One Reckless Summer (4 page)

Which was when he realized the big clear plastic bag she’d been carrying lay right next to him on the ground—she’d been so pissed at him that she’d walked off without it.

And that gave him an idea.

Since he didn’t think Jenny Tolliver could be trusted to keep his presence a secret…well, it might be wise to pay her a visit, remind her that he was deadly serious about the promise she’d made.

And in the meantime, maybe he’d sleep worse than usual in that hot little house tonight, because he had brand new problems to worry about.

Or…maybe he’d sleep better, because he’d be taking even hotter memories back inside with him.

Jenny awoke the next morning to someone banging on something. Slowly, she realized it was her door. And that she had lunch plans with Sue Ann, but it surely couldn’t be
that
late—could it? And as she dragged herself out of bed and felt the ache between her legs—she gasped.

Oh God. Oh God, I had sex with Mick Brody in the woods last night. Mick Brody!
It felt as surreal the morning after as it had when it was happening.

She practically
fell
going down the narrow staircase, her white nightgown flowing around her, and she suspected her hair pointed in all directions as she yanked open the door, saying, “Can you stop that incessant banging?”

Sue Ann, looking perky and pretty in a yellow sundress, just blinked. “Why do you look like the crazy wife in the attic in
Jane Eyre
?”

“Well, good morning to you, too.”

Sue Ann tapped her watch. “Um, sorry, sunshine, but it’s almost
noon
.” Then she blinked again. “What the heck is going on? Are you sick or something?”

“Don’t I
wish.
”

“You
wish
you were sick?” Sue Ann asked
,
brows knitting as she pushed her way inside.

“It would be better than the reality of why I look crazed.”

Sue Ann took a seat on the same couch that had occupied the living room in this house for thirty years, complete with a big white doily over the back next to a folded afghan crocheted in a zigzag pattern. “Start talking.”

Jenny, on the other hand, began pacing the hardwood floor, not quite meeting Sue Ann’s eyes. They’d known each other forever—since the first grade—so she could tell Sue Ann anything. But this—this was…big.

“Well?” Sue Ann
said,
her shoulder-length blond hair bouncing as she spoke.

“Well—it would seem…that last night…I crossed the lake to look at the stars.”

Sue Ann smiled reflexively at the memory. “Oh, like we used to in high school.” Then her smile faded. “Why is that bad? Apparently you didn’t drown, and there are no more
Brodys
left to kill you, so what’s the problem?”

“That’s just it,” she said, now stopping in place to meet Sue Ann’s gaze. “There
are
Brodys
left.”

Sue Ann’s gasp filled the house. “
What?
”

Jenny resumed pacing and, without planning it, started talking very fast. “I was walking through the woods and I ran into Mick Brody—literally—and after he told me I was trespassing and had to leave, I had sex with him.”

Jenny waited for another gasp, but instead, Sue Ann looked at her like she’d just asked her to solve a difficult math problem. “Wait, stop. I completely misunderstood you, because it almost sounded like you said you had
sex
with
Mick Brody
.”

“That’s correct,” Jenny said.

And
then
Sue Ann gasped. “
Wh-wh-what
…why…how…” She finally gave up. “Oh hell, I don’t even know what it is I want to ask.”

Jenny stopped pacing again and joined her on the couch. “I do. You want to know what I was thinking. And how the hell something like that happened in the first place. Frankly, so do
I
. One minute he was yelling at me and I was yelling back and refusing to leave, and the next, he was…you know…inside me.”

Sue Ann bit her lower lip, suddenly looking fascinated. “How was it?”

A chill ran down Jenny’s spine at the memory. “It was…the hottest, most amazing sex I’ve ever had. Which,” she added, holding up one finger, “may not be saying much considering that I only have Terrence to compare him to, and that he thought I was too sweet to actually have good sex
with.
”

“The rat bastard,” Sue Ann said.

“But…it was pretty freaking phenomenal.”

“Dare I point out that you, uh, aren’t usually the sort of person to have sex with, um, a guy we don’t know at all, not to mention a guy who always scared us? And when the hell did he get back in town anyway?”

Jenny slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh God—I forgot! I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone he was here. I mean, he was really forceful about that. So you can’t tell anyone.” She shook her head to reinforce the point.

“Not even Jeff?” Sue Ann’s husband.

“Not even Jeff. Sorry. I know it’s awful to invoke the keep-a-secret-from-your-husband rule, but it’s necessary this time around. I’m only telling you because I have to tell
somebody
and—well, like I said, until right now, I sort of forgot it was a secret. But you seriously can’t say anything. It’s not too late for a Brody to shoot me, you know.”

“Or, say, give you a disease. Or get you pregnant,” Sue Ann added, eyebrows knitting critically. “Please tell me you used a condom.”

Jenny let her eyes fall briefly shut, then let out a tired sigh. “Oh boy.” She shook her head in regret. “There are moments in life when it’s not as easy as they made it sound in health class. I mean, we were in the
woods
. On the
ground
. Panting and stuff.”

Sue Ann looked livid. “That’s no excuse!”

“Well, I started taking the pill to regulate my period a few months ago. Once I realized I didn’t
want
to have a baby with Terrence. So at least I’ve got
that
going for me.”

“Okay, no babies fathered by the scary dude in the woods—that’s good. But what about disease?”

Jenny could only let out yet another sigh. “I’ll…get checked. Again. Like I did after I found out about the tart.”

“Wow, who’d have thought
you
would need two AIDS tests in a three-month period?”

“Who indeed,” Jenny replied dryly.

Sue Ann took a deep breath,
then
blew it back out, clearly trying to process it all. “I’m, like, so freaked out right now.”

“Try being me,” Jenny said matter-of-factly.

“Well, hey, this is one sure way to get your mind off Mr. Rat Bastard and Little Miss
Chippy
.”

“You can say that again.” In fact, neither party had really crossed Jenny’s mind since she’d paddled over to the south side of the lake last night. And then
she
gasped.

“What? What is it?” Sue Ann asked, brown eyes gone wide.

“My telescope! I left my telescope there!”

Sue Ann’s eyes fell shut. “Oh geez. This is bad.”

What a nightmare. A nightmare that kept getting worse, even though it was daytime now. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“I can’t, either. That thing cost two thousand dollars! How on earth did you—wait, stop, I can answer my own question here. You forgot it because you were too busy having
sex
with
Mick Brody
! Oh my God, I still can’t believe it!”

“Neither can
I
. And I also forgot it because we argued some more before I left.”

“So you argued
before
you had sex, and you argued
after
you had sex. Sounds like a charming evening.”

Jenny pursed her lips. “I never said I was proud of my actions. But that aside, we have to go over there and get my telescope back.” She pushed to her feet, ready to move on this.

While Sue Ann peered up from her spot on the couch. “Um, we?”

“Yes. Right now. I have to get it back.”

“What about lunch? I have on a new dress.” She motioned down at it in
Vanna
White fashion.

“And it’s lovely,” Jenny assured her. “But my telescope is very dear to me, as you know. I spent a long time saving up for it and researching to pick out just the right one. And all my star charts and notes are in the bag, too. We have to go get it right away, so I can forget this ever happened and move on with my life.”
Just like Mick said.

Sue Ann sighed, surrendering. “Do you have some jeans I can wear?”

Jenny nodded. “Good thought—I can tell you after last night that a skirt in the woods isn’t a good idea.” And upon reading Sue Ann’s immediate thoughts, she held up one finger, adding, “And
not
just because it’s so easy for a guy to push up, either. But because it gets tangled on things.”

“Do you promise to give me all the juicy details on the way over?”

Jenny sighed, rolling her eyes. “Sure, fine, whatever.”

“And can we go to lunch afterward? If we make it out alive, I mean?”

Again, Jenny nodded. “I’ll even buy.”

“Then you’ve got a deal.”

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and
I’m
not sure about the universe.

Albert Einstein

F
or the first time in her life, Jenny actually sympathized with the criminals her father had caught over the years because they’d been stupid enough to return to the scene of a crime. It was strange being back here, in these overgrown woods, so soon. And also strange seeing the place in the daylight—she bit her lip as she glanced over at the cabin through the trees, then said to Sue Ann, “Keep your head down and move quickly and quietly.”

“You sound like we’re in a war zone,” Sue Ann whispered from behind.

“No, just a ‘no trespassing’ zone, but I still don’t want to get caught. Mick Brody was seriously intent about this being private property.”

And when she reached the spot where she was pretty sure the sex had occurred, it felt even
more
surreal. She remembered the scrape of the tree bark against her back, along with the much
better
sensations of his hands on her flesh, her breasts,
her
rear. She halted in place and let out a heavy
whoosh
of breath as fresh heat overcame her.

Sue Ann drew up beside her and said, “You’re flushed.”

Jenny began waving her hand up and down, fanning herself. “It’s hot out here.”

Sue Ann spoke matter-of-factly. “Not
that
hot. In fact, it’s a lot cooler under these trees than it was crossing the lake.”

Jenny turned in a rush toward her friend, suddenly alarmed. “What if someone saw us in the canoe? What if they tell my father?” It hadn’t even occurred to her ’til now. She’d been too focused on getting her telescope back and too occupied with answering Sue Ann’s questions about sex with Mick, which had mostly resulted in short, sheepish answers including words like
big
,
intense
,
hard
,
rough
, and
hot.

“Okay, relax,” Sue Ann said. “We’re not teenagers anymore. We can canoe across the lake without anyone’s permission if we choose.”

“Good point. I’m flustered and not thinking straight.”

“We’ll just say we decided to take the old canoe out for a spin, for old times’ sake or something.”

“Okay, good, that’s good,” Jenny replied. “Old times’ sake.” That sounded much better than being on a mission to retrieve a valuable possession lost in the woods while having wild sex with a scary guy no one has seen in a dozen years.

“All right,” Sue Ann said. “Since you’ve stopped and since the brush here seems sort of matted down, I’m guessing this is where you did the deed. So where’s the telescope?”

Jenny scanned the ground, particularly around the big, wide tree trunk where she was pretty sure she’d abandoned the waterproof bag. Only she didn’t see it. Damn it!

She kept looking, though, because it had to be there. It
had
to. Where
else
could it be? “I don’t see it,” she said to Sue Ann, not bothering to hide her distress. She pointed to the ground. “I dropped it right here when he started kissing me.”

Sue Ann perked up. “There was kissing? You said nothing about kissing. Kissing sounds more…romantic or something, than the rest of it did.”

“There wasn’t
much
kissing. It’s just how things got going.”

Sue Ann sighed, clearly disappointed,
then
got back to business. “And you’re sure this is the right spot?”

Jenny took in the area again. “It has to be. I remember this huge tree. He pinned me to it.”

“
Yowsa
.”

“You can say that again.” Then she pointed to the ground a few feet away. “And you’re right about things being mashed down here. This is where I was, you know, actually…”

“On top of him,” Sue Ann provided.

Jenny swallowed. “Right.” She still wasn’t comfortable with the memory. What sort of person did this make her? She was just barely starting to get over Terrence and the divorce, for heaven’s sake. She lifted her gaze to Sue Ann. “How did I let this happen?”

“Sounded to me like it was some unstoppable force of nature,” Sue Ann said as if this made it
okay,
and also as if they had these sorts of conversations all the time. “So do you think your lover boy took the telescope?”

Oh God. The nightmare grew worse still. “He must have.” She closed her eyes, sighed anew,
then
met Sue Ann’s wide eyes. “What am I gonna do
now
?”

“Well…I suppose we could always go to the cabin and ask him.”

Jenny’s eyes flew wide. “Are you crazy? He forbade me to even be on this land, let alone come knocking on his door. He’s got some kind of secret he doesn’t want anyone to know about, remember?”

Just like when kissing came up, Sue Ann’s gaze widened. “And you aren’t dying to know what that is?”

Jenny simply let out a heavy breath. “Well, I’m curious, sure. Okay, more than curious—I’m worried. About what it could be. But like I said earlier, it’s still not too late for Mick Brody to shoot me. I don’t want to agitate the guy any more than I already have. And—” Jenny stopped and let out a huge gasp as something new and even more horrible hit her. “We have to get out of here!”

“Why? I mean, why more now than thirty seconds ago?”

“Because he told me not to tell anyone, and if he were to find me here again, that’s bad enough, but if he were to see
you
here, too, he’ll obviously know I told someone! Which will get us both in hot water, and God knows what he’ll do
then.
” For heaven’s sake, she really
wasn’t
thinking straight here. Bringing Sue Ann had seemed like the natural thing to do, but it was probably the
worst
thing to do. Although sex with a scary stranger could confuse a girl that way, she supposed.

“This really
is
like sneaking over here in high school,” Sue Ann said. “
Dèjá
vu all over again.”

“Only worse now. Before, we just
assumed
they wouldn’t want us here. Now we know it for sure. We should go.
Now.
”

“What about your telescope?”

Oh God, the telescope. She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to figure that out later.”

Within five minutes, they were back in the green canoe, pushing off from the sandy landing and back out into
Blue
Valley
Lake
. And Jenny felt positively childish. She
should
be able to march up to his door and ask if he’d found her bag.
Should
being the key word. The fact was, despite the brief concern he’d shown for her just after sex, she really didn’t know how dangerous Mick Brody might be.

She supposed Sue Ann was thinking pretty much the same thing when she said, quietly and seriously, “You know, maybe you should go to your dad about this.”

“And tell him what? I lost my telescope when I was having sex with Mick Brody in the woods?”

Sue Ann appeared to be thinking it through as the hot mid-day sun beat down on them. “Maybe you could just leave out the sex part. Just admit you were going over there to stargaze. Say you ran into him and had an argument and he insisted you leave and somehow you ended up without your bag.”

“But don’t you think that if my father goes out to that cabin to interrogate him, the sex part might come up? And don’t you think that if Mick’s probably illegal secret isn’t obvious to my dad upon getting
there,
and that even if he gets my telescope back, Mick Brody will then promptly come to my house and kill me?”

Sue Ann slowly began to nod. “Both excellent points.”

“Besides which…” Something churned in her stomach at the thought just edging its way into her brain, and she was beginning to sweat from the summer heat.

“Go on.”

“I…had sex with the guy.”

“Yeah, we’ve established that.”

“And, I mean, it wasn’t
sweet
sex, God knows, but…but…”

“Uh-huh?” Sue Ann rolled her hand in circles, motioning for Jenny to get to the point.

“But he was…you know, interested in my pleasure. At least to a degree. He wanted me to have an orgasm.”

“Oh
my.
” She hadn’t shared that part before—actually just divulging as little as possible based on Sue Ann’s prying questions. They were best friends, but having both been married for years
now,
they didn’t sit around talking about the details of their sex lives. “And did you?” Sue Ann inquired.

“Oh
yeah.” She suspected her tone pretty much said it all.

“I see. That good, huh?”

“Intense,” she said—probably the tenth time she’d invoked that particular word to describe sex with Mick Brody. “And anyway…I know it wasn’t sweet or romantic or anything like that, and I feel kind of…blah now because I’ve never had sex with a guy while knowing I’d probably never see him again. But at the same time…he made me feel…desired.
Which is nice after the whole Terrence fiasco.
Because…” She trailed off again, suddenly feeling emotional and not wanting to get weepy.

Sue Ann sat across from her, facing her—even though it required the person in front to paddle backwards, it made talking easier, so they’d always done it that way—and she stayed quiet, silently supportive, waiting for Jenny to go on.

“The thing is,” Jenny said, once she swallowed back that teary feeling, “after I found out Terrence had cheated on me and why, it made me feel…so horribly undesirable. So…dispensable. And she’s
twenty-freaking-one
, Sue Ann!”

“Tart,” Sue Ann tossed in, never one to miss an opportunity.

“So I also felt…past my prime, or like I never
had
a prime. And I know thirty-one is hardly old, and the thirties are the new twenties and all that, but compared to Kelsey, I felt boring and frumpy and like…like something he’d just put out with the trash. And those feelings just kind of burrowed down inside me and got stuck there—and they were
still
there…until last night.

“So…I really hope Mick Brody didn’t steal my telescope, and I really hope he’s not doing anything terrible in that cabin—but at the same time…maybe I don’t really want to be the one to get him in trouble since, if nothing else, he made me feel attractive. That’s probably why I did it. Because he made me feel desirable.”

Across from her, Sue Ann looked thoughtful, then frank. “That’s all very nice, Jen, and I’m really glad this made you feel good about yourself again, but…could the reason you had sex with him also have been, just maybe, because he was
hot
?”

Jenny blinked. Clearly, Sue Ann thought Jenny was working too hard to justify what she’d done. But the bigger shock to her was, “You thought Mick Brody was hot back in the day?” She
squinted
her surprise beneath the bright sun.

Sue Ann shrugged. “In that rough-and-tumble kind of way, sure.”

“You never said anything.”

Another shrug. “It never came up. And maybe I worried you’d think I was gross for thinking so. The
Brodys
were so…socially off-limits.”

“Well, actually,
I
thought he was hot, too—at least the one time I saw him up close—and I never told you, either, for the same reason.”

“Wow. Small world. Maybe
every
girl secretly thought he was hot and was just afraid to say. So—is he still? Hot?”

Jenny nodded. “As much as I could tell. But it was nearly dark, so I couldn’t see him very well.”

Sue Ann’s jaw dropped. “You had sex with a guy you couldn’t even
see
?”

Now it was Jenny’s turn to shrug. “Sort of.”

“Wow. It’s fun to hang with you these days. You’ve had more excitement since yesterday than I’ve had in five years.”

“And it only cost me my peace of mind.”

Sue Ann sighed. “You didn’t have that anyway. So cheer up. Maybe it only cost you a pricey telescope.”

Jenny worked in the living room, listening to the clinking and clanging of tools on the other side of the wall as her dad tried to fix the air conditioner. It wasn’t broken completely, but when she’d gotten home after lunch with Sue Ann at Dolly’s Main Street Café in town, the house wasn’t cooling well. And after last night, the last thing Jenny needed was to be overheated.

When she heard her father grumble and cuss under his breath, she called, “Sorry about this, Dad.” If she wasn’t here, after all, it wouldn’t matter if the A/C was working or not. Even if her father
had
pretty much insisted she stay in the house when hers had sold so quickly.

“Don’t apologize,” he called back to her. “You know how happy I am to have you here.”

The words made her feel a little guilty—the same guilt she’d felt upon settling in
Columbus
after graduating from
Ohio
University
. It had meant leaving her father alone. But she’d always come home for every holiday and for long summer weekends, and given that he’d lived here his whole life, he had plenty of friends.

Pushing aside her guilt, she continued unpacking. She’d put all of her furniture and most of her other belongings in storage for now, but she’d brought along some magazines and books to make the place feel like home—like
her
home. Mostly astronomy reference books and some of her favorite coffee table books featuring good visuals of planets, galaxies, and nebulae. From the moment she’d let her dad talk her into coming here for the summer, she’d planned on doing a lot of sky-watching.