Love and Joy
Page 23
“I’ve never had a dressing shed before. I like it.”
“Yeah?” He looked so happy, so proud, that she knew it was right.
“Yes. Yes to that, yes to everything. Yes.”
Nix went along to pick up Amber from the motel, because now that he had Joy back, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
When they got to the room, Joy unlocked the door, knocked tentatively, and called, “Amber? Are you decent? Nix is with me.”
“He is? Come in! Come in! Tell me what happened!”
They came into the room to find Amber fully dressed and in the final stages of packing her bag.
Nix grinned and waved to her from the doorway.
“It went pretty well, I think,” Joy said. “But … there’s something I have to ask you.”
“Uh oh. What?” Amber propped a fist on her hip and faced them.
“How do feel about being a maid of honor?”
Amber’s eyes widened, and she squealed and jumped up and down. “Really? Oh, God. That’s great. Yes! Of course. Even if you make me wear an ugly-ass dress, I’ll do it. I’m so excited. Oh, my God. Nix, come here!” She ran over to him and grabbed him in a bear hug, then moved on to Joy and hugged her, too. “I’m so happy I’m not even going to mention the fact that you stole my car.”
“It was for a good cause,” Joy said.
“Yeah, it was. Meanwhile, I haven’t eaten since yesterday at lunch. You can make up the whole car theft thing to me by taking me out to breakfast.”
Epilogue
Joy stood in the middle of her dressing shed, her hands on her hips, appraising Nix’s work.
“Maybe if we put the rods for long hanging items over here, we can use this area over here for shelves.” She pointed to the wall to the right of her.
“Right.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin while he thought about it. “You want the shelves big enough for storage boxes, or …”
“Shoes,” Joy said.
“Shoes.”
“Yep.”
“And how many shoes are we talking about? You know. Just for planning purposes.”
She winced apologetically. “I don’t have an exact number, but it’s a lot of shoes.”
Most of her clothes were still in storage until the shed could be completed, but once she retrieved everything, there would be shoes.
“Are we talking, a dozen pairs? A hundred? Just give me a ballpark figure so I’ll know what we’re looking at here.”
“More than a dozen, less than a hundred.”
Since Joy had come to live with Nix, she’d had more time to figure out who she was and what she wanted. And while the new Joy knew there was more to life than looking good—knew there was so much more about her to value—she still enjoyed shoes. And while that wasn’t necessarily a thing Nix could understand, he was doing his best to accommodate her.
“Okay. Shoe shelves over here, rods over here, maybe some drawers here for scarves and accessories and whatnot, and a full-length three-way mirror over here.” He walked around the room, pointing and gesturing to indicate his plans.
The hardwood floor had already been laid, the walls had been insulated and drywalled, and the place had been wired for electricity. Nix had installed the lighting to Joy’s specifications, and it was designed to flatter, not to make her look three times her actual size the way so many department store dressing rooms did.
Not that she was willing to make her size an issue.
She’d gained a little more weight, and then things had leveled off. She’d ended up as a size ten, with the happy benefit that her boobs were bigger and more lush than they’d ever been.
If someone had asked her now, after the fact, she wouldn’t have been able to say what she’d been so afraid of. Her body was fine. Her health was fine. She still ran, and she ate food she enjoyed.
And, far from being put off by the extra weight, Nix seemed more attracted to her than ever.
“Maybe we could fit a couch in here,” he said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her to him. “You know, for relaxing. Or … whatever.” He began nuzzling her neck with his nose.
“A couch for whatever.” She giggled as his breath on her throat tickled her. “Add that to the list.”
“Will do.” He ran a hand down to her ass—an ass he never ceased to delight in, especially since it had become more there. “And while we’re adding things to the list …”
“Mmm?” Her eyes had slid closed, and she’d slipped into a reverie of pleasure. Her response came up through the fog of her growing desire.
“You need to meet my parents.”
At that, her eyes flew open. “You’re right. I do. And, oh, God, you need to meet my mother. I just hope you still love me after that.”
“I will. I do.”
Nix had told Joy about his parents, of course. She knew they’d raised him in Cambria in a farmhouse not far from where they lived now. She knew they’d lived a life not too different from Nix’s—he’d grown up with organic farming and sustainable use of the land, with chickens and a couple of cows. Joy and Nix didn’t have any livestock now, but they were planning to build a coop and get some chickens in the next month or so.
But he hadn’t visited them in the time she’d known him, as far as she knew, and she didn’t know where they lived. That was a big gap in her knowledge of him—one she set about rectifying.
“I can’t believe I don’t know this, but … where are they? Your parents?”
“Right now?” He did the chin-rub again as he considered the question. “Hard to say. Maybe South Africa?”
She gaped at him. “South Africa? Maybe?”
“It’s hard to keep track of the itinerary.”
At her blank look, he said, “They’re cruisers.”
“Cruisers?”
“They live on a cruise ship. Which, right now, is probably somewhere around Cape Town.”
Joy blinked at him. “How have you never told me that?”
He shrugged. “It’s embarrassing. I don’t tell anybody, if I can avoid it. That kind of hedonism, that kind of consumerism … it’s appalling. And the environmental impact …”
“But … how did they go from … from sustainable farming to deck chairs and all-night buffets?”
He sighed and put his hands on his hips, resigned to telling the story. “They were planning to retire in Cambria, live here for the rest of their lives. Then my aunt Bridgette gave them a cruise for their thirtieth anniversary. It was like a religious conversion. They sold the house, put all their stuff in storage, bought a cruise residence, and they’ve been out there ever since.”
This information was so shocking that Joy simply gaped at him, her jaw slack. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“So … do you ever see them, then?”
“Oh, sure. Sometimes their ship docks in San Pedro or San Francisco and we get together for dinner or something.”
“So we’ll do that.” She wrapped her arms around him and pressed a kiss to his chin. “The next time they dock in California, we’ll go see them.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” He grinned.
“What’s that?”
“Their ship is heading to the Caribbean in June. It’s a seven-day cruise. I thought maybe we’d take a little trip. If you want to.”
Joy stared at him, speechless, for a long moment, then she said, “Yes! Oh my God. Are you serious? I can’t wait! I’ll need a new bathing suit, and, oh, jeez, the dinners are usually formal dress, right? That’s okay, I’ve got some stuff that’ll work, so I won’t really need to buy anything else. Oh, Nix! I’ve never been on a cruise. I can’t wait! Amber’s going to be so jealous.”
“I kind of thought we might bring her along.”
“Really?” That part didn’t make sense, but she went with it.
“Sure. Also, Louise and Clara. And maybe your mother.”
The part about her mother really didn’t make sense. She stopped bouncing
and looked hard at him, trying to imagine why in the world he’d want such a thing.
“And, the part about not buying anything else? Maybe just one dress.”
“One dress?”
“Sure, unless you want to get married in something you already have. But I figured you’d want a wedding dress.”
“A … I …” She seemed to be stammering vowels.
“There’s a wedding chapel on the ship, so I thought …” He shrugged. “But if you want a big wedding somewhere around here, we could do that instead.”
“I … no. No. A cruise ship wedding sounds perfect.” And it did. Even if the idea of seven straight days on board with her mother sounded less perfect. Ah, well. Maybe her mother would find some activities she enjoyed. Bingo, maybe, or napkin folding.
“I’m glad.” He kissed her, a long, leisurely kiss that spoke of their equally long and leisurely future together.
“I love you,” she said. “But what about all of that stuff you said about consumerism and the environmental impact of cruise ships? If this isn't what you want …”
“I want you,” he said. “And I’ve got to be honest, my parents have made the whole cruise ship thing sound pretty cool. With the tiny house commissions I’ve gotten since your book came out, we can afford it, so why not?”
“A June wedding,” she said.
“Yep. A June wedding. I just hope you don’t get seasick.”
“Oh, jeez. I hadn’t thought of that. Do you?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
In the meantime, they discovered that they didn’t really need a couch in the shed in order to do … whatever. The floor worked just fine.
* * *
To learn about Then, Now, and Always, the next book in the Otter Bluff series, click here.
Read more by Linda Seed
Learn about the Main Street Merchants here:
Moonstone Beach
Cambria Sky
Nearly Wild
Fire and Glass
* * *
Learn about the Delaneys of Cambria here:
A Long, Cool Rain
The Promise of Lightning
Loving the Storm
Searching for Sunshine
* * *
Learn about the Russo Sisters series here:
Saving Sofia
First Crush
Fixer-Upper
Loving Benny
* * *
Learn about the Otter Bluff series here:
The Icing on the Cake
Christmas in Cambria
Then, Now, and Always