Baumgartners Empty Nest (The Baumgartners) (10 page)

“I know.” Carrie just smiled.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to rely on your hospitality.” Jody sighed as she tucked herself into the wooden chair and opened her menu. “Because if I go to the ATM, Jackie’ll find me faster than a hot knife through butter.”

“No worries,” Doc assured her, meeting Carrie’s eyes, smiling at Jody’s southern expression. He liked her, she could tell. And that made Carrie rather deliriously happy. “It’s all on us. Don’t even think about it.”

“Well, I can’t help but think about it.” Jody smiled sweetly at him over her menu. “But I do very much appreciate your generosity. Both of you. I really don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.” 

“But we did.” Carrie touched Jody’s bare knee under the table and their eyes met. Something electric passed between them, a hot, pulsing current. 

“You’re safe,” Doc assured her. “And you can stay with us until you figure out what it is you want to do.”

“Goodness, that could be a lifetime.” Jody gave a little laugh. 

Carrie squeezed Jody’s knee under the table in silent response. 

“Welcome to Cracker Barrel.” The waiter, Zach, who had to be as young as the hostess, Carrie figured, pulled a pad out of his back pocket. He was clean-cut, blonde, and very tanned, his smile so white it was almost blinding. He also had the sweetest, softest southern accent Carrie had heard since she met Jody. “What can I get you folks?”

Doc ordered chicken and dumplings, and his wife ordered the country fresh salad, sans bacon.

“Oh, now I’ve got the devil on one side of me,” Jody said, looking pointedly at Doc. “And an angel on the other.” 

“I’m no angel,” Carrie protested, laughing.

“What do you think, Zach?” Jody mused, running a long fingernail down the menu. “Should I be good—or bad?”

“You’re on vacation, right?” Zach asked.

“Well, yes.” Jody blinked at him, looking a little surprised at the idea. “I guess I am.” 

“Then I’d say—be bad.” 

“Naughty boy.” Jody shook a finger at him and Zach blushed and laughed. “All right, I’ll be good and have the lemon-pepper grilled rainbow trout. But I’ll be bad and order the fried okra and turnip greens. And a nice, big sweet tea.”

“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” Zach said, taking their menus and tucking his pad into his back pocket.

“I’m so hungry,” Carrie said, after Zach had dropped off their drinks and a basket of corn bread. She dove into the bread basket, taking a bite of bread with a soft groan. Her stomach was growling. “We were going to stop for lunch in Atlanta, but then you called...”

“I think I forgot to eat today.” Jody wrinkled her nose, her hand brushing Doc’s as they both reached for bread. Carrie saw their eyes meet and felt that electricity again, except this time, it wasn’t between her and Jody. It thrilled her, but she didn’t say anything. “I’m so hungry I could eat the north end of a south-bound goat.”

“Well, that’s colorful. Never heard that one before.” Doc laughed, half-choking on his lemonade.

“You’re in the south, sugar.”

“Florida’s south,” Doc said. “But I’ve never heard that phrase before.”

“In Florida, you’ve gotta drive north to go south.” Jody winked. “After you pass Tallahassee, you’re heading north again.”

“Speaking of colorful...” Doc buttered his cornbread, taking a bite and talking through a mouthful. “What you said before, about Cracker Barrel?”

“Mm hmm.” Jody sipped her sweet tea.

“You said something about change being hard? It just struck me. You sounded like you were talking from experience?” Doc asked. Carrie froze, her breath caught in her throat. “Like, maybe a friend or someone in your family had gone through some changes, and wasn’t swimming in the mainstream?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Jody nodded slowly, glancing briefly at Carrie, who tried her best to give her a warning look without Doc knowing. “Someone close to me did go through some major life changes.”

“Really?” Doc leaned his elbows on the table, interested. Carrie searched her brain, looking for something she could say that would change the subject. She didn’t want this coming out, not here, not now.

“But you two must know something about that.” Jody unwrapped a straw, sliding it into her tea and taking a sip. Carrie looked at Doc, trying to figure out if he was reading the subtext, but she couldn’t tell. Under the table, she felt Jody’s knee brush up against hers. “Not swimming in the mainstream, I mean.”

“Doc, I—” Carrie didn’t even know what she was going to follow that up with. She had nothing. But thankfully, their waiter was approaching with their food.

“Oh look, there’s young Zachary with my rainbow trout.” Jody leaned back as the young waiter approached. “How fitting.” 

“Yeah, we’re part of the rainbow trout crowd, that’s for sure.” Doc chuckled.

All three dug into the food, and there was little conversation until their stomachs had stopped growling. Jody made Carrie try a bite of fried okra, which was surprisingly good, and another bite of turnip greens, which were godawful. That made Jody chuckle, her eyes bright.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Jody remarked, sitting back and looking between the two of them. “I can’t even seem to get it right with one person, let alone more.”

“You just have to find the right one.” Carrie slid a hand across the table to touch Doc’s. He’d made quick work of his chicken and dumplings and was on his second lemonade. “After that, adding a third is just like icing on the cake.”

“So to speak.” Jody’s eyebrow raised and Doc laughed. She leaned forward, chin in hand, her silver bangles clinking down her wrist. “So how many lovers have you had in your marriage?”

“We’ve had mostly long-term relationships with people,” Doc explained. “Only a couple one-nighters or short-term situations. It’s not just about the sex.”

“I mean, the sex is good, don’t get me wrong,” Carrie countered. “But that’s not all it is. Hardly ever.” 

“Granted, there were a few times we considered it because one of us wanted someone.” Doc smirked at his wife and she flushed, knowing instantly who he was talking about. That had been a mutual desire on their part. A fantasy, really, that had turned into a surreal reality one Christmas in Key West.

“Like Ronnie?” Carrie nudged her husband under the table.

“Come on,” he said with a pained groan. “How long was I supposed to resist the nineteen-year-old babysitter?”

“Well, at least you waited until she was legal.” Jody laughed.

“Barely.” Carrie snorted. “But even then, it wasn’t just about the sex. She was already part of the family, in a way.”

“Gretchen, too,” Doc said.

“That was the other nanny, right?” Jody asked. “The one that moved to New York?”

“I think her biological clock started ticking...” Doc told her.

“Well, that, and I think she just wanted a man of her own.” Carrie looked at her husband, feeling so grateful for him in that moment. He’d chosen her, and he’d never wavered from that, not in their entire marriage. Even when there were three of them, he was always committed to her, always put her first.

“That happens.” Doc shrugged. Then, he grinned. “Dani found two.”

“Dani?” Jody blinked in surprised. “You were with a man?”

“Short for Danielle,” Carrie explained. She had forgotten about Dani. Well, not forgotten, exactly, but she hadn’t come up in the conversations she’d had with Jody over the past few months.

“Ah.” Jody gave a nod. Then her nose wrinkled. “Did you say—two men?”

“Yes. Mason and Nico. Two very strapping young men,” Carrie replied, like it was the most normal thing in the world for a woman to decide to commit herself to not just one but two gorgeous men. “Living in Venice, last we heard.”

“What about jealousy?” Jody asked, glancing at the way Doc laughed and rolled his eyes at his wife’s choice of words. “Don’t you get jealous?”

“Sometimes.” Carrie shrugged. “In the beginning, I think the jealousy bug bit harder than it does now.”

“I admit,” Doc said, reaching over and putting a hand over his wife’s on the red checked tablecloth. “I don’t like the idea of Carrie being with another man.”

And that was the issue, wasn’t it? Carrie thought, meeting Jody’s knowing eyes. Because, while Jody was a woman—everything about her was feminine, from her voice to her gestures to the softness of her skin—she hadn’t completely transitioned. What in the hell was Doc going to do, when he found out that Carrie wanted to bring another cock into their relationship? Even if it was attached to someone who happened to be, otherwise, all woman…

“And what’s the rule about you being with women?” Jody inquired. “I mean, with women that you’re both sleeping with?”

“It’s not so much about rules. I mean, I guess we have them, but they’re more just... an understanding.” Carrie smiled at her husband, feeling her brand new rock of a wedding ring being pressed by the palm of his hand over hers. “The fact is, I’ve never found a man I want to be with more than Doc. He’s more than enough for me.”

“Well, I can already understand why.” Jody dropped her a little wink. Then she looked at Doc. “But you’ve had sex with these other women, without Carrie? Right?”

“Yeah.” Doc nodded.

“And you’re okay with that?” Jody sounded incredulous.

“Yes,” Carrie agreed.

“Jackie would send me out to cut a switch and tan my hide if he thought I was seeing someone else.” Jody sat back in her chair with a sigh, crossing one leg over the other, revealing more of her tawny thighs. Carrie couldn’t help looking, and, she noticed, neither could Doc.

“It was hard enough to keep you a secret, babygirl,” Jody told her with a little shake of her head.

“That’s the best part of an open relationship, I think,” Doc said, his fingers caressing Carrie’s, softly stroking. “There’s no need to lie. We don’t have to deceive each other or keep things secret.”

Carrie didn’t say a word. She didn’t even look at Jody. She couldn’t.

It was like divine intervention when the waiter came by asking if anyone wanted dessert.

“I’ve got a hankerin’ for a peach cobbler,” Jody told Zach. “And if you’d put a scoop of ice cream on it, well that would just dill my pickle.”

Carrie was used to Jody’s southern-isms, but Doc hadn’t heard them, and he chuckled. Jody was clearly charming him, although she wasn’t sure she was doing it on purpose. Jody was just being Jody.

“Yes, ma’am,” Zach said, writing it down. “Anyone else?”

“Oh, I think we can share,” Doc told him, and the three of them all got the subtext, even if the young waiter was oblivious.

“I’ll bring three spoons, then, ma’am, if that’s all right with you?” he asked Jody.

“I doubt I’ll need a spoon.”

Zach gave her a puzzled look and Carrie laughed.

“Go on, Zach, bring three spoons,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am.” He grabbed their stacked plates and headed to the kitchen.

“You know you’re old when they start calling you ma’am.” Carrie made a face at his back.

“Sometimes it’s good to be called ma’am.” Jody winked at Carrie, watching him walk away. “He’s a cutie—but he’s just a baby.”

“Well, since you girls like him so much,” Doc said, finishing the last of his lemonade. “I’ll be sure to leave him a big tip.”

“Yeah.” Jody met Carrie’s eyes, dead-pan, and said, “That boy deserves a nice… big… tip.”

Carrie nudged her under the table, barely suppressing her laughter.

“I need to visit the little girls’ room.” Jody slung her purse over her shoulder, standing.

“I’ll come with you.” Carrie followed her, glancing back to see Doc watching them both walk away.

There was no one in the bathroom, and the instant the door closed behind them, Jody had Carrie pressed up against it, mouth slanting across hers. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other, now that they didn’t have an audience. Carrie’s arms went around Jody’s neck, tilting her head to the side as Jody’s mouth trailed over her cheek and down her throat. Her breath was hot against her ear.

“I want you.” Jody’s knee slid between her own, making Carrie moan and rock her hips. They were about the same height, but Jody was taller in heels.

“I want you, too,” Carrie gasped as Jody’s hands moved over her sundress, exploring every soft curve and crevice she could get her hands on. Her whole body felt like it was on fire.

“Oh babygirl, you feel so good.” Jody let out a soft moan when Carrie rocked her hips faster, sundress caught between her legs, riding the other woman’s thigh.

Jody’s hands moved over the front of Carrie’s sundress, cupping her breasts through the material. Her nipples were so hard they almost hurt and she shuddered when Jody’s fingertips brushed them. She swore she could have come, right then, just from that.

“Oh God, I can feel you,” Carrie whispered, the unmistakable press of a hard cock against her belly. “So hard.”

“You do that to me.” Jody kissed her way down Carrie’s throat, heading for her cleavage. “The amount of hormones I’m on, I shouldn’t be able to get hard like that. But I can’t help it with you.”