Magnetic (29 page)

Chapter 33

The feel of Layne’s body in her arms filled Stacy with excitement, joy, and contentment all at the same time. She’d missed Layne, but while holding her and kissing her, Stacy remembered why. Layne simply fit her perfectly—physically, emotionally, mentally. “I don’t want to let you go,” she said as she held Layne tight and breathed in the familiar sweet scent of her hair.

“Good,” Layne murmured against her neck.

When they finally did pull apart, they ate dinner and discussed all that had happened on the trip, and Stacy told Layne about the conversation she had with Molly…well, most of it. She left out the part about her losing her heart, afraid that she’d overwhelm Layne.

“She didn’t hit you with a garden rake,” Layne said with a laugh as they took their usual spots on the deck. “That’s a good sign.”

“She’s awfully tiny. I’d feel bad about defending myself against her, so she’d probably put a good ass whipping on me.”

“Molly’s going to be fine,” Layne said with a smile but hoped that was true, especially if Stacy accepted her proposal to move in. “So tell me about the new shift.”

“I’ll be working six to two Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday will be my only day off. Brad, my manager, said he could be flexible during the week if I needed more time off.” Stacy sighed. “If you’d like to go out sometime on the weekends I have a few people I can swap shifts with. I know this kind of impinges on our time together, but I can’t refuse the extra income right now.”

“I’ve gotten incredibly spoiled having you around.” Layne was a bit jumpy. When she stilled her foot from tapping on the deck, her hand went crazy.

“Bob took your trash can to the street on garbage day. I can’t take credit for that.” Stacy grinned. “He also went on patrol. His wife, Deb, told me he’d walk around your house a few times each night. She thinks he enjoyed having something to do, so don’t freak out if you see him in the backyard every so often.”

“I appreciate that. I would’ve never had that extra protection if it had not been for you.” Layne looked at her neighbors’ house just able to see the roof peeking over the hedge. “I travel a lot, maybe less now that Alana’s going to be taking some of the trips, but it’s good to have someone here.” She inhaled sharply and pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s more than that it’s…I want to ask you something.”

Layne was holding on to the chair white-knuckled. Stacy felt tension creep up the back of her neck as she noted Layne’s body language. “What is it?”

“Would you…I…would like…?” Layne bit her lip for a second and asked. “Do you still have my key?”

“Of course. Do you want it back?” Stacy stuffed her hand into her pocket.

“No.” Layne reached out a hand, stilling her. “I’d like you to use it every morning to lock the door behind you when you leave and at night when you get home if I’m not here.” Layne jerked a thumb toward the sunroom. “Don’t you think that would be the perfect place to set up your paint things?”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” Stacy asked as her heart began to pound.

“Poorly, but yes.”

“I’m not ready,” Stacy said with regret. “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she amended quickly. “I just need more time to get my finances in order.”

“To do what?”

“To contribute my fair share.” Stacy stood suddenly. “My career isn’t stellar, and I can’t afford a Lexus to sit next to yours in the driveway, but I have to pay at least half of the household bills.”

“Stacy, do you realize exactly what you do around here?”

“I do those things because I
lov
—” Stacy’s chest tightened as she glanced at Layne, hoping she hadn’t noticed the slip. The smile on her face said she did.

“I’m falling for you, too. Isn’t that enough?” Layne stood and faced her. “You told me that we should take things as they come, let it all unfold. Well, it is.” Layne widened her eyes. “Albeit fast, but I do know I want to be with you. If you want to work extra hours, then fine, just as long as you’re coming home to me. No pressure, but say yes before I pass out from anxiety over here.”

“I have to think about this,” Stacy said, shocked by the change in Layne.

“That’s okay.” Layne folded her arms. “I won’t badger you. I’m just going to say all the reasons why you should but tonight only. I’ve already mentioned the sunroom.” She pointed to the house next door. “You already have friends here. I’m a pretty good cook. I have a lot of Scooby-Doo boxer shorts like the ones I’m wearing, and if I must say so, I look mighty fetching in them. Do I need to go over what happens when we’re in the bedroom, or living room for that matter?”

“No,” Stacy said with a smile, “it’s on my mind constantly.”

“You know,” Layne put her hands on her hips, “this idea is sounding better to me with every point I make.”

“It does,” Stacy conceded. “And you’re serious about this?”

“You know me well enough by now that I wouldn’t say it out loud if I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, I do.” Stacy clamped her lips together tightly.

“Let’s try this,” Layne said seriously. “If it doesn’t work out, then…it just doesn’t, but I believe it will.” Layne held up both hands. “Can’t tell you why, I just do.”

Stacy ran a hand through her hair. “I’m just a little stunned.”

“I know,” Layne said as she took a step closer. “I’m a facts and figures kind of girl, but my heart says this is right, and I’m going with it.”

“You’ll give me a day or so to think about it?”

Layne reached out and took Stacy’s hand. “Of course, but if you can come up with an answer within the hour, I’ll throw in a cat.”

Chapter 34

“Stacy!”

Stacy jumped, smearing a stroke on the painting she was working on.

“It’s on me!”

Stacy’s shoulders sagged as she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Knock him off.”

“You come get it.”

Stacy dropped her brush into the cleaning solution and walked down the hall to the office. Layne was sitting at her desk, the orange kitten was tangled in the wire of Layne’s iPod earpieces, and he was chewing like there was no tomorrow.

“His name is
Chickory
,” Stacy said with a grin as she walked over to the desk and picked up the kitten.

Layne frowned up at her. “It’s an it when it’s being bad.”

“You’re not bad, are you?” Stacy asked the kitten as she held him near her face. He swiped her nose. “You’re right, he’s the devil.”

Layne pointed her pen at Stacy. “We should’ve known that when Ronnie gave him to us as a housewarming, move-in-together-kind-of-thing gift that we’re being paid back for falling in love.”

“I do love you.” Stacy waved the kitten’s paw at Layne and said in a small raspy voice, “and I love you, too, Layne.”

Layne melted and smiled. “I love you, too. But not you right now,” she said, glaring at the kitten. “I’ll love you again later when you curl up in my lap.”

“There will be no curling of anyone. We have dinner to prepare.” Stacy nuzzled the kitten. “And we have company coming over. How much longer are you going to need in here?”

“I was trying to send your cousin my research on the project she’s working. Give me a few more minutes and take that tiny terror with you.”

Stacy leaned over the desk and gave Layne a kiss before she left with the kitten hanging around her neck. “Can you behave for a few minutes at least? I have things to do and so does your other mom.” She fished
Chickory’s
favorite mouse toy from beneath the refrigerator and turned him loose with it. He attacked, and Stacy went back to her painting.

Layne hit the send button and stretched the kinks out of her back with a sigh. There were no weekend chores for her to rush off and attend. The dry cleaning had been picked up and was hanging in her closet. The pantry was filled with groceries that she didn’t have to find time to shop for. The check engine light had come on in her car a few days earlier, and Stacy had picked the car up from the office and had it serviced. Layne had never felt so spoiled or content in her entire life. Stacy often made jokes about being a kept woman, even though she took those extra shifts at the Sapphire and worked constantly. If anyone was kept, Layne knew it to be her.

Layne pushed away from her desk and left her office. “I find your attire very distracting. Aren’t you cold?” she asked as she walked into the sunroom and wrapped her arms around Stacy’s bare waist.

“I’ve ruined too many shirts, and I’m so not wearing a smock. It’s not a good look for me. Besides, this sports bra is my lucky charm. I do my best work in it.”

Layne ran her hands down Stacy’s smooth back and admired her rear end in the faded jeans. Outside, the day was gray and overcast. The azaleas and the grass were the only thing still green; everything else was brown and drooping from the frosts they’d had over the past few weeks. The gloom normally depressed her, but having Stacy to curl up with chased the chill and the grayness away.

Layne rested her chin on Stacy’s shoulder. “This is going over the mantel.”

It was late summer. The sun had begun to set on a group of women gathered on the deck outside. Jenny was laughing, Molly talking, her hands up, as she explained something. Ronnie was smiling; on her lap sat Bailey, the keeper, her brown hair reflecting the last of the day’s light. Layne saw herself sitting next to Stacy; they were facing each other, the love in their expressions unmistakable.

“This could be a photograph, it’s so detailed,” Layne said impressed with what she saw.

“Did you notice Bob?” Stacy pointed to a face peering from between the hedges. “It took me forever to get him and Deb to join us that night.”

Layne laughed at the expression Stacy had painted on Bob’s face. “I could paint
Chickory
. All I’d have to do is make an orange stripe across the canvas. He never sits still. And just so you know, he just took a crap on your sweater.”

“
Chickory
! Damn!”

The kitten darted off with Stacy running behind him. Layne laughed and looked at the canvases stacked along the wall. The pieces that Alana had described as dark were tucked away in a corner. Layne picked up the painting of herself lying on the bed in Detroit; Stacy had captured everything she felt then. She’d been lost, disillusioned. She set it down and picked up the most recent, and Stacy had portrayed her perfectly—happy, peaceful, and content as she sat wrapped in a blanket watching the sun set on another perfect day.

Layne went to her then, unwilling to be separated by a few walls in the home they shared, drawn like a magnet.

Epilogue

“Welcome to the Sapphire, what may I get for you?”

“A Lebanese tea with extra pine nuts, and I’d like to see your lunch menu.”

Stacy set it on the bar in front of Layne. “Your drink will be just a moment.”

Layne smiled at the woman sitting next to her on the bar stool and pointed at Stacy. “She’s a looker, isn’t she? I might just ask her out.”

“She’s married. Check out the ring finger on her left hand. You’re out of luck, sugar,” the woman deadpanned.

Layne held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger, showing off her own band. “That don’t mean a thing, and I feel lucky.”

Stacy set the drink on the bar. “Have you decided what you want for lunch?”

“You. What’re you doing when you get off work today?”

“I’m going out of town. I’m celebrating my one-year anniversary.” Stacy walked away with a grin.

The woman sitting next to Layne gave her a smug look. “I guess your luck ran dry.”