It's Always Complicated (Her Billionaires Book 4) (13 page)

The unspoken agreement she had with her aunt was fraying, and fast.

“Josie!’ her mom called out, the spray of hot water starting to steam the enclave. “I forgot my tampons. I’m on the rag. Could you go get me some?”

Josie’s face morphed into a mask of disgust.

And at that exact moment, her future mother-in-law walked in and did a double take.

“What’s wrong?”

“My mom asked me to go get tampons for her,” Josie said with a shudder, expecting Meribeth to understand how unseemly that was.

Meribeth gave her a blank look. “Oh. Don’t they have a machine in here?”

Josie’s skin crawled with ants. Alex’s mom wasn’t reacting with disgust, or grossness. She was all-too matter of fact, which was typical Meribeth. But Josie had expected at least a tiny bit of solidarity on this one.

“I guess?” was all Josie could muster. Meribeth searched the room until she found a machine.

Josie dug in her pants pockets, found a quarter, and bought her mom two tampons.

“Here,” she said, opening the stall door and placing them on her mother’s shoe, which sat on a bench
on
the outer part of the shower stall.

“Thanks!” Marlene said from behind the shower curtain.

Meribeth looked at her like that entire exchange was normal. “Why are you green?”

“My mom asked for a tampon,” she said dumbly.

“And that upsets you?” Meribeth’s cool detachment that infused her voice suddenly was so therapeutic that Josie started laughing,

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Why?”

“Well, first of all, my mom is old. She shouldn’t have periods any more.”

“How old is she?”

“
Old
. She’s, like, fifty?”

Meribeth cleared her throat. “Really?” She arched one eyebrow. “I thought Marlene was considerably older than that. You do realize, as a former nurse, that menstruation continues well into the fifties for most women.”

Oh, shit. Josie had just offended her future mother-in-law. She had Alex when she was eighteen, and Alex was thirty-two now, which mean Meribeth was...

Damn.

“No, it’s just, well....” Hmmm. Maybe Josie was overreacting here. If Laura or Darla had asked her for tampon help, would she freak out? No. So why the twanging nerves when her own mother needed a simple favor?

Boundaries. That’s why.

But boundaries could be pushed in one area and respected in another. Nothing stopped her from helping Marlene with an obvious basic need.

“Where’s Alex?” Meribeth asked as she unshouldered her bag, which held clothes and shower supplies. The women in the wedding party seemed to all decide it was worth a shower this mid-afternoon, as travelers trickled in. Meribeth and John had asked for one of the tiny sheds, which Josie had thought cute at the time. It was only later that she realized by doing so, Ed and Madge had their own, full cabin with a bathroom inside.

“He’s out on the water. Some of the guys here are all sea kayaking.”

A surprised smile tickled Meribeth’s lips. “Really? Alex isn’t much of a swimmer.”

Doubt made Josie’s vision blur for a second. “What? I’ve seen him swim.”

“Oh, he has the basics down. I made sure of that when he was little. He just, well, he’s so tall and so muscular. He’s a better hockey player than a swimmer. But how wonderful that he’s making some nice male friends!”

Again, Josie’s suspicious nature came to attention.

“Male friends?”

“Have you ever noticed he has no best friend, Josie?”

“Sure. His best friend is the cord clamp,” she joked. “For when he delivers babies and has to cut the umbilical cord.”

Meribeth nodded slowly. “He’s wedded to his work.”

Josie said, “He’s about to wed me, so that’ll make him a bigamist.”

Meribeth watched two men walk by through the open outer door. One was the campground owner, Pete, who she’d met last night, and Josie was pretty sure the other guy was his son. The tall one. She couldn’t remember his name.

“Alex has my father,” Meribeth said softly. Wistfully. “And I married John when he was in college.
Alex
played hockey and has had teammates as pals, but once he settled on medicine he became an island unto himself.” Meribeth swallowed, shifting her bag onto her shoulder, clearly making moves to start her own shower. Marlene’s water shut off, and Josie began to feel a sense of mounting anxiety that didn’t make sense.

“But Alex doesn’t have guy friends. Never really has. I worry about him. He didn’t want a bachelor party, and sometimes I think it’s because he wouldn’t know who to invite.”

Josie’s throat tightened.

“He said he didn’t want one,” Josie whispered, but as something passed between her and her future mother-in-law, Josie understood her concern. She’d felt it, once in a while. Josie had Laura as her best friend. Wouldn’t know how to live without her in her life. Alex joked he was fine with family and work, but he was the oldest cousin by far, with Meribeth having him so young. He really was a loner.

A loner who spent a hundred hours a week in a hospital, his job to welcome new people into the world.

“Maybe he’ll make some friends here. At this event. He does hang out and have a beer with Trevor and Joe when they come with Darla to our place.”

Meribeth lit up. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Darla offered to have them help throw him a bachelor party, but they all got kind of weird about it.” As Marlene exited the shower stall, she gave her a look that Meribeth picked up on immediately, bless her.

Alex, Trevor and Joe had been mighty scarred by the last bachelor party they’d gone to.

The one Marlene had attended.

And then there had been the crazy Christmas Eve fiasco where they’d actually worked as strippers for a bunch of church organists who hired them the night Darla was arrested for alleged prostitution.

Come to think of it, she thought, as her eyes narrowed, Trevor and Joe were the last men on earth she’d have plan Alex’s bachelor party.

“You talking about bachelorette parties?” Marlene called out. She’d wrapped her towel around her head like a turban, and was wearing flip-flops and a robe.

“Mom! Go get dressed. You can’t walk around the campground like that.”

“How will I flash people if I wear clothes?” Marlene gave Meribeth a wink. Josie died. Right there. She died because matter met antimatter and created a black hole.

The black hole of her mother.

Ewww. She cringed at that thought.

Meribeth laughed, humoring Josie’s mom. Having Marlene in her real life, here in New England, was fueling more than anxiety for her. Marlene had never left Ohio except for a few trips to Pittsburgh. When she was little Josie’s father would talk about going on trips when he had saved a little more money. Most of their vacations were spent at Cedar Point, the big amusement park
in Sandusky
, or going to small hotels off Lake Erie. She knew her dad had wanted to take them all to Niagara Falls or Europe, even, but there wasn’t the money.

And Marlene, being a local girl, just stayed put.

So far, it was Aunt Cathy, Uncle Mike, and her new step-uncle, Calvin, who appreciated Maine the most. Right now, they were sightseeing at a nearby lighthouse. Darla had met up with Trevor and Joe and were on their way, taking forever. With the wedding happening tomorrow at four p.m., she wasn’t surprised to find Darla dragging her feet.

That woman could be late for the Pope.

“Josie, I’m fine walking back to my little garden hut like this. I have panties and a bra and a t-shirt on. See?” She flashed her and Meribeth, opening the bathrobe like it was a trench coat. She was, indeed, wearing what she said she had on.

Meribeth laughed until she couldn’t speak.

“I just left my pants in the cabin. You know I’ve always had a hard time keeping my pants on!”
Wink wink, nudge nudge.
 

Josie just sighed. This was well-worn material for her, but Marlene had a new audience in Meribeth.

“This wedding,” Meribeth gasped, “is going to be so much fun.”

She was completely sincere. Josie couldn’t believe it. Meribeth had this way of living between two worlds. On the one hand, she had a Ph.D. and walked in rich, educated circles. On the other hand, she came from working-class Watertown, the daughter of an Armenian immigrant, and she could seamlessly blend in with her Ohio relatives.

She was a chameleon.

Josie was, too, but in a completely different way.

As she and Marlene said their goodbyes, leaving Meribeth to her shower, they ran into Alex, who was carrying a kayak on his broad shoulder, dripping wet, and sweetly smiling. Josie couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so relaxed.

Actually, she’d never seen him like this.

She liked it.

“Hi!” He put the kayak down, gave her a wet smack on the cheek, and grinned at Marlene.

“You go swimming?”

“Not on purpose!” He seemed almost ecstatic to admit he’d tipped over.

“You’re awfully happy for someone who fell out of a boat.”

“It was so much fun, Josie. Mike—Mike Bournham, I mean—taught me how to flip the boat back. You get under it and pop it and—”

As Alex chattered on, excited and animated, Marlene wandered off in the general direction of her little cabin. Josie watched Alex’s face, not really hearing the words, just seeing the hint of sunburn on his nose and the thin crescents of his wide cheekbones, how he ran a hand through his wet hair, the way his swimsuit clung, wet, to all the right muscles.

They needed more of
this
in their life.

How could she shape their time so she and Alex got more time together, but more important—more leisure time to just be? Life was supposed to be a rolling series of experiences that enrich, entertain, and deepen. At the end, you have all your memories to feed the slowing down that comes with age and the inevitable winding down of a life well lived.

Ed happened to walk by, his body so much like Alex’s, shoulders straight and strong, but so different, his skin stretched and loose by the loss of collagen and too much sunlight, his features obscured by time. Madge was a match, and Josie corrected herself.

You
hoped
you had all those memories at the end of a life well lived.

And if you didn’t?

At least you lived well.

Working for Good Things Come in Threes and having Alex work
hundred
-hour weeks as he came to the end of a very long road that was supposed to finally pay off with a good position as an obstetrician/gynecologist meant putting so much of life on hold.

It was a gamble.

Delayed gratification sounded like a mature, sensible plan.

Until you realized the gratification might never come.

“Hey!” Alex whispered, nuzzling her ear. “You listening, or am I boring you with talk of ocean currents and buoyancy?”

“No. Not boring. Just thinking.” She felt the tempest inside her stir up a bit.

“About what?”

“About how happy you are. Right now.”

He squeezed her shoulder and looked back at the ocean, eyes going unfocused as he stared at a distant island on the horizon. He made a small huffing sound of agreement. “You’re right. I am happy. Haven’t felt like this since...high school? Maybe even before?”

“You push yourself too hard.” The words came out of Josie’s mouth, and if she had a twin she’d be gaping at herself in disbelief. Those were the words everyone always said to her, as she scrambled to get out of tiny little Peters, Ohio, and away from her mom. Years of working too many crap jobs, taking too many classes, busting her ass to get away from and out of the hole of her life had gotten her to Cambridge, Massachusetts, into the nurse’s job she had when she met Alex.

He gaped at her, too.

“You’ve never said that to me before. Ever.”

A simple shrug was her answer, because while she knew she could try to take back the words, she actually meant them.

His brow lowered, but not in anger. Alex bit his lower lip, a habit he had when he mulled over something. The sun was low in the sky, but there was enough ethereal light to give him an outdoorsy, rugged look that she found compelling. She couldn’t stop watching him.

“You’re right,” he said slowly, their gait changing as they meandered more, stretching out their time alone as they approached the camp office. A cluster of wedding workers hovered around the porch like worker bees at a hive.

“It’s not a criticism. Just an observation.”

“And an astute one,” he conceded. “I do work too hard. I have since high school, when I realized I wanted to be a doctor. I’m coming to the end of nearly fifteen years of busting myself to reach this final goal. Residency’s almost done. Then the job search.” His mild tone covered the reality of his situation. Alex was highly sought-after, and would have his pick of jobs in the late spring. He’d already been told he had a position with a popular practice in a suburb of Boston if he wanted it, with an expected salary that would make Josie’s jaw drop if it weren’t for the massive student loan payment he had to make.

Still. They’d be comfortable.

But the job would bring high stress with it. As Josie looked back at the ocean, she made him stop. Grabbing his hand, she started running, realizing she hadn’t even dipped her feet in the water yet.

“What are you doing? he shouted, catching his footing quickly and running with her, adjusting his strides to her shorter legs.

“Having more fun!” In a minute, her lungs were bursting. She didn’t run like this. Two minutes, and she had to slow down.

By the third, they were in the water, waist deep, his arm around her, both facing the horizon.

He kissed her wet cheek. “You taste like salt.”

She laughed and dropped down, floating in the water, not caring about seaweed, salt, the wedding, her mother, Alex’s uncertain job future—just caring about this moment. Being here with him.

Floating.

Abandoned to the whims of the tides, they floated, holding hands, until she was finally ready to go back up the shore and face the enormous event they’d triggered.

As they slogged through the water back to shore, she said, “Can we just run away and elope?”