Chapter 21
TAYLOR
My bed was littered with a thousand rejected outfits. OK, maybe not a thousand. I hadn’t bought that many clothes with me from New York, and I certainly hadn’t brought anything I would consider date-worthy. If this was a date. What had Jack called it?
Two friends going out for a meal.
Is that what we were? Friends? I barely knew the guy, and yet, that wasn’t how I felt when I was around him.
Jack made me feel safe. I hadn’t known until I met him that I even needed to feel that.
After all, I was a strong, independent, self-made woman who didn’t need a man.
And I didn’t need Jack either. But I liked how he made me feel.
I liked the way he looked at me, the way he smiled at me, the way he made me laugh.
I liked how it had felt when he’d held me.
I really liked that. He gave me goose bumps, in the best possible way.
‘I see nothing’s changed,’ Ray commented from the hallway, through my ajar bedroom door.
I frowned at his intrusion, tempted to kick the door shut in his face. ‘What?’
‘You’re still as messy as you always were.’
‘I am not messy.’
He stared at the clothes scattered across the bed pointedly.
‘That’s not mess, and I’m going to tidy it up later. Go away.’
‘What are you trying on all your clothes for?’
‘None of your business.’
He waited.
‘Fine.’ I sighed. ‘If you must know, I have a date. Sort of. Not really a date, more of a meal between friends kind of situation.’
‘Which friend are we talking about?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘Humor me.’
‘Jack.’
‘Ah.’
‘Ah what?’
‘Nothing. I’m glad he took my advice and asked you out.’
‘He didn’t ask me out just because you told him to.’
‘Eh, believe what you want.’
‘He didn’t.’
He pulled a face.
‘Oh God.’ I sank to the bed. ‘He did, didn’t he? This is all your fault.’
‘It’s not all on me,’ he said. ‘I just gave him a subtle little nudge.’
‘You don’t do anything subtly, Ray. It’s not in your nature.’ I surveyed my pile of options. ‘I guess it’ll just have to be jeans and a top.’
‘You mean the same thing that you wear every day,’ he said. ‘Like you’re off to a casual funeral. That’s typical of you, make no effort at all.’
I threw the black top I had picked up back down onto the bed and scowled at him. ‘That’s it, I’m canceling.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I have nothing to wear, and because I refuse to go out on a date with a guy that you set me up with.’
‘I didn’t set you up. Like I said, I just gave him a nudge in the right direction.’
‘Whatever. It was a stupid idea.’
He took pity on me. ‘Look, maybe there’s something in your mother’s wardrobe that you could borrow?’
‘You’re joking, right?’
‘Have you ever heard me joke?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you smile.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Mom and I don’t share the same taste in clothes.’
‘Obviously. Your mother always makes an effort to look nice, whereas you…’
‘I’d think carefully before finishing that sentence, if you want me to make your dinner before I go out.’
‘I’m starting to think frozen TV dinners would be a better option anyway.’
‘You’re so ungrateful.’
‘And you’re so predictable. One little obstacle or problem, and you take the easy way out.’
‘No, I don’t.’
He stared straight at me. ‘Oh really? Isn’t that why you married that Hamilton boy?’
I felt like he’d slapped me, my lungs sucking in air sharply. The old man was more astute than I gave him credit for. ‘Get out,’ I snapped.
‘Gladly,’ he retorted, lifting his walker and turning it. ‘There’s just no helping some people.’
‘I never asked for your help,’ I yelled after him.
I waited until he was gone, poking my head around the doorframe to make sure, then quietly went into my mother’s room, sliding open her floor-to-ceiling wardrobe doors.
The racks were crammed tight, and first impressions weren’t good and confirmed my earlier suspicions.
There was a lot of color, and a lot of patterns.
Spots, stripes, florals, geometric shapes that made my eyes hurt.
I flicked through the coat hangers, discounting them all.
‘Nope, nope, nope, hell no, not a chance, disgusting, nope.’
I was just about to give up when I saw something wedged between two floral dresses. It wasn’t black, but then nothing in my mother’s wardrobe was. It was close though, a kind of dark navy, and shiny. Intrigued, I pulled it out and laid it down on the bed to examine it.
It wasn’t something I’d normally ever wear, but maybe that was the point. Ray’s earlier words were stuck in my head like an annoying little ear worm.
‘Where on earth would she have worn this?’ I muttered to myself, lifting it up again and holding it up against me so I could see how it looked in the full-length mirror.
It was a beautiful shade of dark navy blue, and shiny, like satin, but made from polyester.
It had a strapless sweetheart neckline, with boning for support, and an asymmetrical hem, shorter at the front and longer at the back, with a split up one thigh.
The hem was ruffled for romantic effect.
It was a gorgeous dress, there was no denying that, but was I brave enough to wear it?
It was completely over the top for The Cozy Catch restaurant in little old Pine Harbor, but I was still stewing over Ray’s comments.
I’d give him ‘make no effort’ and ‘off to a casual funeral’.
When I opened the door to Jack almost bang on eight o’clock though, I realized I’d made a horrible mistake.
‘Holy crap,’ he said as he looked me up and down.
‘That’s exactly the reaction a woman wants when she opens the door.’
‘It was a good “holy crap”,’ he reassured me, his eyes wide and appreciative. ‘A really good “holy crap”.’
The dress was snug and revealing, but in the sanctuary of my own bedroom and with a wine under my belt, I’d felt brave enough to pull it off. In front of Jack, reality came crashing back in, and I felt ridiculous, as though I may as well have been naked.
‘That’s it, I’m changing,’ I said.
He dragged his eyes up my revealed thigh, over my bodice and up to my eyes, blinking. ‘What? Why?’
‘It’s too much.’
He shook his head emphatically. ‘No, definitely not.’
I tugged the bodice up higher, worried my breasts were about to make a break for it.
‘Give me five minutes,’ I told him.
His hand shot out and lightly gripped my wrist.
‘Please don’t change,’ he said softly. ‘You look beautiful.’
Warmth flooded through me at his touch, his words.
I’d never been looked at the way he was looking at me.
Never. It gave me confidence, like I was invincible.
It didn’t matter what anyone else thought; I only cared what he thought.
And he was looking at me like I was everything.
He looked pretty damn hot himself, in a light-blue shirt and black pants.
His hair was styled and he smelled like cologne.
A sexy, intriguing cologne that made me want to nibble his neck.
‘OK,’ I said, taking a step to the side. ‘Come in. I’ll just grab my jacket.’
Ray’s eyebrows shot up when I walked into the lounge to where my jacket was draped over the back of the couch and picked it up.
‘Shut up,’ I said.
‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘Good. Don’t. Your dinner is on a plate in the oven keeping warm. Make sure you turn the oven off when you take it out. You can manage that, can’t you?’
‘I guess we’ll find out.’
‘Evening, Ray,’ Jack said, hovering in the doorway.
‘Jack.’
Jack nodded towards the TV. ‘Watching the game?’
‘No.’
‘Oh.’
‘Of course I’m watching the game. It’s on, isn’t it? That was a stupid question.’
‘Ignore him,’ I instructed Jack as I shrugged my black leather jacket on. ‘I do.’
‘Wait.’ Ray shuffled his butt cheeks towards the front of his armchair and looked at us earnestly. ‘What exactly are your intentions, Jack?’
‘Sorry?’
‘With Taylor. As her elderly male relative, it’s my duty to look out for her, so what are your intentions?’
‘Oh?’ Jack looked at me. I stared back at him, knowing I could put him out of his misery, but enjoying the look of panic that had come over his face. It was my turn to see him put on the spot and find out how much he liked it.
‘Ah. OK.’ He shifted on the spot nervously. ‘Um, I haven’t really…’ he said. ‘I mean, I’m not sure what…’
Ray cackled with laughter. ‘Your face,’ he said.
Jack’s eyes narrowed. ‘You mean?’
‘He’s having you on,’ I said. ‘I’m surprised you fell for that, honestly.’
‘Yes, I’m having you on,’ Ray agreed, still barking out the occasional wheeze of laughter, like an aging, emphysemic Labrador. ‘I couldn’t care less what your intentions are. Take her off our hands, please.’
‘Love you too, Ray,’ I called out over my shoulder sarcastically, as I pushed Jack towards the door. ‘Don’t wait up.’
‘I wasn’t going to.’