie said. “It’s been a long time since you were moony over a guy like you are over Jace.”
“I’m not moony over him,” Cindy said. “What does that even mean?”
Her sisters made faces that had Cindy convulsing with laughter.
“If I ever look that stupid, take me out and shoot me, will you please?”
Before her sisters could reply, the front door opened, and Jace strolled in, stealing the breath from her lungs as she watched him come toward her.
“Morning, ladies,” he said.
“You remember my sisters Julia and Katie, right?”
“Of course. Nice to see you again.”
“You, too.”
“Anyone need a coffee refill?” he asked, going to the pot.
“I was getting ready to go to work for a couple of hours to catch up,” Julia said, giving Cindy a look, “but why would I leave right when things are getting interesting?”
“I wish I could stay,” Katie said, “but I’m meeting Shane for brunch in twenty minutes, so you’ll have to tell me everything that happens, Jule.”
“Oh, I will. Call me later.”
“Can you two at least pretend not to be talking about him right in front of him?” Cindy asked.
Jace grinned as he leaned back against the counter and took a sip from his mug. “I was wondering if I was the topic of conversation.”
“Your name might’ve come up,” Julia said.
“Once or twice,” Katie added.
“They were just leaving,” Cindy said, giving them a “get the hell out of my house” look that made her sisters laugh.
“Why, do you have something—or someone—you need to do, Cin?”
Jace choked on his coffee.
“Get. Out. Now.”
“You bring a girl a muffin, and this is the thanks you get,” Julia said. “Jace, it was great to see you. I hope we’ll be seeing lots of you, and if you’re anything other than sweet and kind to our baby sister, we will kill you.”
“Julia!” Cindy glanced at Jace. “Don’t listen to her.”
“Yes, listen to her,” Katie said. “She means it, and she’s speaking for both of us. Well, all of us.”
Jace extended a hand to Cindy. “You ladies—and your sister—have nothing to worry about where I’m concerned.”
With knees gone weak from the way he looked at her, she took his hand.
“I want only the best of everything for her,” Jace added, his gaze set on her face, which instantly heated.
“Well, I’d say we’re not needed here, Jules,” Katie said, taking Julia by the arm to lead her out as Pupwell trotted along behind them.
“If this love shack’s a-rockin’,” Julia said over her shoulder, “don’t come a-knockin’.”
“Oh my God,” Cindy said, mortified as Jace shook with silent laughter. “I’m sorry about them. They’re incorrigible, especially Julia. Every thought she’s ever had comes out of her mouth.”
“They’re awesome, and you love them.”
“I love them, but sometimes I also want to kill them.” As soon as those words left her mouth, Cindy wanted to take them back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Don’t do that. You were joking, and I knew it.”
“Still, that’s not something I should joke about with you.”
“It’s fine. I swear. I’m glad you had a nice visit with them, but was someone sharing our secrets by any chance?”
Cindy did her best to act like she didn’t know what he meant. “I would never do that.”
“Haha, right. Did they get all the dirty details or just a few?”
“They only got the gist, no details.”
He put his hands on her hips and rested his forehead against hers. “What grade was I given in this gist you gave your sisters?”
“Stop! I didn’t grade you.”
“But if you had, how would I have done?”
“You know full well that you’re an A plus. You don’t need me to tell you that.”
“Yes, I do, and an A plus, huh? That’s impressive. I think that’s my first-ever A plus.”
“If you were any more of an A plus, I wouldn’t be able to move today.”
“It was pretty fun, huh?” he asked, kissing her neck and firing her up all over again, as if she hadn’t had more orgasms than she could count in the last eight hours.
“Yes, it was.” More fun than she’d ever had with any man, that was for certain.
“You still want to go to the beach, or might you be interested in a nap?”
“Like a sleeping nap or some other kind of nap?”
“I had no idea your mind was so dirty.”
“It’s not!”
Jace cracked up. “It’s a little dirty.”
“You’re a bad influence on me.”
He pulled back to look at her, seeming stricken. “Am I?”
“In the best possible way.” She drew him into a kiss. “I needed you to shake things up for me, and you did that. And then some.”
“Does that mean that what went down between us isn’t a regular occurrence for you?”
“Ah, no. I haven’t been with anyone in ages, and when I have done… well, that… it wasn’t like… well, that.”
“I think I followed that, and there was a compliment in there somewhere.”
Cindy was so tired, she could barely see straight, let alone engage in a verbal sparring match that she was certain to lose.
When Jace’s phone rang, he groaned and pulled back from her to withdraw it from his pocket. “It’s Seamus. I need to take this.”
“Go ahead.”
Jace kept his arm around her when he took the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
Only because she was standing so close to him did she hear what Seamus said. “I need to see you. Can you come by the office? Like, now?”
His entire body went rigid with tension. “Yeah, sure. Is everything okay? The boys…”
“They’re fine, but we need to talk.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.”
Jace put the phone back in his pocket. “What the hell is this now?”
“He said the boys are all right, and that’s what matters.”
“Yeah, true.”
Cindy hugged him. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, you don’t have to. I’m sure you’ve got your own stuff to do.”
“I need to get to the Surf for some haircuts while I can still string together a sentence coherently.”
He kissed her forehead and then her lips. “I see a nap in our future before work. Meet you back here in a bit?”
“I’ll see you then. Call me if, you know, you need anything after seeing Seamus.”
“I will.” He stole one more kiss before he headed for the door.
Cindy hoped that whatever was going on with Seamus wouldn’t cause new grief for Jace. He’d had more than enough already.