5. John
Iwalked slowly back out to the kitchen and picked up my water, downing it in one long swallow as my mind worked through the last hour.
Hank appeared from the living room and plopped down in front of me, letting out a mewl and putting one paw on my shoe. His way of asking for attention. I leaned down and scooped him up, nestling him against my chest and fondling his soft ears while I thought.
Josephine Baxter was suddenly at my house. In my shower.
I wasn”t at all disappointed about it—my best friend was still the prettiest girl I”d ever seen, and the second I”d locked eyes with her I”d felt that same protective instinct spring to life inside me. I just didn”t know why she was here, or for how long. But I”d find out pretty soon, I guessed.
While she showered, I pulled a few things from the refrigerator, putting together a plate of cheese and crackers, salami, some olives and some pickles. I had no idea when she”d eaten last—despite her eternal beauty, Joey had looked a little worse for wear and could probably use some calories. As I was staring into the freezer trying to figure out if I had any actual food that could be combined into a halfway appropriate dinner, I heard the guest room door click open again. I shut the freezer and turned, and felt my eyes grow wide as every cell in my body suddenly sprang to attention.
Joey stood in my living room in only a towel. Her tanned arms clutched the top to her chest, and miles of long, gorgeous leg showed beneath the too-short hem. My heart rate ticked up and I swallowed hard.
I made a mental note, somewhere in the far, deep reaches of my brain that were still operating in the face of all that skin, to buy bigger bath towels for the guest room. What was scarcely covering Joey”s body might have been supposed to be an oversized hand towel, now that I got a good look at it.
”I...uh, I don”t have any other clothes,” Joey said, her voice a little shaky.
I ripped my eyes from the spot where the towel threatened to slip down the swell of her breasts and tried to look nonchalant. ”Oh!” I walked toward her, but she was blocking my path to the back of the house.
”I can get you some...” I moved to the right, but Joey moved at the same time. We both reversed directions, still blocking each other. It was like the uncomfortable dance you did with strangers on the sidewalk, when neither of you could seem to choose the right way to go. ”I”ll just, uh...” I reached out both hands, grasping Joey”s warm shoulders, and urged her gently to one side. ”I”ll just get you some things,” I said, slipping past her to get to my own room at the end of the hall.
The Wombats T-shirt would certainly be too big, and so would the shorts, but hopefully they”d work for now. I handed them to her, and she clutched them against the towel that was threatening to slip. I did my best to keep my eyes high. ”These are the best I”ve got for now,” I told her.
”This is perfect. Thank you, Sammy.”
As she disappeared back into the guest room, her voice replayed in my head. It was different, I thought. Joey had been on top of the world in high school, master of her universe. But this version of my best friend sounded timid, uncertain. Not Joey-like at all. What had happened in these last five years to change her?
When she emerged again from the guest room, her hair in a knot atop her head and her body swallowed by my clothes, I had to push down the misplaced pride I felt seeing her in my stuff. She was not here for me. Something was clearly going on with Joey, and for whatever reason, this was the only place she’d had to go. I shoved away the attraction and desire I felt, just as I’d had to do every day back in school.
”Better?” I asked, thinking silently that the Wombats shirt looked much better on her than it ever had on me.
She smiled and moved back to pick up the water she”d abandoned. ”Much better.” She drank the water, and I waved her to the couch.
”Need anything else? I made some snacks.”
”Oh my god, that looks amazing. I”m starving.” She sat down and immediately folded a piece of salami and cheese atop a cracker and took a bite. I was about to sit when she spoke again, cracker crumbs flying from her lips as she looked up at me. ”Sammy?”
Her eyes were shining and huge, and she looked suddenly innocent and so young, having washed her makeup off in the shower. ”Yeah?”
”Do you have any whiskey?”
I didn”t keep a lot of booze in the house, but Rock Stevens was a big fan of this whiskey he”d found back in Maryland, and he handed it out whenever he visited anyone on the team. ”I do, actually.” I brought the bottle of Half Cat Whiskey to the coffee table and set it down with a glass. ”Need ice?”
”That”s okay. Thanks.”
Joey poured herself a healthy four or five fingers as I sat.
I watched her take a sip and then a gulp, and finally set the glass down and fix me in her blue-eyed gaze. ”I”m sure you”re wondering what the heck I”m doing here.”
”I”d be lying if I said I wasn”t curious.”
I sank into the seat catty-corner to hers and watched as she seemed to pull herself together and assemble her thoughts. ”I guess the easiest explanation is to tell you I”ve run away.”
I leaned forward. ”From...”
”From home.” She sipped at her whiskey.
”Uh, okay.” It wasn”t quite the explanation I”d been looking for, given that she was at least twenty-two, but I decided to be patient. Surely there was more coming.
”I”m certain Mama”s in a panic and Daddy”s probably going to disinherit me now.” The words were calm, but her voice cracked as she spoke and her eyes filled.
”So... you”re still living at home?”
She nodded, a strand of long blond hair escaping the bun and dropping to trail along her cheek. ”Pathetic, I know.” Her eyes found mine and a single tear slipped down her cheek. ”Oh Sammy. I want to tell you that I went to college and did all the things we talked about—majored in science, found a great career, and threw off the bonds of my debutante upbringing.” She used air quotes for this last part and generally looked so miserable I wanted to reach out to console her. But it was clear she wasn”t finished.
Joey took another healthy swig of whiskey and kept talking.
”But that”s not what happened at all. I don”t know if it”s genetic or just the way my parents brainwashed me growing up with all the talk about a lady”s proper place in the world?—”
”You never bought into any of that,” I pointed out. I remembered Joey vividly in high school swearing she”d never become her mother, never limit her world to entertaining and being a wife and mother. She wanted more. She”d always wanted something else.
”But I did,” she said, dropping my gaze. ”I must have,” she said sadly. ”Because in college, Evan Stratton and I started dating. And he proposed when I was a junior. And I said yes.”
I glanced at her left hand, there was no ring there. Relief washed through me, though I shouldn”t have cared if she was engaged, or married even.
”Evan Stratton, huh?” He”d been the quarterback on our high school team when we were freshmen. He”d graduated a couple years ahead of us. I”d never known the guy, but his family was huge in Peach Tree Grove. His dad had some important law firm, and his uncle was the mayor.
”Yes. And then it was like the wheels were set in motion. And everything just proceeded along a set path, like I had no say in anything at all.”
”Did you stay in school?” I asked. I couldn”t imagine Joey dropping out to get married.
”Yes. I graduated last June. And every day since then has been about plotting the next steps.”
I imagined job interviews and career plans—Joey had always wanted to study genetics and go into healthcare. But she was still talking, and she wasn”t describing mapping genomes or studying biostatistics.
”Flowers, invitations, venues...it never ended. From the day I graduated, Mama took control, and the wedding machine was rolling ahead, steamrolling everything in its path.”
I shook my head, still not quite tracking. ”So you”re married?”
It was her turn to shake her head. She sighed and picked up the glass once more, downing the rest of the whiskey within it. ”I”m not,” she said, setting the glass down hard. ”But I would be. If I hadn”t run.”
”You ran away from your wedding?”
”I did.”
”Did you leave poor Evan at the altar?” I asked, picturing the star athlete gazing around at the entire town of Peach Tree Grove, humiliated. The thought didn”t upset me much, and I immediately felt bad for wishing anything like that for him.
”No. I wouldn”t do that. At least, I don”t think I would. I dropped my mother off after my final dress fitting and just kept driving. I was in Georgia by the time the rehearsal dinner should have been going. And when I should have been at the church? I was facedown at the Boomsmack Motel.”
”What? The Motel?” Had someone forced her there? Hurt her?
”Your reaction is warranted. That place is seedy as heck. But I went there by choice. It was the first place I saw, and I was exhausted. It was the middle of the night, and I didn”t want to come straight here and wake you up. I wasn”t even sure I had your address right.”
”So that”s why you were prowling around? To figure out if this was the right house?”
She chuckled. ”Yeah. I woke up late—I hadn”t meant to oversleep, but I guess I needed it. And then I came here.”
”How”d you get my address?”
She lifted a shoulder, reaching for another piece of cheese. ”You can find almost anything online now, you know.”
That was concerning. ”Oh.”
For a beat, neither of us said anything, but once I”d absorbed the how and why of her showing up here suddenly, my mind began to inch toward the potential repercussions of her flight from Alabama.
”So your family is pretty upset? And Evan?”
She shrugged. ”Haven”t talked to any of them since I left. I called Evan and sent Mama a text. My phone”s been off since then, except for mapping here.”
I let out a low whistle. ”That”s some pretty impressive self-control.”
”Extreme fear, more like.”
I nodded, glancing at the sparkly pink phone face down on the table and cringing slightly at the kinds of messages that were probably waiting there for Joey.
”So, what”s the plan now?”
She fell back against the couch, her face crumpling for the briefest of seconds before she said simply, ”I have no idea.” Then she dropped her big eyes shut and blew out a little breath. ”I”m really sorry, John. Maybe I shouldn”t have come here. I didn”t know where to go.”
”Hey,” I said, waiting until those bright blue eyes met mine again. ”First of all, I”m glad you came. It”s great to see you again. Second, you”re welcome to stay as long as you want. As long as it takes to figure things out.”
I”d expected a thank you, maybe even hoped for a hug. But Joey just melted into the couch as a tiny sob escaped her and she dropped her head onto her arms, curling herself into a ball atop the cushions. ”Oh Sammy, what am I going to do?” Her voice was a muffled moan, and it twisted my stomach in sympathetic misery.
Joey”s shoulders shook and her back heaved as she cried, and I sat frozen there, panic creeping in around the edges of my consciousness. Crying women were one of the things I most feared. I didn”t grow up with women—except this one, really, and I”d never known her to cry when we were younger.
”Hey,” I said softly, standing to go to her. I dropped a hand on her back and rubbed gently in circles, feeling slightly ridiculous. Is this what you did for crying women? ”Hey, it”s gonna be okay,” I tried again.
Joey shifted, and the next thing I knew, her head was in my lap, her tears soaking the khakis I”d worn to golf, as I stroked her back up and down while she continued to sob. My day had definitely taken an odd turn. One thing I could not have predicted was the unrequited high school crush I’d never really gotten over showing up and then molding herself into my lap as she cried.
I held her, forcing my body to remain relaxed, calm—she needed reassurance not attraction. But shit, Joey was—still was—the most attractive woman I’d ever known. And seeing her dressed in my oversized shirt and shorts did nothing to reduce the pull I felt to her. What Joey wore didn’t matter because the things I’d loved about her had always been deeper than her looks.
My hand rubbed up and down her back as I thought about my long-time friend. I’d missed her, I realized. But I also didn’t want to get too invested in the idea of Joey being back in my life... I had no idea what her plans might be.
Eventually, the tears subsided, and Joey sat up, looking miserably at the dark spot on my pants.
”Sorry,” she sniffed. Both her hands went to her face then, rubbing up and over her hair. ”I”m such a mess.”
”It”s okay,” I said. ”Seriously.”
The sun had drifted lower as we sat there, and my stomach was beginning to growl. I wasn”t sure what the right thing would be in this situation, but I knew I needed to eat something more than cheese and crackers. And maybe Joey needed some distraction.
”Hey,” I tried. ”Want to see some of the town? I could take you out to dinner.”
Joey stared at me and then her eyes drifted down to the Wombats shirt she wore and the baggy shorts. ”I doubt I”m dressed for dinner.”
Clothes. Right. That would be an issue.
”There”s a Target down the road,” I told her. ”We could pop by on the way and grab some things for you.”
”I haven”t been in a Target since college,” she said, her eyes widening. ”Mama wouldn’t hear of going there, but I love Target.”
”Great,” I said. ”Let me take a quick shower and we”ll go.”
For the first time since we”d arrived at my house, Joey smiled. And for a second, I glimpsed the strong-willed, ferocious girl I used to know. I didn”t know how long she”d be here, or what was going to happen, but in that second, I told myself that I”d do whatever I could to bring that girl back for good.