Chapter 15 Amber #2
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just figured you might be up for a chat.”
“You know I’m always down for a chat.” Cindy dove into her pile of pillows and blankets. My best friend was a perpetual burrower. She tucked her phone into a holder, then wrapped a fuzzy pink blanket around her shoulders. “Now tell me everything. I’m so damn bored here.”
I laughed. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“Tell me where you got that beard burn.”
I slapped my hand over my neck.
“Yeah. That was a guess, but dang girl. Who?!”
I sighed. “It’s a mess, Cin.”
“Uh oh. What did I miss?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t see it all over the stupid socials.”
Her big hazel eyes went even wider. “Dammit, what did I miss? My ma had me helping her with new baby goats.”
“Goats?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“But goats.” I crossed my eyes and we dissolved into giggles. “Just tell me their names.”
“Fine. Pacey, Joey, Dawson, and Jen.”
I rolled my eyes. “You are not watching Dawson’s Creek again, are you?”
“Duh. It’s my rewatch season. Dawson then Buffy then Sam and Dean.”
I shook my head. “You probably know the dialogue to those shows by heart.”
“No, that’s Gilmore Girls.” Her welcome laughter filled the kitchen.
There was a helluva lot of downtime when we were on tour.
We watched far too much streaming television when we couldn’t sleep after a show.
Cindy ended up in my hotel room more often than not.
I bonded with my dancers the most, but Cindy had been with me for the last three tours, while the others changed up due to scheduling conflicts.
“But Jen—why she got the name by the way—needed to be bottle fed, so I’ve been doing that for the last three nights.”
“I require photos.”
She laughed. “I’ll send them after we get off the phone.”
“Good.”
“Now, stop stalling. I need to know all the details. Is he hot?”
I just arched a brow at her.
“Okay, that was a dumb question. Well, mostly. Sometimes your taste in men can be questionable. That hockey player had a weird brow thing.”
I laughed. “JC wasn’t my finest moment. I got distracted by his stick.”
She pulled her hood down over her eyes. “Girl.”
“What? His fancy footwork was sexy. Unfortunately, it was sexy to far too many other women.”
She rolled her eyes. “He was an idiot.”
“Yeah, actually that was the problem as well. He wasn’t the brightest bulb, but damn did he have stamina.”
“Amber!”
“What? He did. But he only had a few moves. And I’m pretty sure he never read a book.”
“Depends on the moves.”
I snickered. “Yeah. I think I had more fun hanging out with the team after that first time.”
“You get all the fun.” She sighed. “Even though that feels like a year ago. I’ve only been home a week.” She groaned and fell back on her pillows, then popped up just as quickly. “You keep distracting me. While I’m so glad you called me so I know you’re okay—spill it.”
“He’s the guy next door. I’ve known him all my life, Cin. I don’t even know what the heck happened.”
“Stop it. You can’t tell me about the boy next door love fest when I’m watching Joe and Pacey mooning over each other.”
I laughed. “It’s not like we were best friends. He’s a year older than me so he wasn’t really in my circles. He was a jock and I was in band.”
“Sounds like a song to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “For real, though. I can’t even believe what I did.”
“What?” She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the floor and her head in her hands. “Tell me everything.”
And I did. From the maze to the costume, to the impulsive kiss and make-out session.
“Wait, wait. You kissed him?” She straightened and unclipped her phone from the holder and pulled it comically close to her face until I could see the engraving of her nose ring. “Tell me.”
I put the foil back on top of my pasta then slid off my stool to go over to the couch and get comfortable. “I did kiss him. And then he did this ridiculous maneuver and pushed me into this stack of hay bales.”
She squeaked.
“He’s so big. Like big-big.” I stood up and raised the phone up to about where Tate’s head would be and tipped it down to me.
“Like I can wear my five inch Jimmy Choo’s with this guy.
Not that I have any reason to wear a heel around here.
” I flopped back down on the couch. “And that’s a good thing.
I feel like just a regular girl in Haven. ”
“Then why are you all twisted up? I mean besides the kiss that made all that color come alive in your cheeks.”
I slapped my hand over my cheek. “Not just a kiss.”
“Wait. Wait!” She got up with her phone. “I need wine for this.”
“Actually, that sounds good to me too.” I padded into the kitchen for the wine fridge I’d convinced my parents to install.
It was mostly for me, but my mom had started a reading group and now saw the light on a good glass of wine or three.
I opened a bottle of Sancerre and took a glass back to the couch along with a hunk of the apple bread.
“Now, what do you mean it wasn’t just a kiss.”
“Well, it was that night but then we sort of...well. He went to a bookstore with me, Cin!”
“Oh, hell. Practically your catnip.”
“It so is. And my God.”
I heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up to see Charlie on his way down with Lucy picking up the rear. They usually slept with my parents. I hope I didn’t wake them.
Then again, those two could smell out food from across the property. They hopped up on the couch with me. Lucy putting her big head in my lap. “Don’t you look at me with those big brown eyes.”
She huffed out a low wine.
“Fine.” I broke off a corner of the sweet bread for her and Charlie. “That’s it.”
Cindy oohed and awwed over them for a minute then like a bloodhound she was back on me. “Details, woman.”
“I’m not giving you a blow by blow.” My cheeks were probably on fire. Just thinking that word brought back us in the bath. I’d never been so bold with taking a man in hand in my whole life. What the hell got into me with him?
“Okay, but you have to give me something.”
I blew out a breath and buried my fingers in Lucy’s hair.
“We were cooking in his kitchen, and it was just so nice. Like easy, you know. As if we’d known each other forever.
I mean, I’ve known him forever, but not like this.
Not where I could just trust him not to fuck me over.
” I cleared my throat. “Well, he definitely fucked me.”
Cindy collapsed onto her side, holding her wine glass in the air so she didn’t spill a drop. “You’re killing me.”
I laughed. “I just don’t know how to explain it. He was showing me around his house. Oh, he won the lottery.”
She dropped the phone and I got a good look at her ceiling and the twinkle lights she’d hung around her canopy bed. Then she picked it up and her face filled the screen. “Wait, wait. Lottery?”
“Yeah. He’s like stupid perfect. Maybe that’s why I’m so messed up about him. He’s singlehandedly saving this town and he’s going to do this whole winter wonderland village thing to bring business to Haven. It’s...I can’t. There has to be a flaw.”
“Okay, we’ll unpack that later. Let’s go back to the first part. So, he was showing you around...”
I laughed. “He has this beautiful library in his house. He remodeled and added to his childhood home. So, I just took it upon myself to check out his bedroom. And he has this insane tub that you could swim in. You know, those deep soaker kinds. He’s like six foot ridiculous.
I don’t even know how tall he is. Taller than my dad. ”
“Okay, I’ve been to your house. I spent like a month there with you after the last tour. How have I never seen this fine specimen of man?”
“I don’t think he was around much then. He tried to keep his family’s farm going, but you know how that goes these days.”
Cindy sighed. “Yeah.”
“They actually lost the farm for a little while. Tate bought it back when he won the lottery.”
“This doesn’t even sound real. Are you sure you’re not moonlighting as a writer for Hallmark or something?”
“Oh, honey. Hallmark couldn’t handle what we did in that bathtub.”
She brought the phone up to her face again. “What?”
I giggled and cuddled down lower in the couch and lowered my own voice. I didn’t need my mother or father listening in on this conversation. “Yeah. I’m telling you, Cin. I don’t even recognize me. I’m so used to guys chasing me, and I’m the one making all the moves.”
“Wait? All of them?”
“Well...” I trailed off. “No. Kind of. I don’t even know. All I know is it’s only been a few days and I’m a freaking maniac. I gotta be lust drunk. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Okay, so what’s wrong with that. If you’re getting a good dicking, there’s nothing wrong with that. That text was rude by the way. I thought you were kidding.”
I snickered. “No, I definitely was not. And you know that’s exactly my problem. I was caught on camera out with him a few times. And it was enough to get the label to want to capitalize on it.”
“Ugh. I’m so sorry, Amber. Don’t they know you need a break? You were the number one tour this year. What more do they want from you?”
“Christmas.”
Her face fell. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
Cindy was the only one who really knew how conflicted I was about Christmas. “They want me to use Haven for a show.”
“Just say no.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It really is.” She crisscrossed her legs underneath her and took a sip before she went on. “They need you more than you need them. Period.”
“Maybe.” I felt a little better after talking to her. “I’m going to say no.”
“Good. Now tell me about the tub.”
I laughed and gave her the PG-13 version of it. With maybe a few NC-17 overtones. By the time we got off the phone, I felt much better. Enough that I ended up falling asleep on the couch with the dogs and a sense of resolve.
I didn’t have to let the label take over my peace, dammit.