Fire and Glass

by Linda Seed

  Lacy wanted to properly enjoy the dilemma of clothing choices and the planning of activities, but she couldn’t. She was too busy fighting with her fiancé.

  “God, Brandon. It’s a free trip to Las Vegas. Why wouldn’t you want to go?”

  “I do want to go. I just don’t like the fact that he invited you.”

  They’d had this fight—or some version of it—at least three times since they’d gotten news of the trip. Lacy was giddy with excitement, but Brandon couldn’t get over the fact that the room was being provided to Lacy by another man.

  “He’s a friend, Brandon. He congratulated you at our engagement party!” The two of them were at Brandon’s apartment in Morro Bay—where they always went. He refused to spend time in her Airstream, saying it made him feel like a canned sardine. Lacy was pacing amid the clean, sterile furniture, growing increasingly frustrated with him, waving her arms as she talked, as though the motion might distract him from his argument.

  “Yeah, well, I’ve seen how he looks at you. He’s not just a friend. Not from his perspective, anyway.” Brandon stood with his arms crossed over his pale blue polo shirt. His hair was immaculately combed, and Lacy had the irrational desire to throw something at it.

  “I have known Daniel Reed for years. He has never made a pass, never said anything inappropriate …”

  “That doesn’t mean it isn’t on his mind,” Brandon insisted.

  In the heat of the argument, Lacy somehow forgot that she herself had noticed that Daniel was attracted to her. And anyway, why did it matter, when there was nothing going on between them?

  “I can’t control what he’s thinking!” Lacy insisted.

  “No, but you can control whether you encourage him.” Brandon’s voice was annoyingly calm, as though he were explaining a difficult concept to a toddler.

  This made Lacy sputter with barely suppressed rage. “I … You … I never … How am I encouraging him?!”

  “Maybe you’re not right now,” Brandon said, his face arranged into an unattractive pout. “But if you accept that room, you will be.”

  “Brandon. Jesus Christ!” She threw her hands into the air in frustration. “He invited Kate! He invited Gen! He invited Rose! Do you think he’s making a play for all of us?”

  “He didn’t invite them.”

  Now thoroughly flustered, Lacy rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. “What?”

  “He invited the men. Jackson, Ryan, and Will are his friends. That’s who he invited. They’re just bringing their significant others. But I’m not his friend. He invited you. Specifically.”

  “He … no. No.” Lacy waved her arms in front of her to clear away the haze of his argument. “He didn’t invite me. He asked Kate if she knew anyone who wanted to come, and she invited me.”

  “Oh, that was just a ruse, and you know it.”

  Lacy didn’t have an immediate response to that, because he was right. It was a ruse, and she did know it.

  “So, what?” she said finally, recovering herself. “What do you want to do, then? Are we supposed to stay home?”

  “Yes.”

  “No!” Lacy was back in her state of sputtering outrage again. “You … I …” And then she regained her footing and advanced on him, driving him back into a corner of the condo as she pointed one finger at the middle of his chest. “I never go anywhere, Brandon. Not anywhere! I was born here. I was raised here. I’ve been here since I was one goddamned day old, and I will not miss an opportunity to get out of this town and see some other part of the world, even if it is only a six goddamned hour drive away. I’m going on that trip, and I’m taking that free room, and if you want to go with me, fine. But if you don’t, Brandon, I swear to God I’ll go without you, and when I do, I vow to you—yes, I make a solemn vow—that I will get drunk and lose money and wear a bikini by the pool and maybe even flirt with other men, and I will goddamned well enjoy it!”

  She ended her rant with her face two inches from his, her skin flushed with anger, the finger she’d been pointing at him buried in the fabric of his polo shirt.

  The look on his face was one of shock. He’d never seen this side of Lacy before, though others had; she’d had to bring the thunder to Jason Nix after he’d spread sexual rumors about her in the eleventh grade. It was no less satisfying this time.

  “Well.” He recovered himself and straightened out his shirt where she’d wrinkled it. “That’s fine, Lacy. I didn’t know you felt that strongly about it. We’ll go. Of course we’ll go.”

  “We will?” She looked at him with wide eyes, surprised at having won.

  “Sure. But we’re not taking that room.”

  “Brandon—”

  “We’ll get our own room. One that doesn’t come from Daniel Reed.”

  “But he’s not even paying for it! The rooms are comped!”

  “That’s not the point.” Brandon’s mouth was in a firm line, his lips having vanished into the chasm of his indignation.

  Lacy thought about continuing to fight, but decided there was no point. She’d gotten a concession from him: They were going. Why did the details matter?

  “I’ll call Eden and make the reservation,” Brandon went on, looking smug. “I’ll let you know the rate, and then you can reimburse me for your half.”

  “My …”

  “I’m glad we’ve got this worked out, sweetie,” Brandon said, planting a quick, chaste kiss on Lacy’s lips. “Now, where should we go for dinner?”

  “Let me get this straight. He’s insisting on paying for the room, and he’s charging you for half?”

  Lacy handed Rose’s half-caff latte to her over the counter at Jitters.

  “That about sums it up.”

  “What an asshole.”

  Lacy wanted to argue with Rose—she wanted to protest that the man she planned to marry was both wise and emotionally mature—but in this case, she couldn’t. Brandon really was being an asshole. The best she could come up with in his defense was, “He doesn’t usually act this way.”

  Rose side-eyed her. “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  “Okay. But … Lacy, please tell me you’re thinking about this. Tell me you’re thinking about how it’s going to be to live with him day after day, year after year …”

  “Rose.”

  “All right.” Rose raised the hand that wasn’t holding the latte in a show of innocence and surrender.

  Lacy wouldn’t have said it out loud, but she couldn’t muster up much outrage over what Rose had said. In fact, she had been thinking, extensively, about what it would be like to live with Brandon forever, especially after the fight over the hotel room. Was she really up to a life of jealousy, chiropractic advice, polo shirts, and hair gel? And if she wasn’t, what was she supposed to do, now that she’d agreed to marry him?

  “The important thing is that I’m going to Vegas,” Lacy said, putting the bigger issues aside for the moment. “Is Will excited about the trip? Oh, and didn’t you have an appointment with your OB this morning? How’s that baby?”

  “She’s doing great,” Rose said, rubbing her baby bump lovingly. “But I’m losing the Baby Name Derby.” Rose had learned a couple of weeks before that her baby would be a girl, and since then, she and Will had been competing in a contest for naming rights. The rules were complicated, but they had something to do with a sophisticated points system based on housework completed, sexual favors granted, and letters of endorsement from friends and family.

  “How can you be losing?” Lacy fretted. “Don’t you get points for sex? You love sex!”

  “Yes, but so does he,” Rose reminded her. “Every time I earn points, he earns them right along with me.” Rose considered. “Not that I want him to stop earning points.”

  “Well, of course not,” Lacy agreed. Then a thought struck her. “You should get extra points for use of your uterus.”

  Rose’s shoulders fell. “I did. I got twenty bonus points. I’m still losing.”

>   Lacy wiped drops of coffee and foam off of the counter with a white bar rag. “So, what name are you going with if you win?”

  Rose’s face lit with enthusiasm. “Poppy.”

  “Oh, my God, that’s adorable,” Lacy said.

  “Isn’t it?”

  “Rose and Poppy. I love the flower theme.”

  “Me too.” Rose took a sip of her latte and grimaced at the lack of full-powered caffeine. “I’ve gotta find a way to earn more points.”

  “So what name does Will want?”

  “Harper.”

  “Oh, jeez. That’s cute, too.”

  “Yeah. I guess I’ll be okay either way,” Rose admitted. “But it’s not just about the name. I hate losing. On the other hand, one of the reasons I’m losing is that he’s been doing all of the laundry. So there’s that.”

  Lacy grinned, feeling the vicarious warmth of Rose and Will’s relationship. The two of them really were unbearably sweet together. They weren’t married, and in fact had moved in together only after learning about Rose’s pregnancy. Still, the sense of love, friendship, and fun that surrounded them made Lacy happy for both of them, and also a little sad for herself. She had no doubt that Brandon did care for her, but she couldn’t pretend that they had what Rose and Will had. She worried that if she held out for that kind of connection, she would be waiting forever.

  Chapter Seven

  A week before the big unveiling at Eden, Daniel packed his things, locked up his house, got into his SUV, and made the drive out to Vegas. He wished he weren’t going alone. Sure, his friends would be meeting him before the actual event, but that left almost a full week with him on his own in Sin City.

  Of course, he’d be working a lot of that time. The reason he was going early was that he had to supervise the installation of his piece. The ceiling fixture had a lot of parts that had to be joined together in a very specific way. He didn’t trust anyone else to do it right. He had to be there.

  Daniel usually didn’t feel lonely. He was an independent guy who enjoyed his solitude, enjoyed being able to hear his own thoughts. But being at home or at work alone was one thing. Being alone in Las Vegas, capital of hedonism and impromptu marriage, was entirely another.

  Of course, it was always possible that he could hook up with someone during the trip, someone he might meet at the bar or the pool. But that sort of thing had lost its allure as Daniel had grown older. While he used to see impulsive hookup sex as harmless fun, these days it just seemed kind of sad. He didn’t really want anonymous sex. He wanted someone he could talk to. He wanted the kind of connection that came with mutual affection and respect.

  Might as well start shopping for a walker, Reed, he told himself as he maneuvered his SUV through the light traffic of Interstate 5 as it passed through Kern County. You’re getting old.

  But even as he thought that, he realized it was bullshit. He wasn’t getting old. He was growing up.

  The day was hot and bright, even though it was late October. That was one thing he missed about Colorado, where he’d grown up: the seasons. In this part of California, it was just as likely to be seventy degrees in February as it was in June. It just didn’t make sense. It defied the natural order of things. He’d moved to the state years ago, and yet he’d still never really adjusted.

  He drove, blasting Vampire Weekend and Givers on the sound system as he tried not to think about Lacy Jordan.

  Lacy.

  She was coming to Vegas for the unveiling, and that was good. But that asshole fiancé of hers had refused the room he’d offered, and that was stupid. Daniel asked himself, not for the first time, why she was marrying that guy.

  His interest wasn’t personal. Of course not. It was more … curiosity. Why would a lovely, kind, smart, funny woman like her decide to spend a lifetime with an uptight, boring, fashion-challenged prick like Brandon Lewis? It didn’t make sense, and Daniel liked for things to make sense.

  Still, he figured it was her business, not his. And maybe Brandon had some fine qualities Daniel didn’t know about. Maybe he was kind to animals. Maybe he was better socially one-on-one, with Lacy, than he was in group situations. Maybe he wrote sensitive poetry. Women liked sensitive poetry.

  Whatever it was, Daniel envied the hell out of it, because it had gotten him Lacy. A woman like Lacy, he amended. Because this wasn’t about Lacy specifically. Of course it wasn’t.

  Daniel made the rest of the drive, stopping once in Barstow for a Big Mac and fries. When he got to Eden, a couple of blocks off the Vegas Strip, he gave the valet his car, got checked into his room, and dropped his bag on one of the two queen-size beds.

  He peeked into the bathroom and saw that he had a Jacuzzi tub in there.

  He sighed.

  A queen-size bed and a Jacuzzi tub weren’t nearly as much fun alone.

  Lacy and Brandon fought again on the way to Vegas. The fight wasn’t just about the hotel room, though that was part of it.

  It started when Lacy told Brandon that Kate and Jackson had invited them to see a Cirque du Soleil show the following night, but from there, it spread in many directions, like a particularly virulent virus.

  “I don’t want to see Cirque du Soleil,” Brandon said. “Or, actually, I do. But I don’t want to see that particular production. I want to see the aquatic one. You know, the one at the Bellagio.”

  “Oh. But everyone’s going to the one at the Mirage. We were all going to go together, and—”

  “Nah.” Brandon wrinkled his nose as though he were smelling something unpleasant, like dirty sweat socks or French cheese. “Let’s skip it and do our own thing.”

  Lacy began to feel uneasy, because one of the most attractive things about this trip was the fact that she would be doing it with her best friends, sharing the experience, doing a little girl bonding at the same time as she was enjoying a weekend with Brandon. But now, his nose wrinkles were calling the entire plan into question.

  “Well … I guess we don’t have to see that particular show,” Lacy allowed. “But … I do want to spend some time with Kate and Gen and Rose.”

  Brandon let out a weary sigh, the same weary sigh he used whenever he wanted to belittle something Lacy was saying.

  “I would think you spend enough time with them at home. More than enough.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lacy said. “They’re my friends.”

  “Oh, I know.” Brandon chuckled bitterly. “Believe me, I know.”

  Lacy shifted in her seat so she could face him more directly as he drove the I-15 toward the Nevada state line. “Brandon? Do you have a problem with my friends?”

  He didn’t say anything at first, but she saw his knuckles whiten as his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

  “Brandon?” she prompted him.

  “It’s just … do you have to see them every day? Every day, Lacy? You don’t even see me every day.”

  Lacy threw her hands into the air in frustration. “Of course I see them more often than I see you! They live in Cambria! They all work on Main Street! They come into Jitters every day, and I serve them their coffee! You’re all the way down in Morro Bay with your … your office and your chiropractic patients and your … your golf!”

  He threw her a weary look before returning his gaze to the road. “Now you have a problem with me playing golf?”

  “No! It’s none of my business if you play golf, just like it’s none of yours if I like to spend time with my friends!”

  He was silent for a few moments, but now his jaw was flexing along with his clenched knuckles.

  “You know I’m looking for a place in Cambria,” he said, his voice tight.

  “I know. That’s not—”

  “And I would think that it will all be my business once you’re my wife.”

  Lacy recoiled as though she’d been slapped. Not because what he’d said was so shocking or horrible, but because he was simply telling the truth about how he saw the world—a truth she hadn’t understood
until now.

  He did think it would all be his business once they were married. He really did believe he should have a significant say in how she would spend her time. And he didn’t approve of her spending time with her friends.

  What would that mean once they were married? What would her life look like? She would have the house in Cambria and the kids, sure. But would she be expected to retreat into a world centered on Brandon? Did he expect to become the sun around which she, a minor planet, would orbit?

  “Lacy?” he said when she hadn’t spoken for more than five minutes.

  “Yeah?” Her voice sounded vague, distracted.

  “All I’m saying is that—”

  “I know what you’re saying.”

  “And?” he prompted her.

  If he wanted to get into it, well, then, they would get into it.

  “My friends are a big part of my life, Brandon. That’s not going to change once we’re married. I’ll be seeing them every day, just like I do now, so you need to get used to that. They’re my family. And you wouldn’t expect me to just … cut off my family.”

  “Now that you mention it …” A wry smile tugged at his lips.

  Lacy glared at him. “Now that I mention it, what?”

  “Well. You do spend a lot of time with your mother. And your sisters. I really think they’re a bad influence.”

  “A bad influence?”

  “You wouldn’t still be working at a coffeehouse if your parents had insisted that you go to college. You wouldn’t be living in a … a tin can in the backyard.” His voice picked up force as he warmed to his topic. “You know, Lacy, you need someone like me to guide you. To help you get your priorities in order.”

  “My priorities? My priorities?”

  “Yes! Yes! Your priorities!”

  “I think friendship and family and … and honest work are good priorities, Brandon!”

  “And wasting your time reading those idiot novels you love so much?” He was taunting her now, playing with her, coming in for the kill.