Chapter 7 Lucy #2
The sun beaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows caught the amber highlights nestled among the green in Jade’s hazel eyes.
Her mascara-free eyelashes were thick and black and the soft crinkling around the edges showed years’ worth of smiles.
God, she’s pretty. Lucy lowered her mug. ‘I love numbers.’
The corner of Jade’s lip curled. ‘No. You can’t actually. Right?’
‘For real. I really do. I work at Inspire Bank.’
‘No way.’ Jade wiped the foam from the corner of her lip. Her plush, lovely, full lip.
Lucy tried not to stare.
‘What do you do there?’ Jade asked.
‘Account manager. But every week, I’m a teller for a few hours.
I love being an account manager, but it turns out I really missed the quick, snappy interactions with customers.
’ Lucy peeked outside at the folks walking on the sidewalk, their sun hats planted firmly on their heads.
The summer traffic was heavy. A horn honked loudly – a rarity for Stillwater’s typically polite drivers.
Lucy settled back in her seat and finished the rest of her hot chocolate as they chatted about work, clients, and horrible haircut stories.
Apparently, the mullet was making a comeback.
‘I feel bad that we’ve taken this table for so long.’ Jade wadded a napkin in her hand as Lucy glanced at her watch and did a double-take. How had a whole hour gone by already?
She looked back up at Jade, her heart plunging at the clear sign Jade was done with the non-date.
‘Want to walk down by the river?’ Jade asked as she stood.
Lucy’s heart sprang back up in her chest – a foreign sensation, but not entirely unwelcome, and she rose from her chair with a smile. ‘Sure!’
The door jingled as they exited, and Lucy pulled her sunglasses out of her purse.
‘The heat finally broke.’ Jade stepped to the side to avoid an oncoming family marching towards them.
‘Such a Minnesota thing to say. Do they do that in Chicago?’
‘Talk about the weather? Of course, we do. That’s not exclusive to Minnesotans.
Although, folks around here seem a little obsessed with it.
’ Jade pushed the button at the crosswalk and waited.
‘People here also seem to have more time, or take more time, I guess. The pace is slower. I’m kind of starting to fall in love with this town more than I ever dreamed I would. ’
The light turned green, and the crosswalk countdown flashed.
Lucy loved living in Stillwater. Hot, cold, it didn’t matter.
The city was thumping, thriving, filled with cute shops, amazing food, and lush scenery.
A Midwestern city that gave off a coastal-town vibe.
A trolley bumped by, ringing the bell as it passed, and they moved towards the river.
The faint sound of a violin playing on a street corner wafted through the air.
‘Have you ever been on one of those?’ Jade asked, nudging her head to the river where crew members dashed around a riverboat setting up tables, likely getting ready for a lunch tour, or a private reception.
‘A riverboat? Yes, lots of times.’ This used to be an annual thing Lucy and her dad did and she loved it.
Stillwater is such a vibrant, radiant town from the street.
But seeing the city from the river, looking out through the white pines, sugar maples, and oaks, was an entirely different experience.
Serene, meditative, peaceful. Every boat ride, whether on a riverboat or canoe, rejuvenated Lucy’s soul.
She made a quick pact with herself: if this budding friendship with Jade fully evolved, she’d show Jade the city from the water.
Lucy looped her thumb around the edge of her purse and slowed her pace. ‘Do you miss Chicago?’
Jade kicked a small rock on the sidewalk.
‘Parts of it, yes. Parts, no. I miss my friends. My parents still live there, but we’re not really close.
I have two sisters and some nieces and nephews, but they’re a few hours outside of Chicago.
I love them to death, of course, but we all have such busy lives that I didn’t see them that much.
I talk to my younger sister Bethany the most. Probably because she doesn’t have any kids.
’ Jade chuckled. ‘That sounds terrible, but I just mean that she has way more time than my older sister, who’s always juggling the kids and her job.
And Bethany’s getting her PhD, so she has intense periods of work time, but then chunks of downtime during breaks.
I usually just wait till she reaches out because I never know when those times will be. ’
Lucy knew what she was asking with the ‘miss Chicago’ question, but either Jade didn’t pick up what she was throwing down, or she didn’t want to answer. ‘Anyone, um, special back home?’ Yep, as subtle as a hand grenade.
Jade cleared her throat and took so long to respond that Lucy rolled her lip into her mouth and almost apologised.
‘Not anymore.’ Jade ran her finger through her lavender hair and focused on the ground. ‘You?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘Not ever.’
Jade didn’t ask any follow-up questions, thank God.
Because really, how do you go about explaining that fun little morsel to an outsider who probably couldn’t understand the innerworkings of Lucy’s …
unique … brain. Lucy motioned to a black iron park bench overlooking the water.
With the sun hitting the soft ripples, the water seemed to dance with sparkles.
A silence spread between them for a while.
Not uncomfortable or awkward, more like they were mutually drawn into the river’s hypotonic pattern.
But then, the conversation fired back up, and they spent the next hour talking about favourite movies, the best local restaurants that Jade hadn’t tried yet, and a dozen other lighter topics.
And definitely – quite obviously in Lucy’s humble opinion – no other conversation about past relationships, or lack thereof.
‘I should probably get back home and take care of my Sunday work,’ Jade said after a pause in the conversation.
Lucy rose, more reluctantly than she should.
The past several hours were some of the best she’d spent in a long time, and she wasn’t ready for them to end.
Then again, Sunday was visit day with her dad, and if she arrived too late to help him with chores, he’d retaliate and cook her Sunday-night steak well-done.
When they reached the parking lot, Lucy stopped outside of her truck.
Jade’s eyes scanned the vehicle. ‘This is yours?’
‘Betty Yellow.’ Lucy patted the tailgate. ‘My longest relationship. I’ve had this baby since I was eighteen. My pops gave it to me, and I just can’t let it go.’
‘Your bumper sticker! I’m dying.’
Lucy cracked a grin at the familiar sticker. Yes, I have a truck. No, I won’t help you move. ‘I had to get it. Everyone thought it was so impractical driving this beast around until they needed to borrow it to move furniture.’
Jade skipped her fingers across the lettering on the tailgate. ‘Well, I love it. Ms Betty Yellow. I think it’s pretty perfect.’
‘You do?’ Why did this make her feel so warm?
Of course, Lucy loved Betty Yellow – this baby got her through the roughest of snowstorms and could carry Chucky, fishing gear, and supplies when needed.
But Jade’s approval felt validating somehow.
It struck something in Lucy, deeper than expected, but she’d process why later.
‘I really do. Reminds me of, like the good old days, I guess. Nostalgic. Like an old TV show you loved as a kid.’ Jade peeked at her watch and frowned. ‘Thanks for the fun morning. Really, it was amazing to get out of the house.’
‘Definitely.’ Lucy shifted her weight between her feet. So, was this it? Should she ask Jade for her number? Or was messaging on the social platforms good enough for now? For the first time in a gazillion years, she didn’t feel like bolting after a non-date.
Whatever. She needed to admit this. This felt date-ish.
And now … she wanted to bolt.
A date was too real, too much, too intense.
She’d been on dates before, but this tugging in her stomach, this heart-skipping, this longing sensation to hear more about Jade, to brush her fingertips against her hand to see how soft the skin was, to not let her just walk away – it felt new.
And scary. And, truthfully, it didn’t make sense.
Lucy had so much going on in her life. Right now was the absolute worst time in the history of all time to embark on anything.
Jade pulled her hands out of her pocket. ‘Can I give you a hug?’
Her voice was softer than Lucy had heard all day, and Lucy soaked up the vulnerability in the tone.
‘I’d love one.’ She stretched on her tiptoes and held her arms open, and oh boy.
This woman could hug. Her slim arms were much stronger than Lucy expected.
Citrus and sage hovered on Jade’s skin, and the combo was downright yummy.
Lucy pressed into her and inhaled one more time before she forced herself to break from the warm grip and opened the truck door.
Oh God, now what? Lucy really didn’t want this moment to end, but also, one million per cent needed it to end. She stared at her purse and chewed the inside of her lip. ‘I, uh …’
Jade stood there. Waiting. Maybe expectant, maybe curious, but her smile twitched into a grin. ‘Yes?’
So much heat. In her cheeks. In her chest. Travelling down in a zip to her belly and settling there, uncomfortably.
Breathe, breathe. ‘Do you want to exchange phone numbers? I mean, we can totally keep chatting on the app, if you want to keep chatting that is, but you know … you never know when you’ll have a sriracha emergency …
and what if there’s a time that you stop at a store and see like a lemon, eucalyptus, and lavender cleaner, but there’s only like one bottle left, and I’m not sure if I’ll see the message … or …’
The hint of a smile on Jade’s face turned into a full, prominent, glowing one if Lucy said so herself, and a moment later, they swapped their phones and typed in their contact info. Finally, Lucy snapped her seatbelt and fired up Betty Yellow. ‘Take care. I guess we’ll chat soon?’
Jade stepped back and held a hand up in a quiet wave. ‘Yes, we will.’
As she pulled out into traffic, Lucy’s shoulders slumped. She didn’t want to leave as much as she didn’t want to stay. The pregnancy countdown clock ticked away, and the very last thing Lucy should – or even could do – was get involved with anyone.
But Jade was freaking awesome. Sweet, kind, smart as hell. Owned her own business, for God’s sake! She probably had her shit completely together, whereas lately Lucy felt like a duck frantically paddling in a stream. She hoped Jade had at least bought her facade of being ultra-chill.
And that soft mouth, though. Damn. The beautiful shape, that glistening, full bottom lip.
She wanted to pull that lip into her mouth and …
stop. No. She wasn’t doing this. She wasn’t going to entertain anything.
All of these thoughts were completely useless because she couldn’t get involved with anyone.
Legally, she’d already signed that she was, in fact, single, and she’d stay celibate until after implantation.
How would that be to kick off a new relationship?
‘Hey, there, you mind if we swing by the lawyer’s office to update my statement, then make a quick pit stop at the doctor’s to make sure you don’t have any STIs? Cool, thanks.’
Ugh. Although the statement of singlehood had more to do with marriage than defining a dating relationship, but still. Awkward.
After she picked up Chucky to take to her dad’s farm for the day, Lucy’s belly slowly unravelled from its knotted state during the scenic drive. After contemplating all the scenarios, by the time she reached the farm, she knew exactly what she needed to do when it came to Jade.
Which was nothing at all.