“Sounds easy enough. Are you going to cheer for me, Darren?” she said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
“Yes!” He giggled and settled in to watch this beautiful grown up, play video games.
In the kitchen, Lainey took down three glasses while Jack got the Kool-Aid out of the refrigerator. “She’s great isn’t she?” she asked.
“What? Oh. Yes, she seems very nice.” In fact, Eve seemed a little too nice to Jack. It had been his experience that women who looked like that were never that nice unless they had an agenda. He wondered what Eve’s was with his wife.
“Do you think she’s pretty?” Lainey pressed him.
“She’s gorgeous. But then you’re gorgeous, too.”
He bent his head and met Lainey’s lips with his for a rare tender kiss. “Is she really going to drink this stuff?”
Lainey laughed. “She never does anything she doesn’t want to do, so I guess she is. Come on, let’s hurry and get back out there before the boys drive her nuts.”
The boys and Eve had their heads together and were cheering when Lainey and Jack came back into the room. Lainey had never seen Eve so relaxed and carefree. The transformation was fascinating. She was even more amazed by the way her sons were acting. Normally shy with new people, they were talking and laughing with Eve as though they had known her all their lives.
Even Jack had to admit that, even if Eve was pretending, she was great with Kevin and Darren.
“The boys were just teaching me how to hit homeruns,” Eve said proudly. “I’m pretty good.”
“Yeah, Mommy, she’s good!” Darren chimed in excitedly. “She got more homeruns than Kevin!”
“I think Kevin was just letting me win to make me feel better,” Eve told Darren.
“Next time, I’m gonna play my best,” Kevin warned her.
“I’ll expect nothing less.”
“Boys, it’s time to go upstairs and finish your school work,” Jack announced.
“Sorry about that,” Lainey apologized after the boys disappeared.
“No. Don’t be, they’re wonderful. It’s been a very long time since I’ve played video games. It was fun.” She turned her attention to Jack. “While I have this opportunity with you, Jack, I’d like to ask you something. I wanted to invite you and Lainey to my club tomorrow night for dinner and dancing. Would you be interested in joining us?”
“Us?” Jack inquired. He didn’t see a ring, and didn’t remember Lainey mentioning anyone special in Eve’s life.
“Me and my date, Adam. We’d love for you to join us.”
“I’d like to go, Jack,” Lainey told him. “Let’s get out and have some fun.”
Inside she was thanking Eve for being so smooth and saving Lainey from an argument. Jack could resist Lainey when they were alone, but he was far too polite to ever turn down an offer given by someone else. Later she would ask Eve why she hadn’t told her that Eve owned O. For now, she waited, holding her breath for Jack’s answer.
“Well, Eve, if we can find a babysitter we would love to go,” he said finally.
“I’m sure we won’t have a problem finding a babysitter,” Lainey said to Eve giving her a discreet wink that Eve found endearing. “Count us in for tomorrow.”
“Wonderful.” Eve turned her smile up a notch and took a drink of her Kool-Aid.
“Eve! Look!” Eve set her glass down and turned her attention on Darren who came running into the room with what looked like a toy fire truck in his hands.
“Darren! Don’t bother Ms. Sumptor,” Jack scolded. “You’re supposed to be doing school work.”
“It’s okay, really. He’s not bothering me. And please, call me Eve. Ms. Sumptor was my mother.” Turning back to Darren she said, “What do you have there?”
“It’s my fire truck,” Darren responded with a shy smile. “It’s my favorite toy. I wanted you to see it.” He held the toy out to Eve with a mixture of pride and trepidation. Lainey knew that he’d never shared his favorite toy with anyone and watched in astonishment as her youngest son handed over his pride and joy to Eve.
“Oh! It’s beautiful, Darren,” Eve said with genuine admiration, turning the toy over and examining it as carefully as if it were a work of art.
“It used to make noises. It had a siren and everything, but Kevin broke it.” Darren sniffled and stuck out his bottom lip as Eve wrapped a consoling arm around him.
“Tattle tale,” his older brother said, putting in his own appearance.
“It’s bed time boys.” Lainey stood up, shielding the emotions in her eyes. “Say goodnight to Eve, and go up and get ready for bed. I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in.”
“But, Mommy, I’m not tired,” Darren complained, yawning. “I want to stay up with you and Eve.”
“Darren, sweetie, you can barely keep your eyes open. Come on, now, it’s time for bed.”
“I’m getting tired, too,” Eve admitted to Darren in a whisper.
“Are you going to stay here with us?” he whispered back.
“No, honey. I’m going to go home.”
“But, I want you to stay with me. What if I never see you again?”
Eve laughed softly. “You’ll see me again.” Eve all but melted when Darren leaned in to give her a hug and a sweet kiss on the cheek.
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart,” she pledged, making an X over her heart with her finger. “Goodnight. Sleep tight. Goodnight, Kevin.”
“‘Nite, Eve. You’re pretty cool,” he said quickly and then bounded up the stairs without another look back, missing the flattered smile Eve gave him in return for his compliment. But Lainey didn’t.
“Jack, why don’t you go up and help the boys get ready for bed,” she said. “I’ll see Eve out.”
“Fine. Eve, it was a pleasure.” Jack extended his hand once again. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Fabulous,” Eve replied. “It was wonderful meeting you. Goodnight.”
The look Lainey gave her when Jack and the boys were gone staggered Eve.
“Every minute I find out something new about you and it never ceases to amaze me,” Lainey told her quietly. “My sons are the most important things in my life, and I can’t tell you how it made me feel to see you relate to them the way you did. I may never fully know you, Eve, but I’m enjoying the learning process.”
As Lainey walked with her to the car, Eve realized that if she didn’t take control of her feelings, people were going to get hurt. Gathering up every ounce of strength she had in her, Eve turned and faced Lainey. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow around eight. All right?”
“That’s fine,” Lainey said, confused and disappointed by the change in Eve. She had wanted the intimacy of the moment to continue. She wanted Eve to say something, anything that would give her more insight into the depth of Eve’s heart.
“Be careful what you wish for, Lainey,” she murmured. “You might just get what you want.”
She let her gaze fall on Lainey’s mouth and linger there.
That night, lying next to her husband, Lainey dreamt of Eve and smiled in her sleep.
While Lainey was dreaming, Eve sat alone in her apartment with only a glass of wine to keep her company. She tried sleeping, but couldn’t turn off her mind long enough to relax. She couldn’t focus long enough to paint and she was becoming frustrated.
Slipping on one of the shirts that Adam had left behind, she padded downstairs barefoot looking for something to occupy her. Finding that her CDs could produce nothing that satisfied her, Eve sat down at the piano and tinkered with the keys with one hand, holding her wine glass in the other until, becoming suddenly inspired, she set the glass down on the piano and began playing, her long, slender fingers moving gracefully and skillfully over the keys. Closing her eyes, she let the music flow through her, fill her.
Anyone who heard Eve play would have thought she had been classically trained and she would let them believe that, for the truth gave too much insight into her
life. She had taught herself how to play to keep from going insane, because sometimes the only way to escape the harsh reality of life was to lock herself away and drown herself in the sound of the piano.
While she played, she thought about Adam and Lainey and what they meant to her. Both had touched her as no one else ever had. Somehow or other they had unwittingly found a place in a heart that had been so cold for so long. She thought of the re-opening of the gallery here. She had known from the moment she heard about the fire that it had not been an accident, and someday she would prove it.
Her playing became more passionate as it did when she became angry. She took a deep breath, and turned her thoughts back to Lainey. She remembered the photos decorating the house and the happy boys running around. Her hands froze on the keys as she looked around her apartment. It was so devoid of emotion, she thought, just like her. She had closed herself off completely years ago, and made a vow never to let anyone in.
“What am I doing?” she asked herself. Was it possible that she was considering opening the door to her heart? And what would happen if she did?
The next morning, Eve pulled up to the curb in front of Lainey’s house at precisely eight o’clock. Satisfied with her appearance after checking her reflection in the rearview mirror, she stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk and was nearly run over by a morning jogger who stopped to watch appreciatively as she started toward the house, in her skin tight Levis and clinging, white cotton shirt. She wore her hair up, exposing a long, slender neck.
Eve knocked on the front door and waited. She thought she heard barking from inside the house, although couldn’t remember seeing a dog the night before. When Lainey opened the door, a not so little golden lab came hurtling towards her.
“Oh!” Was all Eve had time to say before the animal had all but jumped up into her arms.
“Rufus! Down!” Lainey scolded, grabbing him by his collar and pulling. “I said down! I’m so sorry, Eve.”
“Rufus is it? Hey boy.” Eve took the dog’s ears in her hands and began scratching. “Aren’t you a cutie?” Giving him a little shove, she muscled her way into the house. “I don’t remember meeting him here last night.”
“He was sleeping, thank God,” Lainey told her. “Rufus! Get down or I’m taking you to the vet for shots!”
To Eve’s amusement, Rufus sat down with a thump, tail wagging behind him and whined.
“I’m running late! I am so sorry,” Lainey said. “I woke up late and then had to get the boys ready for school. And, of course, Jack was no help at all...”
“Lainey,” Eve interrupted. “Relax. I’m not in a hurry.”
Lainey took a deep breath and chuckled. “In that case, would you like some coffee?”
“I’d love some, thank you.” Eve watched Lainey hurry off to the kitchen, admiring how the flannel shirt she had on stopped at mid-thigh giving Eve a great view of Lainey’s legs. She found herself wondering what exactly Lainey had on underneath the shirt.
She reached down and scratched Rufus’ head.
“Find another admirer?” Lainey asked, returning with two cups of coffee. “Cream and sugar, right?”
“Right.” Eve smiled, taking a sip of the coffee and peering at Lainey over the rim. “Perfect.”
Lainey cleared her throat. It always made her pulse jump when Eve looked at her like that, and she was beginning to enjoy the feeling more and more.
“Come on upstairs and talk to me while I change,” she suggested.
Eve lifted one perfect eyebrow and smiled slowly. “Sure.”
“Sorry about the mess,” Lainey said self-consciously when they reached the bedroom.
“Don’t apologize,” Eve told her. “You have two kids, a husband and a dog. Your house is supposed to look like it’s lived in.”
“‘Lived in’. That’s a nice way of putting it. Compared to your place, it looks like a hurricane had just come through here.”
“I have a maid,” Eve said simply. “And I live alone. How much of a mess can one person make?”
“Ask Kevin or Darren. They’ll tell you how.”
Eve laughed. “Okay, how much of a mess can one adult make?”
“You’d be surprised,” Lainey murmured and when Eve looked at her questioningly, she dismissed the subject with a shrug.
“Would you like to sit? I could clean off the chair for you.”
“No, you don’t have to do that,” Eve assured her. “I can sit on the bed.”
Lainey turned towards the closet to decide on what to wear, not wanting to admit that seeing Eve sitting on her bed made her heart beat a little faster.
“Jeans are okay?” Lainey saw that Eve was studying the wedding photo of Lainey and Jack that they kept on the stand beside the bed.
“Yes, fine. Until the gallery opens,” Eve said looking around with an artist’s eye. Lainey certainly had good taste, she thought. The walls were white here, and the carpeting a deeper blue than downstairs. It was a room decorated to suit both a man and a woman with its picturesque landscape paintings, and bold antique furniture. She imagined that the armoire that stood against the opposite wall housed a TV for late night entertainment. Two plush chairs upholstered in the same off white as the bedspread sat in front of a bay window overlooking the backyard, a most sought after commodity in the city.
“It’s very cozy here,” Eve commented.
“It’s a matchbox compared to your room,” Lainey replied.
Eve looked Lainey in the eye. “Don’t make comparisons to me,” she said softly. “Sometimes bigger isn’t always better. Sometimes, it’s just bigger.”
Lainey saw something flicker in Eve’s eyes then, that same loneliness that she had seen before. But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again.
“Darren asked about you this morning,” Lainey said, finding the pair of jeans she wanted and taking them down off the hanger.
It warmed her to see Eve’s face light up. It had been wise to change the subject.
“Yeah? What did he say?”
“He wanted to know when he was going to see you again.”
“Hmm. What did you tell him?”
“I told him soon.”
“Good,” Eve grinned. “Tell him I look forward to seeing his handsome face again.”
“You know, you’re his first crush,” Lainey told her. “I always knew he had great taste.”
“You are a wonderful mother, Lainey,” Eve watched as Lainey turned away and pulled her jeans up, shimmying them over her hips, and giving Eve a quick glimpse of Lainey’s nice, round butt. “They’re marvelous young boys. It reflects well on you.”
“Thanks,” Lainey said, zipping up the jeans. “It’s scary sometimes. Being a mother. I’m always worried that I’m doing something wrong, or that they’ll grow up and not want to be with me anymore.”
It was the first time Lainey had talked about her fears of motherhood aloud, and she found she was happier than she would have imagined to finally be able to talk to someone openly like this.
“I’m sure that it is very scary being a mom, but I can’t imagine those two sons of yours not wanting to be with you,” Eve told her genuinely. “They love you very much, and know you love them just as much. Stop worrying. You’re doing a brilliant job.”
“Are you close with your mother?”
Eve’s smile faded. “My mother is dead,” she said quietly.
“Oh, God, Eve. I’m so sorry.”
Eve held up her hand. “It was a long time ago.”
“Do you have any other family?” Lainey risked asking, going into the bathroom and beginning to brush her hair in front of the bathroom mirror.
“None to speak of.”
“No brothers or sisters?”
“I’m an only child.” Eve came to stand behind Lainey.
“What about your father?” Lainey’s pulse had quickened when Eve walked in.
“What about him? I’d rather not talk about this right now, Lainey. Okay? Mind if I do s
omething with your hair?”
“Sure.” Lainey’s already quickened pulse jumped as Eve and ran her fingers gently through her hair.
“You should wear it up,” Eve murmured. Lainey could feel Eve’s warm breath on her neck as Eve reached around her for a barrette, her soft breasts pressing against her back and discovered that she was violently aroused. “You look beautiful.”
Lainey turned until she was face to face with Eve, so close they could feel each other’s breath. They stood there like that for what seemed like an eternity until finally Eve took a step back.
Going back to sit on Lainey’s bed, she picked up her coffee to take a drink and saw Lainey pause in the act of taking off her flannel shirt.
“Do you want me to turn around?” Eve asked. When Lainey didn’t answer, Eve stood up and turned her back to Lainey, smiling to herself. It was amusing that one minute Lainey looked as though she wanted to jump Eve and the next she was shy about changing in front of her.
“Okay,” Lainey said when she had her shirt on.
“Don’t button them all. Leave the top three undone,” Eve told her, unbuttoning one of the buttons herself.
Lainey nodded and held her breath. She wanted so much for Eve to make a move, because Lainey didn’t know if she had the courage to do it.
“Ready?” Lainey heard Eve say.
“What?” Oh, yes. Lainey was ready.
“Are you ready?” Eve said. “To go?”
“Oh! Yes. Yes I’m ready.” Embarrassed, Lainey cleared her throat and went to put on her shoes. How could she have thought that Eve meant anything else?
Eve smiled at Lainey’s back. She had wanted so much to touch Lainey in a way Eve knew Lainey had never been touched.
It was for that reason that Eve resisted. She didn’t think either one of them were ready for the consequences that would bring.
As they went downstairs, Eve appreciated the way the faded jeans clung to Lainey’s curves, showing off her very fine backside.
She waited by the door as Lainey took Rufus out to the backyard, then they walked out to Eve’s car side by side. Slipping into the car, Eve put the key in the ignition and her Jaguar purred to life.
Something About Eve (An Eve Sumptor Book 1) Page 7
