by Emma Nichols
“Okay,” Jazy smiled with cheerful insouciance, “we’ll be there in spirit. Feel free to give us call if you change your mind.”
I was still smiling the next afternoon while I waited for my rental car in Philly. Could a girl ask for any crazier or fun friends? After four years, I was starting to get to like not knowing if Jazy and Bel were teasing me or not.
It was a twenty-five mile or so drive from the airport to Linwood and due to my plane’s early arrival and light traffic, I pulled up to the Hilton thirty minutes ahead of schedule.
I carefully planned my arrival at the hotel to coincide with the majority of St. Martin alumni attending the afternoon pool party over at the country club.
Lacey knew I was coming, but almost everybody else who knew me should be in for a big surprise when I strolled into the ballroom tonight.
But shit happens. I wasn’t taking any chances I wouldn’t be seen before the official reunion party. Bearing that in mind, I didn’t travel in my normal, comfortable summer outfit of yoga pants or shorts and a T-shirt. Instead, I wore a cute sundress that displayed plenty of cleavage under a few dainty gold necklaces and strappy sandals with a sexy heel to show off my slender, long legs. Not much on comfort, but definitely eye-catching.
The hotel lobby was virtually empty. Stopping at the check-in counter, I passed the first hurdle with no problems. I got my copy of the key card to the room under Lacey’s name.
Fortunately, Lacey had reserved a room months ago and graciously offered to share with me tonight. It was a good thing Lacey was never a procrastinator because some idiot scheduled a Linwood High reunion here tonight, as well. Every room had been booked solid here, and at all the nearby hotels, for months in advance.
I pulled my single piece of luggage on its rollers over to the bank of elevators and pushed the button for three.
I kept my eyes on the elevator display panels, watching for the next descending car. I was pleased to see I was in the correct position already where I’d chosen to wait. It was life’s simple pleasures such as these that I superstitiously read as signs my endeavors were meant to be successful.
The car arrived, the dinger dinged, and then the car doors slid open silently. I waited a second for any passengers to walk off. When none did, I made my move to enter the car.
Looking back to guide my suitcase, I walked straight into another person, stubbing my toe against something hard and unyielding. Glancing up in wincing pain, I froze seeing the face of Joe Barrington for the first time in over ten years.
I stared, speechless.
Gone was the longish, dark hair, he now wore it buzzed short. Pushing thirty, Joe wasn’t bald or gone to fat as I often secretly hoped but in his prime. He was tanned a rich golden brown. His muscles I’d lovingly stroked and kissed countless times were clearly delineated under the casual sport shirt he wore loose over long shorts. They were the muscles of a grown man, thicker and solid.
Joe was incredibly sexy, even more than I remembered.
Only a few seconds passed but his harsh voice snapped me back from my daze. He snarled, “What are you doing here?”
I lifted my chin, even as I took a step back from the enraged glint in his dark eyes. I vaguely noticed his cheeks were reddening under his tan as he glanced surreptitiously around the quiet lobby.
His anger fueled mine and I shot back, “What are you doing here?”
The elevator car next to ours dinged just as he retorted in a furious undertone, “I live here!”
“In the hotel?” I asked, surprised by his vehement answer.
Joe snorted in frustration as his mouth tightened. He lowered his head and made a curt gesture for me to move out of his way.
I automatically obeyed. Standing aside, I watched helplessly as Joe brushed by me and stomped impatiently away. He left the hotel lobby through the parking lot entrance, thus ending our first encounter in a decade.
Turning my head back to the elevator, I faced Lacey as she stepped out of the neighboring car, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright. Vaguely, I noticed she clutched something in her hand and seemed out of breath, as if she’d been running down stairs instead of riding an elevator.
“Jesus, I think you just saved me for getting gored by a raging bull,” I exclaimed to her as she slipped whatever she’d held in her hand into her short’s pocket before we hugged. Now fully focused on my friend, I exclaimed, “Lacey, look at how gorgeous you are!” Momentarily forgetting Joe as I took in the changes in my friend’s appearance since we’d seen each other last, I whistled while Lacey giggled.
She cried out with self-deprecating grin, “I know, isn’t it great what a good stylist and a professional trainer can do?”
“Oh, right. They deserve all the credit,” I rolled my eyes, but then grinned in return, “and I want their names and numbers before you leave this hotel, bitch!”
Lacey had always been cute, but gone were any rolls of baby fat, and gone were the thick glasses hiding her pretty, blue eyes outlined with dark curly lashes. Her thick wavy hair was long and sleekly straight now, and much blonder, and the look suited her round face to perfection.
Her physical looks had improved but Lacey was already a genuinely good person and that sincerity beamed from her smile as we hugged again.
“Yeah, like you need them. You are beautiful as ever, Cloey.” She grabbed my shoulders and leaned back with a huge grin. “I swear I’d hate you if I didn’t love you. God, I’m so glad you called me.” She looked past me toward the parking lot door and her grin dropped. She frowned anxiously. “Was that Joe I saw walking off that way? I take it he was the raging bull I saved you from?”
“Yeah, can you believe we totally ran into each other? Our first meeting didn’t go exactly as we planned,” I grumbled morosely.
Lacey continued to frown and stare off after Joe, now biting her lip as if undecided. I wondered at Lacey’s skittish behavior until it dawned on me that she was still friends with Joe all these intervening years when I’d been gone and hated his guts. Maybe she worried I’d be offended if she spoke to him before I had a chance to rebuild those bridges.
“Hey, if you need Joe for something, you could probably still catch him in the parking lot if you ran.”
Lacey’s eyes jerked back to mine as she laughed. “Why would I want to catch Joe?”
I shrugged. “You seemed like you were chasing after someone when you got off the elevator.”
“No, I was coming down to wait in the lobby for you.”
“Ah, that was nice.” I pushed at her shoulder and smiled at my old friend.
“That’s me, Miss Nice,” Lacey said drolly.
“You know you are the nicest girl ever,” I asserted truthfully as Lacey laughed and politely gestured for me to go first into the waiting elevator car.
I changed the subject back to reason for me being there. “Man, you should have seen how Joe looked at me. The man still hates me with a passion after all these years. I thought he was going to lay hands on me.”
She forcefully stabbed at the button for our floor. “Oh, come on, are you sure? He hates you with a passion, really?”
I nodded and smirked. “Hell yes, I’m sure. Joe yelled at me, Lacey, and his cheeks were all red and his eyes…” My voice trailed off and I shook my head. “I just want a chance to explain to him what happened to break us up, like I got with you.”
Some of the brightness left her eyes at my words and her shoulders slumped. “I know you do. Let’s have a glass of wine in the room and we’ll hash over tonight’s plan again before we get ready for dinner.” She plastered on a smile. “I don’t see why the plan still can’t work.”
“A glass of wine sounds perfect right now,” I agreed fervently, appreciating her positive tone. I had a thought. “Crap! Joe doesn’t know I’m staying with you, does he?”
Her hands brushed the tops of her shorts nervously. “I don’t know what Joe thinks now after seeing you in the lobby, but he had no reason to think you were before.
I certainly didn’t say anything to anyone.”
“Okay, good.” I nodded again, muttering, “If I can get at least Joe to listen, I’ll go home happy with the two most important bridges built.”
Lacey straightened up from her slump against the elevator’s wall as we reached the third floor. “What if he wants to get back together? It’s not like you’re the woman he thinks he hates. He was crazy about you before Trish got her hooks into him and spread her lies.”
“Yes, but Trish did get her hooks in. Joe’s married and a dad.” A cynical laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it, but I just shook my head when she peered at me in question. I didn’t want to go there yet with Lacey about Joe’s paternity, if ever.
Lacey’s room was a typical hotel room with two queen beds, a couple of chairs and a table, and a large bathroom.
The far queen bed over near the windows had obviously been used. It looked like a wild animal had been thrashing about. The coverlet was on the floor and the sheets and blanket torn half off, exposing the plastic covering on the mattress. At first glance, I couldn’t see any pillows.
I tossed my purse onto the closer bed still neatly made and walked over to the desk where Lacey was pouring glasses of chilled white wine.
Lacey handed me a goblet and then held hers up to mine with a sweet smile. “Let’s toast to old friends and new beginnings.”
“Yes.” I touched my glass to hers. “And to righting wrongs and finding true love. Cheers!”
“Cheers!” Lacey repeated in a choked voice as she lowered her eyes and took a sip.
I smiled at her emotion and tilted my head, indicating the unmade bed. “Er, rough nap time?”
“Yes, I was hot.” Lacey’s cheeks flushed as if saying the word “hot” had set them off. She set her glass down and scurried over to pick up the coverlet from the floor, and then grabbed the mound of pillows that had been hidden from view underneath.
Laughing, I hurriedly assured her, “I was only teasing. You don’t have to clean up on my account. Relax and drink your wine.”
Lacey dropped the pillows onto the bed and came over to fall into a chair with a great sigh of relief. “I am so tired.” She picked up her wine glass and pressed it against one rosy cheek, and then the other, murmuring, “I will be so happy when tonight is over.”
“The hot nap didn’t help?” I murmured sympathetically.
Lacey’s eyes shot up to mine with a blank look and then her face took on a strange, furtive expression, her glance bouncing right to left, anywhere but straight at me. It was obvious she’d forgotten she just admitted to taking a nap already.
Mine had been an idle but legitimate question. Lacey reactions had me feeling as if I was trying to trap her into saying something against her will.
“Um, Lacey, it’s okay if you nap fifty times a day, I don’t care.”
“Oh.” She lost the strange look and laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m so lazy. Busted.”
When I didn’t pursue the matter anymore, Lacey visibly relaxed and began chatting about different mutual friends I might remember who should be there tonight.
Fortunately, the initial odd start to our toast of new beginnings got more on track as the level of wine dropped in the bottle. After the second bottle, we were dancing in the room, laughing and talking as if a decade hadn’t passed. Uncorking the third bottle, we started getting ready for the big reunion.
“You love nights like this, don’t you?” I waved to encompass the room. “Reunions and such.”
Lacey grinned. “I loved my years at St. Martin’s, and I love teaching there now.” She added apologetically, “Except for those last bits on our graduation night.”
I laughed grimly. “Yes, that wasn’t too fun.”
“I still can’t believe Trisha worked so hard to accomplish all that destruction.” Lacey’s upper lip curled derisively. “She was generally such a lazy bitch and wouldn’t lift a finger.”
I snorted in response. “Yeah, she worked hard alright. I didn’t tell you this yet, but Trish even gave a blow job to that hacker kid, what’s his name, in exchange for doing your fake voicemail message.”
Lacey lounged on the chair, her head lolling on her neck a little. At that news, she sat up and cried out, “You mean Ricky W.? Gross!”
“Yeah, nasty,” I agreed, laughing at her. “How Trish lured Joe’s friend, Buddy, with sex to help her,” I shook my head with a moue of distaste, “now that makes me really want to hurl. I get young guys are loaded with testosterone, but it wasn’t as if Buddy was desperate. He wasn’t ugly or anything.” I looked at Lacey in confusion. “Why would Buddy do that to Joe? I still don’t get that part.”
“Buddy was always jealous of Joe, that’s why, and not true friends like me and you, Clo.” She finished off her wine and then stood up. “I’ve known all these guys a long time. I live around here and so does Joe, Buddy, and Trish. There’s a lot of history. When Trish’s boobs got big in seventh grade, she used to lift her shirt and flash Buddy just to watch him go beet red. Buddy’s loved Trish ever since, the poor sucker. She snaps her fingers and he barks like a dog.”
“Sounds like true love to me,” I quipped.
Lacey giggled as she walked to the bathroom door and then hesitated, glancing back at me over her shoulder. “You said your dad’s detective reported Trish let Buddy screw her more than once for lying to Joe about you?”
“The report said Buddy stayed at Trish’s house for a month right after school was over while her parents were on a trip. I assumed he screwed her more than once, although after your barking comment, maybe Trish just had Buddy do dog tricks all month.”
Lacey burst into laughter and ran into the bathroom while yelling, “Oh my God, I think you made me squirt in my pants!”
Smiling, I called out, “You can have the shower first then.” She’d left the door open so I called out again, “The weirdest part for me to get my head around is not why Joe and I broke up. That’s pretty self-explanatory once I found out the truth about what the mean girls did. It’s that Joe married, married, Trish a couple months later. Why would Joe do that? Even if he got her pregnant, why marry her so fast?”
Lucy shouted back, “Joe left school the same night you did and didn’t come back home for over six weeks. When Trish said she was pregnant later that summer, he might have truly believed Trish’s baby was his.”
I guess that said it all. Joe was an honorable guy. He’d want to raise any kid he fathered. Funnily enough, I barely remembered Trisha Westinghouse from school. If I had passed Trisha on the street before receiving my dad’s report and stalking her on social media, I probably wouldn’t have recognized the woman.
“Did anybody ever tell Joe what Trisha was doing with Buddy during that time Joe was gone? People had to know,” I asked loudly. “What about going public now to discredit Trish? I’ve got the proof in black and white.”
When Lacey didn’t immediately answer, I called out again, “Joe mentioned he’s living at this hotel. Have you heard he’s splitting from Trish?”
I couldn’t figure why he’d live at this hotel in Linwood. I would have thought Joe could live anywhere with his family money, but what did I really know about Joe’s finances?
The toilet flushed and Lacey came to the door. “I’ve heard rumors,” Lacey responded evasively.
I glance at my phone. “Alright, no more talk of the past. Time to get beautiful!”
“I’ll take you up on your offer to shower first and then I’ll call Joe.”
“Will you do it while I’m in the shower so I don’t have to listen? I’m already getting shaky with nerves. Just don’t tell him I’m here.”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Jesus, of course I won’t.”
While Lacey showered, I unpacked. I laid out my clothes for the evening, and then took out a couple of folders, skimming quickly through the materials for the tenth time to be sure I’d forgotten nothing pertinent to tonight. Then it was my turn for a quick shower.
> Peeking out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later still wet and wrapped in a towel, my eyes sought out Lacey’s. “Well?”
She looked up from the far bed where she was rifling through her purse, her expression serious. “We’ve got one hour before Joe’s here.”
“Thanks.” I spun back into the bathroom, leaning unsteadily against the wall. Then I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Soon the hardest part of my night would be over.
Lacey joined me then and we shared the long vanity and mirror in the bathroom, chatting as we did our hair and applied make-up.
We finished the third bottle of wine and Lacey declared a fourth was in order for Dutch courage. I solemnly agreed we owed it to our Dutch ancestors, whoever they were.
The hour whizzed by.
We were dressed and as beautiful as we were going to get. Giggling, we sat on the bed and helped each other buckle our high-heeled shoes. “By the way, you look super hot in your basic black tonight, Miss Coldwell.”
Giving my ankle strap a final tug, Lacey replied, “As do you, Cloey, in your…slutty animal print.”
We burst into giggles but stopped immediately when there was a soft series of knocks on the hotel room door.
Lacey and I stood up quickly, each clutching the other’s arms for balance. I hoped my face underneath my bronzer wasn’t as white as Lacey’s had turned.
“Remember, once you let Joe in you have to stay there and block him, in case he tries to escape.”
We both burst into giggles again at the image of little Lacey stopping Joe, the raging bull. We covered our mouths to keep quiet, snorting behind our hands.
The soft cadence of knocks sounded on the room door again.
I met Lacey’s eyes above her hand. “I’m going into the bathroom now like we agreed until Joe is all the way in the room. Just stay by the door and I’ll take it from there, okay?”
Lacey giggled, still covering her mouth with her hand as she nodded.
My heels sank in the frieze carpet as I tottered off to the dark bathroom.
