Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel)

by Marts, Jennie

  “I’ll be calling you soon, Sunny D.” Hank gave her a final wink and a last slap on her rump.

  Jake took a protective step closer to her as they watched Hank and his son pile into the Avalanche and drive away.

  “Sunny D?” Jake asked with a smirk.

  “It’s his favorite sports drink.” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

  “He looked like he was trying to drink you up.”

  “No kidding. Thanks for rescuing me.”

  “You should be careful with him,” Jake warned, his light tone gone. “He might seem like a big teddy bear, but that guy is one strong dude.”

  “I know.” She thought of the trapped feeling she had while pressed against the house, and wondered what could have happened if they had been inside the house alone. “I’m glad you were there,” she said, her voice soft as her eyes looked up to his.

  “I’m glad I was there too, this time.” He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “You sure you want to keep up this whole blind date idea? It could be dangerous.”

  No more dangerous than the way my stomach just dropped when you touched my hair.

  Her mouth had gone dry, and she watched Jake’s eyes darken as she bit her lower lip. She could forget this whole blind date plan and make Jake her pirate fantasy. Unfortunately, the thought that he might have something to do with the disappearance of her neighbor squashed her swashbuckling ideas, and made her wonder if the real danger was standing too close to her right now.

  “I promised the girls I would try,” she said. “And I’m sure Cassie wouldn’t have set me up with someone who is truly dangerous. Hank was just a little overzealous today.” She headed for the back yard to retrieve the glasses and pitcher of tea. “Thanks again. For being there. This time.”

  “Do you want to come over and have some dinner?” he asked as he walked alongside her.

  Her stomach made an unpleasant gurgling sound at the mention of more food. “Ugh. I better not. I ate a ton at the baseball game.”

  “Okay. Maybe another time.”

  She looked into his blue eyes and tried to convince herself he was an innocent bystander in this whole mess, but then the image of his face when the detective questioned him flashed through her mind, and she could hear Edna’s warning about seeing him with a gun.

  “Yeah, maybe another time,” she said.

  His shoulders stiffened as he turned to head back toward Walter’s house. “Yeah, no big deal. Another time.”

  “Hey,” she called, not wanting to end their exchange on a bad note. “You promised to help me weed the flower beds? Was that the best you could come up with?” she teased.

  He laughed, and the tension in his shoulders eased. “Hey, it was all I could think of at the spur of the moment. It worked, didn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it worked. See ya.” With a last glance at his amazing behind, she stepped into the kitchen with the tray of glasses, and let the screen door slam behind her.

  Although spending time with Hank had been a little fun, and she had enjoyed some of the attention he gave her, she felt nothing of the rush of emotions or heat that flamed her cheeks when Jake was standing near her. The last few weeks, she had been throwing caution to the wind and dating strange men, hoping to add excitement and find that right guy. But what if the right guy was next door and had just invited her to dinner? What if she knocked on his back door tonight and told him she had changed her mind?

  Was that hope rearing up in her heart, or had it been so long since she had felt hope that she was mistaking it for heartburn caused by that extra hot dog she shouldn’t have eaten?

  Thoughts of passion-filled kisses with Jake warred with the fear that he really was dangerous and she could end up locked in his basement next to the rotting corpse of Walter. Her stomach lurched at the thought, and so instead of knocking on her neighbor’s door, she chose a boring night of wishful thinking, kicked off with a handful of antacids.

  7

  Ding. Dong.

  “Oh crap! They’re here,” Maggie said aloud, as she hit a few last keys and reached for the power button to turn off her computer. She had only meant to spend fifteen minutes at her computer, but as she so often found lately, those fifteen minutes turned into an hour and a half. She tried to stop herself, but she felt addicted and couldn’t break free from the pleasure she secretly found at the computer keyboard. She pushed back from her desk, reached to smooth her glossy dark hair, and took one last glance around the room to make sure there were no visible signs to give away her secret obsession.

  This Wednesday was her night to host the Page Turners, and as she walked into the living room, she saw everyone had arrived at once.

  Maggie watched with amusement as Drew played host for the women, offering to take their purses and jackets to the guest room as if they hadn’t been here many times before. She knew there was one guest in particular for whom he was putting on this show.

  He smiled shyly at Piper and offered to take her jacket. She self-consciously shrugged off the black sweatshirt she wore zipped to her chin, and Cassie gasped at the shirt Piper wore underneath.

  Drew grinned appreciatively. “I like that shirt,” he told Piper, who looked at the floor, apparently uneasy with all the attention focused on her.

  Piper had on her usual black pants and thick-soled black boots, but tonight she wore a v-neck t-shirt in pastel pink. Her dark hair had a little more of its softer, natural wave instead of the stick-straight look she usually achieved with the ceramic iron.

  Drew departed for the guest room, laden down with jackets and purses, and the women moved into the kitchen.

  Cassie grasped Sunny’s hand and mouthed, “She’s wearing color!”

  Maggie didn’t have Edna’s flare for baking, but she did have a knack for picking bakeries. A Boston Crème Pie and a Triple Chocolate Torte sat ready on the table along with plates and cups she had set out earlier in the evening. She knew the girls loved their sweets, and the chocolate frosting of the pie glistened in the kitchen light. She moved to the sink and started the coffee brewing as everyone took seats at the table. Excitement filled the room, and she knew they were all anxious to hear how Sunny’s latest date, the previous Saturday had gone.

  “Well,” Cassie said. “What did you think of him?”

  “Who? Hank the Tank?” Sunny asked.

  “Uh. Oh. You better start from the beginning,” Cassie said.

  “The beginning where he let himself into my house without knocking or the beginning when he brought his son on our first date or the beginning when he patted my rear end and let me know he likes women with big cabooses?” Sunny answered.

  “Oh, he didn’t.” Maggie passed plates around, then sliced into the torte. “Who wants which kind of cake, and who wants a little slice of both?”

  “Both,” they all replied at once, then broke into laughter.

  Sunny relived the date for her friends and laughed at herself when she told the part about spilling the nachos on the two guys in front of her. Cassie felt for the poor guys, but all Maggie saw was a lawsuit pending.

  Unfortunately for Piper, she had just taken a drink of milk when Sunny said, “…and the nacho cheese dip flew up and landed all over these guy’s –” Piper’s unexpected laughter caused the milk to come flying out her nose. The table of women went silent in shock, then they all burst out, screaming with laughter. Cassie passed Piper some napkins and put her arm around her shoulder.

  “It’s okay, honey,” Cassie said, with compassion. “That’s happened to all of us.”

  “Yeah, but some of us have other liquids come out other places when we laugh suddenly,” Edna said, which drew another round of giggles from the women seated around the table.

  “Geez, what’s so funny?” Drew asked, as he came into the kitchen. “I can hear you guys laughing all the way up in my room.”

  “Sunny was telling us about her last date, and Edna said something funny,” Maggie said, as Piper reddened wit
h embarrassment. She could see her son’s focus shift from his mother’s silly friends to the desserts sitting on the counter.

  “I just came down for some cake.” Drew reached for the cake server and cut himself a thick wedge.

  “Help yourself,” Maggie said. “Pull up a chair.”

  By the time Sunny had scooted her chair over to make room for Drew, he had already finished the slice of cake, not bothering with a plate.

  “I was gonna see if you could spare Piper for awhile, and we could go for a walk?” he asked. He looked at Piper. “If you want to, I mean.”

  “Sure. I’d like that.” Piper got up from the table and followed Drew to the front door.

  “We’ll be back in an hour or so,” Drew called and pulled the door shut behind them.

  Maggie blinked, looking around the table at the other women who wore amused expressions.

  “When did this start?” Sunny asked.

  “Within the last couple weeks, I guess. He brought her to Dylan’s soccer game the other day, and they have been hanging out ever since,” Maggie explained.

  “Well, I love it,” Cassie said. “She’s the happiest I’ve seen her in years. She’s been texting Drew and talking to him on the phone, and she walks around with an actual smile on her face. It’s incredible. And the fact that she wore a colored shirt tonight is an amazing step. May the days of all black outfits rest in peace. Hallelujah!”

  “Amen, sister!” Edna cried.

  “She does seem happier,” Sunny agreed. “Now that they left, I can tell you what happened after Hank brought me back to my house.”

  The women laughed and gasped at the brazenness of Hank and his mighty bulge.

  “Good thing Jake stepped in when he did,” Maggie said. “Or you might have been in real trouble.”

  “Yes, but how did Jake know you needed his help?” Edna asked. “Was he watching you? I still don’t trust him. You need to be careful, Sunny.”

  “I agree,” Cassie said. “He may be cute, but we really don’t know anything about him.”

  “I don’t trust him either,” Maggie said. “It just seems too convenient that he moves in to Walter’s house right at the same time the garage explodes, and Walter turns up missing, possibly dead. He is hot, but I work with lawyers. I’ve known plenty of hot guys in suits who could lie like a rug if it meant winning a case. I’ve seen men lie under oath, and men look you right in the eye and lie to your face.”

  She got up, collected the plates, and carried them to the sink. With her back to the other women, she rinsed and loaded the dessert plates into the dishwasher. Edna, Sunny, and Cassie looked at each other in grim silence. Maggie couldn’t help but think about Chad the Cheater and how he had lied to her time and time again about his whereabouts and his days spent with another woman. Maggie didn’t trust men in general right now, and her friends knew that.

  “Well, speaking of men,” Edna said, breaking the silence, “I’ve got your next date set up.”

  “You what?” Sunny sputtered, choking on the sip of coffee she had taken.

  “I said, I have your next date for this weekend. I tried to tell you before, my friend Mabel has a grandson who is single. I called her, and we set up the date for this Saturday night. His name is Jeremy Rogers, and Mabel said he’s a really nice boy.”

  “A really nice boy? How old is he? Twelve?”

  “No, he’s in his thirties and has never been married. Mabel said he makes a living playing computer games or something.”

  Crash!

  The plate Maggie had been rinsing slipped from her hands and crashed into the sink, shattering into several pieces. “Damn it,” she cried.

  “Oh Maggie, let me help you.” Cassie jumped up from her chair and went to Maggie. She gingerly picked the pieces out of the sink and deposited them in the trash can Maggie had pulled from the cabinet below.

  Maggie knew the girls thought she’d been thinking about Chad, but actually the mention of the computer had brought up her nightly ritual, and she fumbled the plate in the soapy water.

  “Maggie, I just loved that Boston Crème Pie,” Sunny said, in an obvious effort to change the subject and divert Maggie’s thoughts away from cheating men. “Which bakery did you find it in?”

  “Oh, uh, the little one on the corner of Broadway, down from my office.” Putting the trash bin back under the sink, she pasted a smile back on her face as she looked up. “I’m fine, girls. I got a little off kilter for a sec, but I’m back now.”

  She put her arm around Cassie’s shoulder, and the women relaxed as Maggie’s tension eased. “I’m awfully glad I have you girls to lean on though. Now, tell me about this new date for Sunny. Where is he taking her?”

  “Mabel didn’t say, but we gave him Sunny’s address, and he’ll pick her up at six on Saturday night. I would say dress casually. I don’t think he has a lot of money. How much money could he make playing Pac-man anyway?”

  The women smiled at Edna’s reference to the eighty’s video game, knowing the advances in the industry over the past several decades.

  “I’m coming over Saturday night,” Maggie said suddenly. “You told us all about this Hank the Tank, but I can’t really picture him. I want to see the next guy.”

  “Oh, me too,” Cassie said. “But I can’t. One of the kids has a football game Saturday night. Dang it.”

  “I have Bingo Saturday night so I can’t be there either,” Edna said. “And this week, I’m going for the Double Diamond Board. They’re giving away a hundred dollar cash prize and a ham!”

  “Maggie, you will have to be our designated date eyewitness, and tell us what you think of Mabel’s ‘nice boy’ grandson,” Cassie instructed.

  “I would love it if you were there,” Sunny said. “It’s always awkward right when they show up.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there at five-thirty,” Maggie said, then glanced up at the clock on her kitchen wall. “I wonder when the kids will get back.”

  * * *

  The sun balanced over the mountains in gorgeous hues of pink and shades of blue, as Drew and Piper walked the few blocks to the neighborhood park. They walked in companionable silence, and at some point, Drew had reached over and intertwined his fingers with Piper’s. Their joined hands swung slightly as they walked through the park.

  Piper still could not believe that this cute boy was walking next to her and holding her hand. She felt like he must be able to hear how loud her heart was beating, and she worried that her palm would start sweating. As if he could read her mind, Drew squeezed her hand, and gave her an encouraging smile. She wondered if her thoughts were somehow written across her forehead because he always seemed to know what she was thinking.

  The smell of freshly mown grass hung in the air as they stepped onto the small playground complete with swings, monkey bars, and a couple of slides.

  Piper had always loved to swing, and she took a seat on the plastic u-shaped swing, and grasped the cool metal chains. Drew grabbed the edges of her seat and pulled back, only to release her into the air. He gave her several good pushes, her legs shot out, and her head fell back, her hair free, and a laugh escaped her lips.

  Her swing finally slowed and Drew approached and stood behind her, his hands on the chains above her shoulders. She leaned back into his muscled chest, and he rested his chin on top of her head.

  “I like to hear you laugh,” he said into her hair.

  She smiled and snuggled closer into his chest.

  “Piper, I have a confession to make.”

  Her smile froze at his words, and her body stiffened. “Okay.”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I didn’t actually read the Catcher in the Rye.”

  She relaxed, and pushed off the swing to turn and face him.

  “I only talked to you about it with stuff my mom told me from your book club.” He grinned at her. “And the worst part is, I got an A on my essay paper on it.” He laughed and took off running, a teasing glint in his eye as if da
ring her to chase him.

  “You cheater,” she cried playfully, and ran after him around the playground, until he finally pinned her against the monkey bars.

  Her laughter died as he drew nearer, and his expression became serious.

  “I have another confession to make,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “I only acted like I’d read it to impress you, so I would have a chance to talk to you.” His finger stroked her cheek as he freed a loose strand of hair that had blown across her face. “I really like you, Piper.”

  She felt his warmth as he pressed his body closer to hers, contrasting with the cool metal of the monkey bars that seeped through the back of her thin cotton t-shirt.

  “I really like you, too,” she whispered. She raised her chin to meet his gaze.

  They had spent hours talking on the phone and getting to know each other. But, so far, Drew had only held her hand. This was the moment she had laid awake thinking about every night since Drew had spoken up for her in class.

  In an effort to steady herself and hide her shaking hands, she gripped the playground bar she leaned against. Her heart beat tripled in time and her mouth went dry. Finding it hard to breathe, she felt captured by the look in his eyes as they conveyed a message of want and need.

  Drew’s head dipped toward hers, and his lips lightly touched hers. A rush of desire flowed through her as he kissed her again, this time more insistent. His hands went around her back, and she pressed closer to him. Drew’s knee moved between her legs, and they pressed closer still. His hands moved up and down her back, and Piper had never felt anyone treat her with such care or longing in her life. Hands gripping his back, she kissed him back as if her life depended on it. His lips parted, and she felt his tongue seek hers. He tasted of chocolate cake and smelled of cologne. Piper was in heaven, and could have kissed him for hours. She never wanted this moment to end.

  Bonk!

  Their teeth clashed against each other as a soccer ball bounced off the side of Drew’s head.

  “Dude, get a room!” a male voice called, followed by female laughter.