Sleeping with Beauty (27 page)

Lucy thought about that, about being the beholder. The very idea that this could be about what
she
wanted from Jason Prescott—or any man, for that matter—was a rather dazzling proposition. And a little intimidating.

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

T
oo trashy.” Lucy tossed the slinky red dress—the last of her shopping-spree-with-Vivian purchases—on her bed and held up the other hanger in front of her as she stared at her reflection.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,” Jana quipped from behind her.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at Jana’s smiling reflection, then tossed the button-down black knit on the growing pile on her bed. She gazed warily inside her closet at the rapidly thinning selection of Big Date dresses.

“Maybe you should have done this, oh, I don’t know, sooner than an hour before you’re supposed to meet your date?”

Jana was propped up on the Oreo cookie pillows lining the headboard of Lucy’s double bed, eating straight out of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

“Yeah, says the pregnant, married lady eating Chunky Monkey. You don’t have to worry if your dress purrs ‘Hey, big boy, I’m an easy lay’ or screams ‘Repressed librarian, run for your life!’”

“True,” Jana readily agreed, swallowing yet another heaping spoonful. “I knew if I spent long enough talking to you, you’d finally make me see why having a baby was a good thing.” She licked her spoon. “Thank you for that.”

Lucy was happy to see that Jana’s dry humor had made its return, but she was still worried about her friend. “So, things between you and Dave improving at all?”

“What, can’t a girl enjoy her ice cream in peace here?”

“Sorry,” Lucy said, wincing with regret as she dragged another two hangers from the rack. She didn’t want to push things with Jana, she just hated seeing her so miserable.

“Tonight is all about your neuroses, not mine,” Jana said, using her spoon to punctuate her sentence.

“Deal,” Lucy said with a sigh, tossing the latest two fashion victims on the pile without even bothering to hold them up first. “You know, maybe Vivian was right. Maybe I should have just called this whole night off and been happy with being asked in the first place.”

“Is that what she said? Because I don’t recall that in your detailed reiteration of your brunch.”

Lucy looked over her shoulder. “Hey, I wasn’t going to breathe a word. You begged me to tell you what happened, remember?”

Jana suddenly became interested in freeing a huge chunk of chocolate from her cup. “We all need distraction from time to time,” she finally muttered.

Lucy immediately sat on the side of the bed. “That bad? Still?”

Jana smiled ruefully. “It’s been over a week. Feels like a year.”

Lucy rubbed Jana’s knee. “He’s that upset? I’m just so surprised he’s not being more understanding.”

“Oh, he’s being understanding. He’s convinced that this is a phase and all I need is to drown myself in the Pelletier family sea of mass procreation and all my true maternal instincts will surface.”

Lucy recoiled. “What? How?”

Jana pointed her spoon. “Exactly what I said. Along with ‘Why?’ Okay, maybe it was ‘Dear God in heaven, why?’ I don’t think I said that part out loud.”

“His family is coming? Down here? For what, the holidays or something? You don’t need that kind of stress. Not the visit itself or playing hostess when you’re still—”

Jana waved her silent. “You say it, I’ll want to do it.”

“Sorry.” Lucy nodded. “Just nibble the ice cream. Can I get you anything else?”

“I’m pregnant, not dying. Although there are times . . .”

Lucy’s mouth pulled down at the corners. “I hate this for you, you know that. I can’t fix it and I hate that, too.”

“No more than me, trust me. And just to answer your question, no they aren’t coming here. Dave wants to take me home to Canada next month during the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a special occassion. The family is rallying round for the christening of the most recent grandchild.”

“Meaning the whole gang is going to be there? And it’s all about annointing babies?” Lucy looked properly horrified, which seemed to satisfy Jana immensely.

“See? Exactly how I felt.”

“Isn’t it enough you visit his immediate family at Christmas? All sixty-two of them?”

“Sixteen. If you don’t count the four dogs and assorted infants. Which I don’t, since they can only drool on me, not interrogate me. Sometimes it might as well be sixty-two, though.” She stuck her spoon in the carton and sighed. “They’re so . . . huggy.”

Lucy didn’t instinctively shudder like Jana did at that thought. In fact, she thought it might be kind of nice having a big bosomy kind of family. Of course, her mom and dad were huggy, too, though on a more normal scale. And she only had two sets of aunts and uncles. No cousins. No drooling infants or animals, either, come to think of it. So it didn’t seem as overwhelming to her as it did to Jana. “Did you agree to go?”

Jana shrugged, dug back in. “Dave thinks that if I open up to his sisters, aunts, mom, and other assorted successfully reproducing family members, that I’ll get my ‘head in the game.’ ” She crooked her fingers in mock quotation marks on that last part, dripping ice cream onto Lucy’s bedspread.

Lucy dabbed it up and licked her finger before Jana could worry about the mess. “He didn’t actually use a sports analogy, did he?”

“Yep.”

“So, are you going to be a
team player
and head up there?”

Jana just gave her a look, then they both cracked up a little. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s my turn to do our Thanksgiving this year.”

“Well, don’t let that stop you. I mean, use us as an excuse if you want to stay, sure, but you know I want you to do whatever you have to. I’m sure stick-up-his-butt would want the same thing.”

Jana snorted a little, but said, “Don’t be mean.”

Lucy flipped up her hands. “I’m not. Yes, I was a horrible friend to go off and leave him like that. But he can be a man and answer the damn phone. So the nickname holds for now. I’m sure he has one or two for me lately.”

When Jana dove back into her ice cream, Lucy just swore under her breath.

“Actually,” Jana said, stirring, “it’s precisely because of the rift in my little external family that I don’t want to go.”

Lucy just looked at her. “Even I don’t buy that one. Grady and I will be fine. Someday. As soon as he pulls his—”

Jana leveled her spoon at Lucy. “No graphics for the pregnant woman.”

“Fine. But we will be fine, you know.” She gripped Jana’s knee. “Just do what you need to do for you. You and Dave.”

Jana looked over the edge of her carton. “Are you really really sure?”

“Yes,” Lucy said without hesitation. “And you know Grady will say the same thing when you call him. Because he answers your calls.”

“Stop. He’ll come around.”

Lucy bent her head and peered into Jana’s face. “Are you sure?”

She was teasing, but Jana must have heard something else. “Yes,” she said quite seriously. “I am. He’s just . . . going through some stuff. He’ll come around.”

Lucy wanted to ask her what “stuff” she was referring to. It hurt to know he wasn’t involving her with whatever was going on in his life.

But Jana suddenly stuck her spoon in the now-empty carton and impulsively grabbed Lucy’s hand. “Okay, promise me something.”

“Anything.”

Jana raised her eyebrows. “Careful throwing that around.”

Lucy just smiled. “Only with you. What’s the promise?”

“If I end up going to Canada, you and Grady have to do Thanksgiving together.”

Lucy’s smile faded. “I’m not sure I’m the one who can make that promise. Maybe you should run this by him first.”

“If he says yes? It would be the perfect time to get all this out in the open and over with once and for all.”

“Without you there to moderate, so no blood is spilled?”

“Lucy, please? For me?” She rubbed her tummy and looked pathetic.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Please. Do not start pulling that crap on me.”

“Hey,” Jana said, eyes twinkling with her old mischief, “I gotta use this to some advantage, right? All the ice cream I can eat,
and
giving guilt trips on a whim. I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this motherhood thing already.”

“Gee,” Lucy said dryly. “So glad I could help.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yeah, yeah. Get Grumpy Butt to agree, and you’ve got yourself a deal. Of course,” she said, her words muffled by Jana’s sudden and surprising hug, “if you change your mind and decide to stay home, please do. I won’t even make you cook. Just show up.”

“Great!” She held Lucy by the shoulders and squeezed a bit too hard. “This is really great!” Her eyes were huge and a bit glassy.

Lucy looked at her friend with wary curiosity. Jana seemed awfully excited about all this. “Whatever it takes to make you happy.”

“Knowing you guys will patch things up is the best thing you could do for me right now.”

Lucy chalked up Jana’s animated reaction to hormonal surges and climbed off the bed. “So help me figure out what to wear tonight. I’ve got—” She looked at her watch and panic set in. “Less than forty-five minutes to look fabulous. Ack!”

Jana sat up and rustled through the pile, pulling out a slim black skirt with an almost indecent slit up the back, and a soft blue cashmere sweater with a demure neckline. “Here.”

Lucy took them. “I would have never put these together.”

Jana smiled smugly. “I may still play for the dork squad, but I’ve been married long enough to know that that combination purrs ‘Come and get me’ while screaming ‘But be a nice guy about it.’ ” She cocked her head. “Is that about right?”

Lucy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I hope so. Since when do you know all about slit skirts, anyway? You don’t even own a dress.”

“Every man has his own version of the little-black-dress hots. For Dave, it’s my black bike shorts with a cutoff Gretzky jersey.”

“Another combo I’d have never put together.”

“Well, there you have it. A match made in heaven. As to this little dream outfit, well, I also work with enough men to know what toots their horn.”

Lucy shuddered. “I’ve met some of the men you work with.” She cast a dubious look at the sweater and skirt. “Now I’m nervous.”

Jana laughed. “Trust me.”

“What makes you think Jason will go for this?”

“He went for that handkerchief masquerading as a dress the other night, didn’t he?”

Lucy felt her cheeks heat up. “It’s possible he was attracted by other things.”

“If I recall, he didn’t get to know any other things. Unless of course you meant your taped-up cleavage. Speaking of which, what are you going to do about that little notion tonight? Because the last time I taped anything, Dave permanently lost all the hair on his legs from the shins down.”

Lucy drew the clothes across the front of her chest. “Ow. Don’t worry, your taping expertise, or lack thereof, will not be needed tonight.” Lucy plucked a padded bra from her bed. “I have the NASA bra.”

“NASA is making bras now?”

“That’s Vivian’s nickname for it. Put it on and your boobs will defy gravity.”

Jana snickered.

“Funny for you. You don’t have to wear it.”

“Neither do you, you know.”

“Precisely why I didn’t come to you for fashion advice in the first place. You’d have never suggested that I wear something that pushed me outside my personal comfort zone.”

Jana laughed. “Well, if you mean wearing something that pushed your boobs into orbit, then you’re right.” She leaned forward and reached out a hand. “Toss me that thing.”

“Oh no,” Lucy said, holding it clear. “Make fun of my lingerie, then expect to steal it for some perverted sex hockey with Dave? I don’t think so.”

“We don’t have ‘perverted sex hockey.’ ”

Lucy just arched a brow in her direction.

“We have perfectly normal sex hockey.”

Lucy just leveled her a look. “At least you’re having sex.”

Jana scowled and dug back into her ice cream. “As it turns out, regular sex can be highly overrated.” She waved a loaded spoon when Lucy went to apologize. “No, don’t. Ignore me. What’s that?” she asked around a mouthful of ice cream, and pointed to a pile of shimmery silk hanging over Lucy’s closet doorknob.

Lucy scooped up the garter belt and matching stockings and dangled them from one hand.

Jana wolf-whistled.

“Too much, right?” Lucy looked at the black heels she’d already decided to wear. When she paired them with the lingerie and stockings, not to mention that little slit in the back of the black skirt . . . well, it did seem a bit too much. “Maybe panty hose instead?”

Jana rolled her eyes. “Chicken. What happened to Ms. I Want Out of My Comfort Zone? What could be more uncomfortable than strapping yourself up in a garter belt for a guy who might or might not ever see it?”

“The idea is if you feel sexy, you project sexy,” Lucy said. She ran the stockings across the skirt and sweater. “I’m not sure I want to feel that sexy. Besides, panty hose might be part of the ‘I’m a good girl’ signal I want to send.”

“Fine. Except if you do eventually want to take them off. Because we all know taking off panty hose is such a surefire way to look sexy. Especially when it’s your first time together. Another good reason to give up wearing dresses.”