Ditching The Dream (Dream Series) (18 page)

And tonight I was supposed to go to dinner with Jack. Maybe I should call him and cancel. Maybe I should call Jessica, hash it out with her. But it was noon back home, she’d be at work in the vineyard. There wasn’t another friend who I trusted like Jessica. That said, she’s already told me to go for it.

“So, tell me about Elizabeth Fairchild,” Shelby started as she dried a batch of glasses from the bar’s dishwasher.

“Not much to tell,” I replied dismissively.

“Like, how did you learn so much about wine?”

“I’ve lived in Northern California for the past twenty-three years.”

“You told me that already.”

“My best friend and her husband own a vineyard. They produce small batches of organic wine. Most of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned from them.”

“I see,” she said nodding her head. “That’s cool. Maybe I can convince John to take a look at your friends’ stock. Are you a California native?”

“No, I’m originally from Colorado, north of Boulder.”

“So, why did you decide to come to New York, instead of going back home?”

“Something new, and exciting, and I don’t know anyone here.”
Please stop asking questions,
I silently begged.

“And where did your wedding rings go?”
Shit!
Was this girl CSI?

I smirked not really knowing what to say to that.
Yeah, I’m married but I’ve left my husband because I wanted to see if I could stand on my own two feet but now, find myself involved with not one, but two men, one of whom is a regular at this bar.

“I know that look, hon,” she continued. “If you ever need to talk, I’m here. I didn’t mean to push, you just seem overwhelmed. Thought I’d lend an ear.”

I returned to cleaning the bottles. Maybe I
should
talk to her. It would be good to get input from a single girl. I mean Jessica was in my boat. Married for more than twenty years. But then again, she’d dated more than I had in high school and college. That was then. Now we are adults. And there was something about Shelby that made me comfortable, like I could trust her.

My phone buzzed with a text message. I pulled it out and checked who it was from.

3:36p.m.

Looking forward to tonight.

See you at 7.

J.

I scanned the bar, confirming it was customer and server free. The restaurant only had a small table seated with a pair of love birds against the far wall. A pair of servers from the floor were chatting at the computer station back by the kitchen. “Can I trust you to keep quiet?” I turned to Shelby.

She turned to me wide-eyed, surprised that I was going to spill. “Of course, bartender’s honor.” She crossed her heart, held up her hand, and settled in against the wall.

“I’m going out to dinner with Jack tonight. But I’m thinking about canceling.”

“Jack!” she squeaked in a whisper. “
JACK,
Jack? Jack Stevens???”

“Shhh.” I looked around to who was listening in. No one was even in the bar. “Yes. That Jack.”

“I guess Tom was spot on. Glad I didn’t put money on it. How did you snag him? Well, wait. You’re tall and gorgeous. Duh.”

I shook my head and laughed. “He thinks he knows me from ‘his past.’ ”

“Does he? Wait, isn’t Jack from Colorado? Pretty sure he is.”
Shit!
“I remember one night when I had to call him a cab. He’d been drinking so hard, complaining that women only wanted to date him for what he could do for their career and how women from
back home in Colorado
wouldn’t be so brash.”

Good lord, I was in trouble. “Colorado is a big state,” I offered. Shelby shot me a look that said
‘Riiiiight’
“Well, Monday night we had drinks and thank god my sister called because things were about to take a turn to beyond steamy.”

“Where?”

Do I say?
“His place.”

“Ohmigod! I bet his place is amazing. It’s a fab townhouse in Murray Hill, right?”

“
That’s
your take away?”

“What? I like real estate. It’s a hobby,” she shrugged. “So, you were hot and heavy at
his
place. In
private,
huh? Is he as ripped as it seems? As ripped as he was when he was modeling skivvies twenty years ago?”

I gulped. “Good God almighty… he is.”

Shelby groaned.

“But that’s not my biggest dilemma right now,” I continued.

“Really? Tell,” she pushed, leaning in.

I took a deep breath and spilled. “Last night I went out with a neighbor and things kinda… well… got out of hand. So now, it seems I’m ‘involved’ with two men.” I decided to leave the
third
man, ‘husband,’ out of this chat.

“Tell me more about this neighbor.”

“Southern gentleman. Middle school Spanish teacher. Oh, and sex-on-legs.
Young
-sex-on-legs. He has to be at least ten years younger than me.”

“Which would make you a Cougar! Hot mama!”

“He has gorgeous hair, and warm eyes and…” I dropped my head back. “What am I doing?”

“Is his hair dark and thick?”

“And feels like silk when you run your fingers through it,” I mused.

“Luscious lashes on dark green eyes?”

“The most luscious.” A flash of last night, his eyes peering at me from between my legs. I felt my cheeks grow hot and heat pool between my legs.

“Olive toned skin?” she continued to grill. I looked at her questioningly. How did she know all that? When I looked at her, I saw that she wasn’t looking at me, but behind me.

“He’s here, isn’t he?” I asked her hesitantly.

“Well, someone has their eyes on you. I’m just guessing it’s Mr. Spanish Teacher Neighbor Guy,” she said with a smirk. “We’ll talk later.”

I grabbed a coaster and turned.

Shit!
It
was
Kevin. And as gorgeous as ever. A nice light blue shirt that set off his brown hair, top button undone. Man, I wanted to kiss that little hollow at the base of his neck. I mentally pulled up my, now wet, panties and walked over.

“Kevin. So good to see you.”
Did I tell him that this was where I worked?
“Can I get you something?”

“Good to see you too. Got any sweet tea?”

“Actually, no. I can make some hot tea, sweeten it and cool it for you,” I suggested.

“Nah. It’s fine. Can I just get a Coke?”

“Sure!” I turned and grabbed a glass.

He continued, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay after last night.”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” I tried, forcing my best
this-isn’t-at-all-awkward
smile.

“Well, you fell asleep when I ran back to my apartment for… well, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t too badly hung over,” he said, pushing a hand through that glorious hair. Was he blushing? Omigod. He was blushing. How adorable! And it suddenly came back to me. He’d gone back to his apartment for condoms, and if he came back and I was asleep, he’s too much a gentleman for… which means – phew!

“I’m doing great. Thanks for checking in,” I said, grinning ear-to-ear.

“And Mrs. Hanlon said you rushed out of your apartment like a hot knife through butter this mornin’.”

Great, he’s talking to Mrs. Hanlon about me?

“So, what are you doin’ tonight? Wanna go catch a movie or something?” he asked.

“Oh, that sounds great, but I already have plans,” I said, glancing at Shelby. “But, thanks.” I added.

“It’s all good.” He smiled. “Maybe we can do something this weekend.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

What? Why did I say that?
Oh, hell. I know why I said that. Because his tongue was so talented, and I wanted to lick those tattoos.

He started to chuckle, startling me out of my musings. “What’s so funny?” I challenged.

“You’re even prettier when you blush,” he replied calmly, staring deeply into my eyes.

Breathe… Breathe…

“So, can I get you any lunch?”

“Nah, just the Coke. Besides, I have to get goin’. Still have a stack of grading before school resumes next week.” He pulled out his wallet.

“Nope, the soda’s on the house. Put your wallet away. Your money’s no good here.” I smiled at him.

He winked one of those big green eyes and flashed me his brilliant smile with those perfect teeth. “See ya,” he waved, then turned and walked out, giving a fine view of his tight behind.

“See ya,” I waved back, feeling like a high school girl all over.

“Oh. My. God. Teach me how to snag a guy like that!” Shelby purred, sliding up next to me. “You could bounce a quarter off that ass!”

“What am I doing, Shel?” I asked her.

“I don’t see the problem. You’ve not decided to be exclusive with either one, have you?”

Well, I am supposed to be exclusive with someone else…

“Not with either of these guys…” I started.

“So you
are
exclusive with someone? Who?” she asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

I took a deep breath. I’d told her so much already, might as well give it all up. “My husband…” I whispered.

“Sorry?” she asked. Yup. Shocked her. “More. Out with it.”

So, I regaled her with a ten minute recap of my last twenty-five years with Greg, and how we’ve drifted into a virtually platonic relationship, and my lacking in sense-of-self, up to today’s predicament of two men
a-la-mode.

“Honey, when you jump, you jump in all the way, don’t ya?” Shelby said with a sigh.

“I didn’t come here to get involved with any men, let alone two. I just wanted to prove to myself that I was a strong woman who could stand on her own.”

“So, that if you leave Greg – fully, you’d do fine as a single woman.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way. I really wasn’t planning on leaving him. I just wanted to prove something to myself.”

“Six of one, half dozen of the other.”

“No, not really. Really? God, I don’t know. What am I doing?”

“You married young. Really young. It’s understandable.”

“Greg said something along the same lines.”

“I can’t believe he’s even talking to you, let alone giving you permission to sow those wild oats. I imagine most men would do all their talking through a lawyer.”

I dropped my head down. I felt weighted with so much shame.

“For what it’s worth,” Shelby continued. “I’m with Greg and your best friend. I say enjoy the ride. Learn about who you are… all aspects. I think Jack will push you in ways that will open your eyes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just rumors, but I hear he’s really
skilled
.”

Yes. I’ve experienced some of his skill. I was hungry to experience more of it.

“So, Jack’s picking you up at seven? I guess you should get going.” I glanced at the clock, it was already after four. I should have clocked out five minutes ago.

O
ver the next couple of hours, I resigned myself to giving this whole dating thing a try. Three people were telling me to do it, and my body was screaming for me to. My conscience was still having some issues, but I wasn’t sure how to quiet that, yet.

Inspecting myself in the mirror, I was mostly satisfied with what I saw. I wore a pale pink, silk button down blouse with black, wide leg trousers. Peeking out at the bottom of the trousers were my patent leather, peep toe heels. I loved that I could wear my taller shoes since Jack was so tall. Greg always wrinkled his nose when I wore anything other than flats on my feet because then we were almost the same height, or I was taller than him. It didn’t bother me, but it was a bone of contention with him.

My jewelry was simple, Jackie O would be proud. Just a simple silver necklace and a pair of white gold and diamond studs that my mother gave me. I decided to leave the rings in the damn shower.

My make-up was definitely
going-out
make-up. The eye liner in a sleek black line with a slight upturn at the outside corners. My eye shadow was in a lavender color wave. A slight dash of pink on the apples of my cheeks and a sheer pink lip gloss.

Glancing at the clock, I saw I only had ten minutes left. I was debating on how to do my hair when my cellphone sprang to life. I almost didn’t look at the screen, afraid it would be my mother, whom I had yet to call, or Greg. I sighed with relief when I saw Jessica’s name on the screen. I answered the call in speaker mode while I fussed with my hair.

“Hey Jess, should I style my hair in the tailored look or the spiky?” We almost never answered the phone with pleasantries with one another. We always started our calls right out of the gate.

“Um – one, I L-O-V-E your hair cut. Two, where are you going?”

I paused. “Actually, I don’t know. He’s picking me up in ten minutes and I still haven’t decided how I’m going to style my hair.”

“Ooooh. So are you going out with the baby cub? Or the older man?”

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” I said.

“Um, you’re telling me this instant or I’ll give Greg your address.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I would. Now dish!” she demanded.

“Are you sitting down?”

“Yes.”

“Jack Stevens.”