One of the Guys (7 page)

           
“You want to get that?” Lucy asked.

           
Kate opened the door. “Hey!” Jackson
said, standing there with two brown paper bags.

           
“Hi,” Kate said, opening the door
for him and taking a bag from him. They both went to the kitchen and Kate started
unloading the food. Jackson kissed Lucy before taking the steaks from Kate. He
laid them out on a platter and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. Kate got
out the plates, bowls, silverware, and napkins and went out by the pool to set
the patio table.

           
Kate arranged everything around the
table and then went behind the bar to find the matches. She walked around the
patio, lighting candles all over the place – the bar, the patio table, hanging
in stained-glass holders from the ceiling. When the sun went down all the way,
the patio would be twinkly and sparkly. Just as she blew out the last match,
she looked up and saw Chris coming out onto the patio. “Hey,” she said.

           
Though he had creases around his
eyes and still looked sleepy, he smiled a bright smile and held his arms open. Kate
went to him and gave him a big hug, thinking how good it felt to be held in
someone’s arms.

*

           
Much to Kate’s relief, dinner went
smoothly. Lucy behaved herself, and it seemed like she was actually enjoying
herself around Chris. After the boys cleared up the plates and retreated into
the kitchen to do dishes, Kate nudged Lucy’s leg with her toe. “He’s not that
bad, right?” she asked.

           
Lucy shrugged. “I guess not. I’ve
never really hung out with him before.”

           
Kate smiled with satisfaction. “See?
 
So who knows?
 
If this ends up really going somewhere…”

           
Lucy covered her eyes with her hand.
“Okay, Kate, can I be honest with you?”

           
“Yeah.
Of course.”

           
“Please don’t, like, get your heart
set on marrying this guy.”

           
“What?
 
Why not?”

           
“Okay, first of all, you’ve only
barely started dating…”

           
“But we’ve known each other for a
few years!”

           
“…and I just don’t know how serious
this guy is. I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s all.”

           
Kate folded her arms across her
chest and pouted. “Okay. But that’s not going to stop me from having fun,” she
said.

           
“Fine.
Have
fun.”

           
“I haven’t had fun in awhile.”

           
“Go for it.”

           
“And by that, I mean that I haven’t
had sex in awhile.”
 
She tried to
remember the last time Max had spent the night. It had been a couple weeks, at
least. Eventually, she was going to have to put an end to the whole “friends
with benefits” thing once and for all, if she and Chris got serious.

           
Lucy’s mouth dropped open. “Do you
think
…
You and him?” she asked, nodding towards the
house.

           
Kate shrugged. “No idea.
Maybe.”
 
She thought
about their first kiss. And the kiss in the parking lot after the poker game
the other night.
Whoaaa
.
“I bet it’ll be
good.”

           
Lucy shuddered.
“Too
much information.”

           
“
Yeah
,with
the way he kisses… I bet it’ll be
really
good.”

           
Lucy stuck her fingers in her ears.
“
Laaaa
!
Lalalalala
!
I’m not listening!”
 
She sang, getting up
and moving over to one of the lounge chairs.

           
Kate got up, too, grabbed both of
their wine glasses, and joined Lucy on a lounge chair. They both collapsed
laughing. “Seriously, though. I need to get laid.”
 
Kate handed Lucy her glass.

           
Lucy took a sip of wine and raised
her eyebrows in warning as Jackson and Chris rejoined them on the patio. Jackson
sat at the end of Lucy’s lounge chair and lifted her feet into his lap. Kate
curled her legs up to make room for Chris. It got quiet.

           
“So, what were you girls talking
about?” Jackson asked.

           
“We thought we heard… singing,”
Chris added.

           
Both girls giggled. Kate shot Lucy a
cautionary look. Lucy shrugged.
“Just being silly.”

           
Jackson nodded. “Goofy girls,” he
said, leaning over and giving Lucy a sweet kiss on the lips. Kate sighed. She
couldn’t help being envious of Lucy and Jackson. They were made for each other.
When was she going to find someone like that?
 
She looked at Chris, who was peeling the label off of his beer bottle. He
yawned. Would it be like that with Chris?
 
It was too early to tell.

           
“What time is your meeting
tomorrow?” Lucy asked Jackson.

           
“Seven-thirty,” he replied. He
glanced down at his watch. “I should probably get going. I need to get some
stuff together tonight so that I’m ready in the morning.”

           
Lucy nodded. She moved her feet from
his lap and Jackson got to his feet. “Good night, Kate,” he said, bending down
and giving her a hug. “Chris,” he said.
The two guys fist-bumped.

           
“I’ll walk you out,” Lucy said. Holding
hands, the two of them went into the house.

           
“They’re cute, huh?” Chris asked.

           
“Yeah,” Kate nodded.
“Made for each other.”

           
“And what’s their story again?”

           
“They hooked up in high school. Jackson
was nuts about her back in the day and it kind of freaked her out. They broke
up and both of them were so stubborn they avoided each other for years. They
ran into each other last year at my birthday party and that was that. They
hooked up all over again.”

           
“But Jackson was married, right?”

           
“Yep.
And
Lucy was engaged.”

           
Chris let out a whistle. “Crazy.”

           
“I guess love will make you do crazy
things.”

           
“I wouldn’t know,” Chris said. He
took a long sip of his beer.

           
Kate chewed on the inside of her
cheek.
Whoa. What the heck did that
mean?
 
Chris liked to joke around a
lot, but just then, he sounded like he was pretty serious. “No?”

           
“Nope.
Never been in love.”

           
“Really?” she asked in surprise.

           
“Nope.
You?”

           
Kate paused, her mouth hanging open.
Why was she so surprised by that?
 
She’d
never been in love, either. “Me, either,” she said.

           
“I should probably get going, too,”
Chris said abruptly. He seemed
weirded
out by the
conversation.

           
“Oh.
Um.
Okay.”

           
“I’m just really tired, and I’ve got
some meetings lined up tomorrow.
Lots more editing to do,
too.”

           
“Right.”

           
“So… I’ll see you sometime this
week, right?
 
What are you doing this
weekend?
 
You said Saturday was a slow
day for you, right?”

           
“Yeah,” Kate said. She didn’t want
Chris to leave just yet, but all of a sudden he seemed like he was in a hurry
to get out of there.

           
“So maybe we can do something on
Saturday night?”
 

           
“Sure,” Kate agreed, hugging her
knees to her chest. At least he still seemed interested in seeing her again. Then
it dawned on her. “Oh. Wait. Shoot. I’m going to my parents’ house Saturday.”

           
“Oh. Visiting the parents, huh?”

           
“Yes. Well, no.
Visiting
their house.
And… their chickens.
They’re going
out of town and need me to take care of the animals.”

           
“Animals?”
Chris asked.

           
“They have pigs, too.”

           
“Really?”

           
“Yeah.
My
dad’s idea of retirement was moving to ten acres in the middle of nowhere to
farm and do all the stuff he did when he was a kid.
My mom
looooves
it.”

           
“I bet.”

           
Kate giggled. “Not really.”

           
Chris got to his feet and stretched.
“So… We’ll get together again soon.”

           
“Sure,” Kate said. She got to her
feet. “Unless…”
 
Chris looked at her
expectantly.
“Never mind.”

“What?”
he asked.

“I
don’t know what you’ve got going on, but maybe you could come up there with me
on Saturday. I’m only staying the night and hanging out a little bit on Sunday
to make sure everything’s okay.”

           
“Actually,” Chris said, reaching his
arms around her waist, “I’m open on Saturday. Just doing an engagement
shoot
out at the beach in the morning. No weddings on the
books for Saturday.”

           
“Really?”
Kate asked, sliding her arms around his neck. “So, would you want to go with me?”

           
Chris shrugged. “Sure, why
not?”
 

           
“I mean, it really is in the middle
of nowhere,” she warned.

           
“There’s got to be something to do
up there, though, right?”

           
“Oh, I’m sure we can think of
something,” she said, standing on her toes and kissing him.

           
He kissed her back and pulled away,
smiling at her. “We’ll talk during the week,” he said, kissing her again.

           
Kate led him through the house and
to the front door. “Good night,” she said.

           
 
“Thanks for inviting me. Tell Lucy I said good
night and thank you.” He bent and kissed her again.

           
“You got it,” Kate said. She watched
him walk down the path, and then she closed the door. She stood there for a
moment, doing a crazy little dance on the spot.

           
“What the hell are you doing?” Lucy
asked. She’d come out into the living room with her pajamas on and her
toothbrush in her mouth.

           
“My happy dance,” Kate replied,
brushing the hair out of her face.

           
“Happy dance for
what?”
Lucy asked.

           
“Because Chris is
going to my parents’ house with me next weekend!”

*

           
“Okay, so turn right onto the next
road. Then go down to the first dirt road and go left.”

           
“You know you’re in the middle of
nowhere when the directions include the phrase ‘go down to the dirt road,’”
Chris teased. He reached over and rested his hand on Kate’s knee.

           
His car bumped down the dirt road
and Kate directed him around the familiar ruts in the road. “It’s the second
gate on the left,” she said. When Chris came to a stop in front of the gate,
Kate hopped out and opened it. She motioned for Chris to head down the long
driveway towards her parents’ house. Kate locked the gate behind her and
started up the driveway. She looked around. Her parents had done lots of
landscaping since the last time she’d come to visit. There were large gardenia
bushes surrounding the front porch and it looked like new red mulch had been
put down in all of the flower beds. Their little house was cute, and Kate
didn’t mind coming here every once in awhile to get away, but she wasn’t sure
how her parents could stand it.
Nothing around for miles.
No neighbors nearby. It was so quiet.