Chapter 5 Winnie
FIVE
winnie
I texted Ellie and told her I was running late and not to pick me up until fifteen minutes after seven.
It was a lie, but I knew Dex and the girls would be gone by then, and I couldn’t risk running into them outside.
I was mortified by what had happened earlier.
Mortified and sore—I had a bruise on my ass the size of Texas.
When I saw her pull up, I said one last prayer I could make it to her car unseen, pulled my straw beach hat lower on my head, put on my darkest sunglasses, and opened the front door.
When I was sure the coast was clear, I yanked it shut behind me and dashed for her white Honda without lifting my chin from my chest.
Throwing myself into the passenger seat, I pulled the door shut and hunched down. “Twenty-four Maple Lane! And step on it!”
“Calm down, we’re not even that late. And why are you wearing that hat?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.” I winced as I shifted on the seat to buckle my seatbelt. “Ouch.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m injured.”
“From what?”
I slunk down farther in the seat. “Just drive, okay? I’ll tell you about it once we’re out of the parking lot.”
She did as I asked. “Okay, we’re out of the lot. Now what the hell happened?”
I lifted my head up just enough to peer out the passenger window. Satisfied I’d made my escape, I sat up straight. “I fell off a suitcase.”
“Why were you on a suitcase?”
“I was trying to disconnect the ridiculously sensitive smoke detector in my bedroom, which goes off sometimes when I take a shower because of the steam.”
“Don’t you have a stepladder?”
“It was downstairs, and I was naked and soaking wet.”
She laughed. “Oh, you’d already gotten in the shower?”
“Yes.” I took off the hat, tossed it in the back seat, and fluffed my hair. “But I haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet.”
“Worse than falling off the suitcase?”
“Much worse.” I shuddered. “Dex saw it happen.”
“Who’s Dex?”
“My new neighbor.”
“The hot firefighter?” Her voice rose in surprise.
“Yes.” I pictured him standing there in my bedroom doorway, his dark eyes on my naked body, his jaw practically on his chest.
“And why was he in your bedroom?”
“Apparently he heard the smoke alarm through the wall and came to see if I was okay.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus. Why didn’t you grab a towel?”
“I did! But it was more like a hand towel.”
Ellie laughed. “So he could see—”
“Everything,” I confirmed, slinking down in my seat again. “He saw everything. They all did.”
“Who’s they?”
“His little girls were there too.”
“Well, so what?” Ellie shrugged. “He’s a first responder. That’s practically like a doctor, Win. Those guys are used to that stuff. And his daughters are just kids.”
“There’s more.”
We pulled up at a red light and she looked over at me. “More?”
“After I went down on my ass, hand towel flying, all my bits on display, I was so desperate to get to safety that I crawled to the bathroom.”
Ellie burst out laughing, banging the heel of one hand on the steering wheel. “Just like stop, drop, and roll! I bet he was impressed!”
“Stop making fun of me, this is serious! I’ve never been so traumatized in my entire life. I have to move now.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake—you do not have to move, Winnie.” The light turned green and we moved forward again. “The guy was probably just as embarrassed as you were.”
“Maybe. But he’s gotta think I’m a total idiot. After I barricaded myself in the bathroom, he stayed for a minute to reconnect the alarm and ask if I was okay.” I cringed and shook my head. “I just kept saying, ‘I’m fine!’ like a crazy parrot and wishing the ground would open up and swallow me.”
“Stop being so dramatic. So the guy saw you naked—who cares?”
“Naked and crawling on the floor,” I reminded her.
“Fine. Naked and crawling on the floor. It’s traumatizing right now, but it’s a great story and someday you guys will be able to laugh about it.”
“Like you’re able to laugh about finding the box of sex toys under your parents’ bed when you were sixteen?”
“NO. That was a whole other level of trauma.” Ellie shuddered. “I can’t even believe you just brought that up.”
“Oh, come on. It was funny.”
“Winnie, there was a whip in that box! And a blindfold!”
“I know.” Distracted for a moment, I shook my head. “I still can’t imagine your parents—”
“Please stop talking.”
I laughed. “Sorry.”
“I wonder if he went home and told his wife he just saw the new neighbor lady naked.”
“Oh! Turns out, there is no wife.”
She glanced at me. “I thought you saw her.”
“That was his sister. He’s a single dad—only two of those kids were his. Hallie and Luna.” I cringed again. “The ones who saw me naked.”
“A hot single dad, huh?” Ellie was clearly intrigued. “And he’s right next door. Imagine that.”
“Actually, I don’t know that he’s single. Just that he’s not married. He might have a girlfriend.”
“And he might not.”
“Don’t get any ideas,” I told her, even though I’d already had plenty of ideas about the hot single dad next door, who’d only moved in like six hours ago.
“But I like ideas,” Ellie said, pulling up in front of my Aunt April and Uncle Tyler’s house.
“You just want to win the bet,” I said. “But I told you—I am the boss of my feelings, and I’m off romance until Thanksgiving.”
“Christmas,” she said with a grin. “You changed it to Christmas, remember?”
“Right. Christmas.”
“Remind me whose house this is,” she said as we turned up the driveway. “I get all your aunts and uncles confused.”
“April and Tyler Shaw—they’re Chip’s biological parents. They had him when they were super young and gave him up for adoption, but they reconnected when he was like eighteen. I grew up calling him my cousin.”
“April is one of your mom’s sisters, right?” We went up the porch steps and knocked on the door.
“Right.” While we waited for someone to answer, I thought about my new neighbor again. “I forgot to mention that before the whole wet and naked debacle, I went over to his house to drop something off and heard him yelling at his ex-wife.”
“She was there?” Ellie’s eyes widened in surprise.
“No—on the phone. Something about being able to handle anything except her trying to butt into his time with the girls. Gave me flashbacks of hearing my dad on the phone with Carla when I was a kid.” Carla was my biological mom, but she’d moved to Georgia before I was even out of diapers, and growing up, I’d only seen her about once a year.
“Huh. I wonder how recent their divorce was.”
“I wonder when I’ll be able to face him again without wanting to die. How long do you think it’ll be before he forgets he saw me naked?”
She laughed. “Cherie, you’re twenty-two and you’ve got a kick-ass bod. He will never forget he saw you naked.”
Unfortunately, my cousin Frankie, who’s fourteen, pulled the door open right then and caught the end of Ellie’s sentence. Her brown eyes widened. “Who saw you naked?”
“No one,” I said, giving Frankie a hug and Ellie a look to keep her silent.
“Come on, who?” My cousin looked back and forth between Ellie and me eagerly. Ellie zipped her lips and threw away the key.
I sighed. “This hot guy who moved in next door to me,” I said as we went inside. “I accidentally set off the smoke detector in my house, and—”
But then I lost track of my thoughts, because right there in the living room was Dex, looking less sweaty but just as gorgeous as he had this afternoon. Hallie and Luna hung off him like monkeys, like they were begging for something he’d already said no to.
Dex and I locked eyes, and I couldn’t speak. My entire body was flushed with heat, and I knew my face had to be crimson.
“Winnie!” The girls spotted me and came racing over. “What are you doing here?”
“Um—I was invited.” Tearing my eyes from Dex, I looked down at them and tried to smile, but my heart continued to race. “This is my aunt and uncle’s house, and the party is for my cousin Chip. What are you two doing here?”
“Chip is Daddy’s friend from high school,” Hallie said. “They played baseball together.”
“Really?” Over their heads, I met Dex’s eyes again and smiled weakly. “Small world.”
He nodded, looking like he had no idea what to say.
Chip entered the room and handed Dex a beer. “Here you go. Should take the edge off moving day.”
Dex grabbed it and tipped it back immediately, taking a few long swallows, while Chip noticed me standing there.
“Winnie, hey!” Coming forward, he gave me a hug. “Long time, no see.”
Rising on tiptoe to hug my tall, handsome cousin, I struggled to get my wits back. “Great to see you, Chip. And congratulations on your engagement.”
“Thanks. I need to introduce you to Mariah—April kidnapped her for a minute, but I’m about to steal her back.”
Letting go of Chip, I tried to act like an adult. “Remember my friend Ellie?”
“I think so.” Chip smiled warmly and shook Ellie’s hand. “Glad you could make it.”
“My pleasure,” she said. “Congratulations.”
“This is my friend Dexter Matthews.” Chip put a hand on Dex’s broad shoulder before gesturing to the two girls. “And these are his daughters, Hallie and Luna. Guys, this is my cousin Winnie and her friend Ellie.”
“Oh, we already know Winnie,” Hallie informed him.
“You do?” Chip grinned down at her in surprise.
“Yes, she lives next door,” said Luna excitedly, bouncing up and down. “We saw her bum today!”
Record scratch.
Horrible silence.
Chip looked confused. “Her what?”
“Her bum.” Luna patted her own backside while I held my breath and tried to make myself disappear. “We saw it when we were in her bedroom today.”
“Luna!” Hallie elbowed her sister. “Daddy told us in the car not to tell that story tonight. You’re gonna get us in trouble and then we can’t go swimming tomorrow.”
“I forgot.” Luna rubbed her shoulder and looked up at Dex. “Sorry, Daddy.”
Dex struggled for words and came up with, “Fucking hell, Luna.”
“Boy, I could really use a glass of wine,” Ellie said brightly, putting her hand through my arm. “How about you, Win?”
“Yes, please,” I squeaked.