Chapter 3

chapter

three

Lizzie

The following morning, I stare at my sister across the small breakfast nook table in my new rental house.

“You’re killing me here, smalls,” she says.

I roll my eyes. “That’s my line.”

“It was, but then I got taller than you, so now I can use it.” Annabelle smirks at me.

She’s happy. I can see it all over her. It’s like love just radiates from her every pore. “Love looks good on you,” I tell her.

“Thank you, but don’t deflect. Tell me what happened to you last night. You don’t text your sister at four in the morning to tell her you’re on the road back to Saddle Creek for nothing.”

I had done that. I’d wanted to call her. To talk about what had just happened to me because it felt so monumental. But with the light of today, I realize that last night will never be more than it was. I’ll never see him again. Oh, I could drive to his house or go back to that bar, but I won’t do that. We were both clear about what we were getting into. One night only. If I try to go back for seconds, I will only end up seeming needy. Clingy. Pathetic.

I’ve had enough of that in my life.

Not that I’ve actually ever been those things, but my evil ex Billy, liked to manipulate me and make it sound like I was. When you’re repeatedly told that you’re too clingy, you start believing it. I’ve spent the past two years in therapy undoing the mind-fuck Billy did to me, because I’m a mother. It’s my damn job to be the best mom I can to my two amazing kids. That meant doing the work on myself.

So, yeah, priority number one is being a good mom. Priority number two is never again letting a man treat me like I’m the problem. So that means if a man tells me he wants only one night, I’m going to believe him.

Still … Annabelle is my best friend, as well as my sister. And I share everything with her.

“I hooked up with someone last night,” I say.

“Shut up!” Annabelle scoots her chair closer to me, which is kind of remarkable considering our knees are already touching. “Tell me everything right this minute.” Then she gasps and points at me. “You have beard burn on your face. I just thought it might be from the exertion of hauling boxes in here.”

“Do you want to tell the story or do you want me to?”

“I’m listening.” She does a lock motion in front of her lips, then tosses the imaginary key over her shoulder.

“I had dropped off the kids at Billy’s parent’s lake house. Taking Bennett’s car seat out of my car to install into theirs made me cry. Like a damn loser. I mean, they’re coming home tomorrow.”

“No one would blame you for being a little sad to not spend a holiday with your kiddos,” Annabelle says.

“I know that. It’s not even their first holiday away from me. But it was the first one after you moved away and then my moving happening over the holiday weekend. Which, of course, made so much sense. Having a holiday week break in between ending one job and starting another is smart and convenient.” I glance around the small rental house. It’s so much nice than I was expecting for the cost of rent.

At some point, if things work out in Saddle Creek, I’ll get my own place, but for now I’m renting this pool house from my new boss, the beloved local pediatrician. Once his current nurse offered me the job, she wanted me to start right away. When I expressed concerns about finding a place for the kids and me to live, she secured this rental. Though it’s technically a guest house, separated from my new boss’s house by a driveway and a pool, it’s bigger than my old place in Houston..

“And I love that I get to settle all of our stuff in while the kids are at their grandparent’s house.”

Annabelle made a face. “I know that his parents have been lovely, for the most part. I just wish Billy would disappear from y’all’s lives. He used all his best traits making those two kids with you. He’s got nothing good left.”

“True damn story. Bennett doesn’t even know what his dad looks like. Granted he’s two and probably doesn’t recognize a lot.”

“I disagree. Bennett is very observant.”

“You’re just biased because you love him so much.”

“Bygones,” Annabelle says with a wave of her hand.

“Okay, back to my story. I was feeling lonely and sad when I left their house, so I stopped at the bar by the marina. It’s a swanky place, but I figured I’d be safe enough to have a single glass of chardonnay.”

“I suspect the fine people of Crescent Bend employ enough security that Taylor Swift could stop there and have a glass of wine safely.”

She probably wasn’t wrong about that. The elite lakeside neighborhood was a who’s who of Texas wealth. New money, old money, that didn’t matter so much as that five-digit zip code. Of course, many of the people who owned homes there didn’t live there full time and only vacationed there. Like Texas’s very own Martha’s Vineyard.

“Okay, so you stopped at the fancy bar,” Annabelle prods.

“Yes. I ordered my wine then sat at the bar surveying my surroundings and that’s when I saw him.”

“Oh my God, I have second-hand anticipation right now.”

“You’re a dork,” I say with a grin. “Anyways, I hadn’t been expecting him. Hands down, the hottest man I’d ever seen. He’d noticed me immediately, too. The heat of his gaze was enough to melt off my clothes.”

“That is so hot. So what did he look like?”

“Older. Probably in his forties, with grey threading through his hair and beard.” I touch my face now, very aware of the redness. “He was big. Tall and broad and thick all over. His forearms alone were like this big around.” I make a circle with my hands, showing her my estimate.

Annabelle fans herself. “He sounds hot. A hot silver fox. Okay, so how did y’all hook up?”

“I’m getting there. Impatient much?”

“Actually, yes, all the time. It’s why Greyson’s marathon foreplay sessions drive me crazy.”

“Are you actually complaining about how many orgasms your husband gives you?”

Blush creeps into her face. “No. But he does make me very impatient.”

“Hot silver fox kept staring. I mean, I’m not even gonna lie that by the time I talked to him, I already needed to change my panties.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” She pumps her fist in the air.

I laugh. God, I loved my sister. She was the very best human I knew, other than my kids. “I must have been channeling your impatience, because I finally got up from my barstool and walked over to his table. I asked him if he was just going to eye-fuck me all night or invite me back to his place.”

Annabelle’s eyes widen. “You did not!”

“I totally did. I’m still not sure where all that bravado came from. I’m guessing the way he was watching me spoke enough about his desire that it bolstered my confidence.”

“Please tell me you got at least two orgasms.”

“Five, actually. So yeah, I still can’t believe I picked him up, but I don’t regret it. Even a tiny bit. It was, hands-down, the best sex I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure it was the best sex had by anyone, anywhere. Ever.”

“I might have to disagree with you there,” Annabelle says.

“Give me this! My only experience had been Billy, and he’s a fumbler at best. A good kisser, but that was the end of his lovemaking skills. I’m just gonna point out that whoever says younger men make better lovers because of their stamina,” I shake my head.

“Then they’ve never tried an older man. Or maybe it was just that man. He had been wholly focused on my pleasure. He not only knew right where my clit was, he also knew exactly how to touch me. And he’d found that elusive g-spot, which frankly I was beginning to believe was completely made up. You know Cosmo sells a lot of magazines every time they put that on the cover.”

“They should probably put those articles in men’s magazines,” Annabelle says.

“No doubt about that. Maybe they should recruit my silver fox to write them.”

He’s not mine. I know he’s not. I won’t see him again, and I hate that wistful feeling that surges through me.