Chapter 7 Lucy
Lucy
Lucy exhaled to try and calm her racing pulse. She still had an hour before she was meeting Jade for their coffee non-date, but at this rate, she’d probably keel over with a heart attack before she arrived.
She hadn’t slept well the previous night.
Who knew that a shot of adrenaline from talking to a bathrobe-laden Jade would produce the type of dreams she had?
She really needed to get out more. Perhaps have some meaningless sex with a random stranger to release some tension.
It had been a while since her last hook-up – inching towards six months or so.
Probably time to rev things up before she entered celibate purgatory with the impending inception.
Lying to Jade was probably not a great way to start a friendship.
When Jade asked her out for a drink, Lucy said she had plans.
She didn’t. At least, besides sending stupid memes and reels to Drew, binge-watching Schitt’s Creek – again – and rubbing Chucky’s belly.
The problem was, when Jade asked, Lucy froze.
Did she mean a date? Maybe? No. Lucy shook her head to snap out of the down-pouring of thoughts.
The decision to ask Jade for coffee was impulsive. But so far, Lucy had no regrets.
She did kind of wish she’d said yes to the original offer of drinks last night.
I mean, really – Jade had just asked for a drink.
That was it. Why did Lucy go and get all up in her head about it?
Sure, Jade was beautiful, had legs for days, and seemed kind-hearted, but Lucy didn’t know her very well.
Not well enough to warrant all this overthinking.
Right? Right. So, her belly really needed to stop twisting so ferociously.
Itchiness invaded her body. First her arms, then her neck, then her legs.
What if Jade really liked her? She might want to move in, get married, and get another rescue pup.
Lucy would have to turn her down, then smile when she ran into her in town.
She could already see herself giving Jade an awkward one-arm hug with a solid pat on the back and making a mental note to avoid whatever area they ran into each other for the rest of time.
Like the grocery store. Lucy already knew they shopped at the same grocery store, so she’d have to go to the other one, which was a very inconvenient ten extra minutes away.
Spinning. She was spinning.
She dabbed her make-up brush into the palette and added a pop of colour to her eyes, walked under a spritzed perfume mist, and brushed her teeth a second time.
A low bark sounded in the kitchen. Chucky’s tail wagged as he stood at the sliding glass door, watching the squirrels run up the maple tree. She crouched down. ‘Be good while I’m gone. No ragers. Got it?’ She scratched his ears, refreshed his water, and hopped into her truck for the drive downtown.
Even after a lifetime of being here, downtown was still one of her favourite places on earth.
From the quaint art shops to indie bookstores, from the ma-and-pa restaurants to the specialty ice cream shops, downtown was the heartbeat of the city.
In the summer, it filled with an energetic life – lots of people strolling store to store, handwritten chalk signs on the sidewalk touting the sales of the day or an art crawl announcement, the buzz of excitement as tourists took in the view of the water and bridge.
Lucy cranked down her windows as she navigated Betty Yellow through town.
The warm air smelled of minerals from the Croix River and smoke from local pubs firing up their grills for the day.
Riverboats were lined up on the water, waiting for the Stillwater mix of tourists and locals to join for a jaunt around the river.
The sidewalks were full of shoppers carrying bags and pushing strollers. Lucy waited at the crosswalk as a mom scooped a child in her arms and scooted as the light turned from yellow to red.
After pulling into a parking spot, Lucy shook the gear into neutral and killed the engine, then flipped down the mirror to check that no mascara flakes had fallen.
Okay, okay. I got this. It’s just freaking coffee.
She rolled her shoulders, slammed the heavy truck door, and dashed across the street.
Not a date. Not a date.
When she turned the corner, her breath hitched at seeing Jade sitting inside next to the large window of the coffee shop, sipping from a mug and scrolling through her phone.
Lucy stopped dead in her tracks and a stroller nearly banged into the back of her ankles.
Not a date, but uff da. Jade was beautiful.
Obviously, Lucy knew that from the interaction at the store and from the video call last night.
But did she somehow forget how Jade’s sharp jawline seemed to highlight her smooth, porcelain skin?
How her apple cheekbones popped under that lavender purple hair?
Lucy gripped the front door and breathed in through her nose.
The shop was loud and festive, with the buzz of conversation and the metallic clicking of silverware against plates and mugs.
Freshly brewed coffee and buttery dough scents filled the air.
A rainbow flag adorned the exposed brick from the early-nineteenth-century building, and the sun shone through the large windows, reflecting off the shiny, hardwood floors.
Lucy bounced over to the small white two-seater table where Jade was sitting, definitely not not noticing her long, bare legs accentuated beautifully in cut-off denim shorts. ‘Hey!’
Jade set down the mug and stood. ‘Hey, you.’
Hug or no hug?
Jade fiddled with a trio of rings on her index finger.
Lucy bounced on her toes. She wanted to hug Jade.
She was a self-proclaimed hugger. She squeezed most anyone she’d met more than once.
But their face-to-face meeting in the grocery store was the only time they’d met in person.
She probably shouldn’t feel drawn, magnetically, to touch her.
Pull it together, Green. ‘Gonna grab a drink. Need anything?’
‘Nope, I’m good. I just got a salted maple latte. Incredible.’
‘Oh, that sounds amazing. Okay, be right back.’ Lucy had apparently forgotten to breathe in the last minute, because as she turned, she sucked in a sharp breath like a drowning woman. Fighting off a touch of light-headedness, she headed to the counter.
The rustic chalkboard menu listed a gazillion items she wanted, and hardly any she could have. In preparation for pregnancy, she’d stopped drinking almost all caffeine last week. Her gaze stopped at the ‘Sweet & Salty’ drink. Perfect.
After grabbing the cup from the pick-up station, she returned to the table, and slowly slid into the chair, careful not to spill.
Jade peeked at the mug. ‘Oh, what’s that?’
‘Salted hot chocolate.’ Lucy took a sip. The whipped cream melted on her tongue and the rush of chocolate hit her brain. Yum. Who needed caffeine when you had this?
‘No coffee?’
She tipped the cup to her mouth. ‘Nope. Laying off the caffeine for a while.’
‘Why would you do something so terrible?’ Jade smiled.
Oh boy. She had a really great smile. Soft mouth, straight white teeth, a small dimple on the corner of her left cheek. ‘Saving the coffee bean plants, one cup at a time.’
Now was not the time to talk about the surrogacy.
It was hard to gauge how people would react, or if they would treat her differently, or if they would think the whole process was bizarre.
Lucy hadn’t broadcasted it to hardly anyone besides her dad.
And although he was supportive –he’d practically helped raise Drew when they were kids – he was obviously worried.
‘Your heart’s gonna break when you gotta hand over the kid,’ he’d said.
The words came from a good place, but his comment stung.
The limelight made Lucy uneasy. When Lucy needed help ironing out some kinks around HR time off and insurance, she reluctantly, pre-emptively told her manager Pamela about the surrogacy – who’d immediately fawned over Lucy like she was some local superhero – and Lucy couldn’t handle it.
She ended up shutting her office door, a rarity, and buried herself in paperwork for the rest of the afternoon.
Drew fawned. Mason fawned. No reason for any other potential fawning.
‘Is the salon open today?’
‘We’re closed Sundays.’ Jade picked at a rhubarb scone and popped a piece in her mouth. ‘Isn’t Sunday the day of rest?’
Lucy smacked her lips, unsure how to read the serious expression on Jade’s face. Lucy was opened-minded about everything but wasn’t sure about getting too close with folks who had fundamentally different beliefs than her own. ‘I’m gay,’ she blurted. ‘Like super gay.’
‘Super gay, huh?’ Jade said with a glint in her lovely eyes. ‘I didn’t realise there was a step up from being just regular gay like me.’
The confirmation that Jade was queer tickled something inside Lucy. She sipped on the hot chocolate and swallowed back all the Dr Nelson-style invasive questions she suddenly wanted to lob at Jade about her relationship status.
‘I was kidding about Sunday being the day of rest.’ Jade plucked another chunk of scone.
‘Well, sort of. I close the shop that day, but that doesn’t mean I rest.’ She chuckled.
‘I usually use Sundays to catch up on all the shit I neglected the entire week. So, it’s more like errand day.
Clean-house day. “Drown myself in paperwork” day. ’
The shrill sounds of metal chairs moving against the floor and the raucous voices of a loud group of teens taking selfies at the table next to them made Lucy scoot her chair closer to Jade. Or at least that was what she told herself. ‘Is there a ton of paperwork?’
‘So much paperwork. And I’m just not a numbers person. I honestly don’t understand how anyone could like numbers.’ Jade shivered.