Plain Jayne (22 page)

“Shh! He has a perfectly sweet girlfriend.”

Ellie snorted as she flagged down the waitress. “Yeah, we’re going to be here awhile, can we get another round please? And some nachos.”

When the waitress left, Jayne held up her hands, palms out, and laughed lightly. “I know it looks weird, but really, we’re just friends.”

“I like to think Nick and I are friends, too,” Regan said, clearly mocking her. “But I’ve never had him tell me I looked hot, and I’ve certainly never blushed like that at the mere mention of his name.”

Jayne groaned. What a disaster. “Can we talk about something else, please?”

After a few seconds, the other two grinned back at her and nodded.

“Okay,” Ellie agreed. “But only because this is your first time out with us. We expect details in the coming weeks and if you won’t cough them up, Regan can get the info from Todd, or better yet—we’ll just make shit up.”

Jayne chugged three big gulps of her drink and set down the glass. “I’ll be here.”

“There you go,” Regan laughed. “I knew you’d come around. Here’s Maya.”

A thin woman with a head of blond curls and light blue eyes slid into the chair beside Regan. Her smile was tired, but she pushed it anyway.

“Jayne,” Ellie said. “This is Maya; she owns the flower shop just up from you. Maya, this is Jayne, Tilly’s granddaughter.”

“Nice to meet you.” As Jayne reached to shake Maya’s hand, an odd look fell over the other woman’s face.

“So you own the bookstore?”

“Yup. Just trying to get it ready for reopening.”

Maya nodded, then took a sip of Ellie’s beer. “Did you like the flowers?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Nick doesn’t usually ask for anything specific, but he told me yours had to be purple.”

Right. Maya owned the flower store; that’s where Jayne had heard her name before.

Silence filled the space around the table for a few seconds before Ellie and Regan both snorted and laughed until their next round of drinks arrived. Jayne couldn’t do anything but try and keep her skin from bursting into flames at the table.

“They’re
just friends
,” Ellie chortled.

“Uh-huh.” Maya didn’t seem to believe that for a second. “I wish more people dropped that kind of money on flowers for their
friends
.”

“Okay,” Jayne surrendered. “Yes, he bought me flowers. But he bought them for Lisa, too.”

“Well, I’d sure as hell hope so.”

The waitress set a huge plate of nachos in the middle of the table and handed them each a plate. “Enjoy.”

“So how’s it going?” Ellie reached for Maya’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze, but Maya just shook her head as she twisted the ring on her left hand.

A look passed between Ellie and Regan that spoke volumes. Whatever was going on with Maya wasn’t good, and Jayne wasn’t familiar enough to be brought into it.

“Maybe I should go.” She reached for her wallet, but Maya’s voice stopped her.

“No. Stay.” Tears sparkled in her eyes, but she forced a wobbly smile. “Please, Jayne. This is nothing, just a bad day.”

Jayne wasn’t the least bit convinced, but Regan’s eyes pleaded silently with her not to make a big deal about it, so she tucked her wallet away and nodded.

Maya dashed the back of her hand across her eyes, then reached for a pile of the cheesiest nachos she could find. “So you’re going to reopen the store?”

“That’s the plan,” Jayne said. “I just need to find stock.”

“What happened to all her books?” Regan asked with a frown. “I was in there a few days before she shut it down and the shelves were full.”

“I don’t know.” Jayne averted her gaze, hoping they wouldn’t press the issue. “We’ve been through all her stuff, but there weren’t any books.”

“None?”
There was a moment of quiet at the table, with a few more pointed looks among the other three, before Ellie sighed. “What? Are we all supposed to sit here and pretend we didn’t notice the dumpster and the U-Haul?”

Ellie lifted her glass to her lips, then added, “Seems that would be more awkward than just putting it out there.”

“That’s our Ellie,” Regan said quietly. “The Queen of Tact.”

When Jayne looked up, Regan’s green eyes twinkled back at her, this time in compassion instead of mirth.

“It’s okay,” she said. “She’s not wrong.”

“See?” Ellie tipped her glass at Jayne and nodded. “It’s hard to believe that with all the stuff you hauled out of there, there weren’t any books.”

“Tell me,” Jayne chuckled. “God knows we found everything else.”

Regan squinted through a half smile, half grimace. “Bad?”

“Worse than bad.” Jayne shuddered. “But it’s all cleaned out, so now we can focus on getting the repairs done.”

“We?”
Ellie arched her left brow and smirked before pulling a bunch of nachos onto her plate, then going back for the jalapeños that fell off. “Who would that be—you and your
friend
the contractor?”

Jayne just laughed and finished off her drink. Less said on that, the better. “Since you all seem to know everything there is to know about me, how about you answer some questions about yourselves?”

“Shoot,” Ellie said. “I’m an open book.”

“Okay.” Jayne thought a moment. “Married?”

“Not anymore.”

“Where’d you move here from?”

“Ottawa.” Ellie didn’t hesitate. “It was the farthest I could get from him without crossing an ocean or needing a green card.”

“Wow,” Jayne laughed. “So you and the ex aren’t exactly close.”

“That would be a no.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

Ellie shrugged. “I date.”

“No,” Regan chuckled. “She goes out for coffee.”

Even Maya smiled and nodded at that.

“Whatever.” Ellie shrugged indifferently. “Why waste an entire evening with someone I might not like? Coffee’s a good way to decide if he’s worth more time.”

“Sure, but after you’ve met him for coffee three or four times, it might be time to move on to something really exciting—like lunch!”

“Ooh,” Maya whistled. “A whole hour with the same guy? Can she do that?”

“Very funny.” Ellie was trying not to smile, and failing miserably. “So I have a few issues. Do we really want to get into who else has issues at this table?”

“Nope.”

“Uh-uh.”

Jayne could only laugh. Once again, Ellie wasn’t wrong. “What about you, Regan? Ever married?”

“No. Not gonna happen.”

Jayne gazed at Maya, who wiggled her ring finger without so much as a hint of enthusiasm.

“Kids?”

Three heads shook at the same time.

“Me neither.”

A loud cheer rose up from the four guys sitting at the table in the corner. Jayne glanced up at the nearest television and gathered, by the number of players crowding the mound, the Mariners just won. That would make Nick happy.

“How’s Katie and the baby?” Regan asked. “I heard they had quite a scare.”

“She’s the most beautiful baby ever,” Jayne gushed, reaching for her phone. “Just look at these pictures.”

Regan flipped through the pictures slowly, her smile growing with each new image. “That’s a good one.”

She turned the phone so the others could see the picture; a close-up of Nick at the hospital, nose to nose with Sophia. Ellie snorted softly when she saw the picture, but they all
ooh
ed and
aah
ed over the baby.

“Hey, Reg,” Ellie said. “What’s happening with your lease?”

Regan blew out a long breath and rolled her eyes. “If I want to pay what the landlord calls ‘the going rate,’ he’s happy to re-sign for another three years, otherwise I’m out at the end of the year.”

“What’s the going rate?” Jayne asked, tucking her phone away.

“A hell of a lot more than what I’m paying now.” Regan pulled a pile of melted cheese off a chip and stuffed it in her mouth. “The price of real estate downtown has skyrocketed in the last few years, and everyone’s looking to cash in. I bet you’d get a small fortune for your place, Jayne.”

“Maybe, but I’d never sell that place. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” For the first time that night, the sparkle in Regan’s eyes began to fade. “I can’t afford the new lease payments, but I can’t afford to move anywhere else, either.”

“How long have you been there?”

“Coming up eight years.” Regan shook her head. “Never late with a payment, never bothered him with anything I could fix on my own.”

“And he’s allowed to just boot you out like that?”

“Hell yeah,” Ellie snorted. “It’s his building; he can do whatever he likes with it.”

“But after eight years, you’d think he’d cut her a little slack.”

“What can you do?” Regan shrugged it off. “Sometimes life sucks.”

“Amen.” Maya lifted her glass in salute.

The waitress stopped at the table, asking about refills. All four women declined.

“I have to get going,” Regan said. “Todd and I are going to Tightwad Tuesday.”

“They still have that?” Jayne asked. That used to be the night she and Nick went to the movies; two for one.

“Yeah.” Regan rolled her eyes. “But it’s his turn to pick.”

A sympathetic groan rose from all of them. They paid their bill and made their way outside, with the agreement to meet again the following week. Jayne waved goodbye to Regan and Maya, but Ellie walked back to the car with her.

“I’m glad you came out tonight,” she said. “Wasn’t sure what your reaction would be when you figured out what I did with the dress.”

“Not gonna lie,” Jayne laughed. “I was freaking out when I realized what you’d done, but then …”

“Yeah.” Ellie nodded. “But then he saw you in the dress and you knew we’d be BFFs, am I right?”

“Sorry.” Jayne pulled her keys out of her bag. “I’m pleadin’ the fifth on that one.” She unlocked the door, but didn’t open it. “Is Maya okay?”

Ellie leaned back against Jayne’s car, her long legs crossed at the ankles. “Besides being married to the biggest pig in town? Sure, she’s fine.”

“He’s cheating on her?”

“He told her it was a one-time thing, but …” Ellie scowled. “Small town and all that.”

“She won’t leave him?”

“She was hoping they could deal with it and move on, but Will keeps putting off the counseling appointments and if Maya’s right, he’s still seeing his little chippy-ho.” Ellie shook her head in disgust. “I don’t know why she stays. I’d be gone like that.”

She snapped her fingers sharply, but Jayne just sighed. Leaving someone wasn’t always that easy. Ellie headed off to her own car after making Jayne promise to come back the following week, and Jayne agreed without hesitation. Despite the ribbing about Nick, it had been fun.

And it was one more step toward building a life of her own, one that didn’t revolve around Nick’s.

“I said my, my, my, I’m once bitten twice shy, baby …”

Nick shook his head as he made his way up the stairs. It was a good thing Jayne’s building wasn’t attached to her neighbor’s, though they could probably hear her anyway.

“Oh, hey.” She grinned, blushed a little, and reached to turn down her music. “What’s up?”

“Had to pick some things up at T-Squared’s so I thought I’d see how it’s going here.”

“I’ve been to Vancouver and back, got a carload of stock, and I ripped out the rest of the linoleum in the bathroom.”

He moved around slowly, trying to figure out what else he could have Jayne do on her own. With his drywaller, Evan, out of town, Nick and Delmar were going to have to board the Schwanns’ house themselves and that was going to take time, but before they could do anything else here, it needed to be drywalled, too.

First things first. Lunch.

They went to the Cactus Café and, after pushing Jayne into a chair by the window, Nick went to order. As the girl set to work on their order, Nick took their drinks back to the table; a chocolate shake for him and a glass of water with lemon for Jayne.

“Don’t freak out.”

Her eyes widened, then glared at him. “What?”

He gave her a quick rundown of what was going on with Evan, then leaned a little closer so the whole café couldn’t hear. “I didn’t tell you this to make you worry, I just wanted you to know the deal. It’s going to be tight, but we’ll get you through the inspection, so save your frown for something worth frowning about.”

Her frown remained. “That’s not what I’m worried about. You gave the Schwanns your word you’d get their house finished—”

“And I will. I’ve never been late finishing a house and I won’t be on this one.”

“But there’s so much to do. I could get someone else to finish the store, Nick, it’s no big deal.”

“Ha!” Nick shook his head. “There’s nobody worth getting that isn’t busy these days, and even if you could find someone … wow.”

“What wow?” Her blue eyes widened a little and her mouth curled ever so slightly. “Oooh, it’s an ego thing.”

He lifted his hands in surrender and tried not to grin back at her. “How would it look if my best friend doesn’t trust me to get a job done?”

Sara arrived with their lunches and Nick immediately took a giant bite of his Reuben sandwich as Jayne moved the rabbit food around on her plate with a fork.

“At least let me pay for the work.”

“Who said you weren’t going to pay me?”

Jayne snorted so loud, every other customer looked their way.

“Have I paid for anything yet?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, even if he could. “I know, you said we’d settle up when it was done, but you’ve been working on the store for weeks and I have yet to see a bill. You won’t even let me pay for lunch. I’ve paid my own way my whole life and I don’t want anyone thinking I’m trying to soak you out of anything.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.” She jammed a fork full of green stuff in her mouth and chewed like it was steak. “People are already talking, Nick.”

“About what?” He shouldn’t find it so funny that she was annoyed by this, but seriously … so he bought her a salad. Big frickin’ deal.