The Stable Boy (26 page)

“Okay,” I said, climbing back in the truck. Josh climbed in and we waited until they were in the house before we pulled out of the driveway.

“Thank you for coming to get us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Did you really say that stuff to those guys?”

“Yes.”

“The girls know. It is okay if you want to tell someone.”

“Really? Did they get you drunk enough to tell them?”

“No, I kind of told them before we even arrived. Well, not really told them as much as they guessed.”

“Am I that obvious in my affections toward you?”

“Very, according to them.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Alison wanted to get me drunk enough to tell her all the explicit details of our love life, but Susie asked Vanessa if she had ever kissed you and she said no. I didn’t think anyone heard me, but I said it was a good thing she hadn’t or she would have been done for.”

“Thanks, I think,” he smiled.

“You’re welcome. Susie then asked if you were the knees buckle kind of kisser and I said yes. Alison said that was all the information she wanted. I can only imagine what ran through her head after that.”

“I don’t think I want to know.”

“Me either,” I said, as we were pulling into the driveway. We climbed out of the truck. He came around front and grabbed my hand. We walked up the front porch steps. Unlocking the door, he stepped aside for me to enter first. I brushed past him. He smiled.

“It’s late and I think I am going to go to bed,” I said.

“That sounds like a plan to me,” he said with a yawn.

“Good night, Josh.

“Good night, Claire,” he said, inching closer to me. He placed a hand on my hip. His lips brushed mine. I welcomed his kiss. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but it felt like it lasted an eternity. His kiss was like no other. While my husband’s kisses could have the same profound affect on me, Josh’s were just different. His were made of hurt, lust, love, and an uncontrolled passion that I never felt. John’s kisses were pure unadulterated love and passion. I placed my hand on Josh’s chest. I could feel his heart racing. He pulled away. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” I said, breathlessly. “Can you please unzip the back of this dress a little before you walk away?”

“Sure,” he said. I turned around. He grabbed the zipper. I felt the back open all the way to my hips. He slipped his hand inside my dress. Wrapping his arm around me, he pulled me closer to him. I felt his lips on the back of my neck. I took a deep breath as my skin formed its own reaction to his touch. Again, he pulled away. “Good night, Claire. Sleep well.”

“Good night, Josh. You, too,” I said, heading up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, I took my shoes off. Walking down the hallway to my bedroom, I slipped one arm out of the dress. Closing the door behind me, I slipped the other arm out and let the dress fall to the ground. All I wanted was to crawl into bed, but I knew that I need to calm myself down or I would never get any sleep. I finished stripping and turned on the shower. Instead of the hot, steamy showers I normally took, I kept the water cool. I needed a cold shower. I climbed in letting the cool water run over me. A few deep breaths and I was able to get out of the shower. I got ready for bed and climbed in. Waking up tomorrow was going to be rough, but there were things that needed to be done. I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep, never stirring once.

10 The Aftermath

When I awoke, it was almost ten. The phone was ringing. I grabbed the receiver by my bed. My stomach was swimming and my head ached.

“Hello,” I said, barely audible.

“Claire, are you okay?” asked a panicky Janie.

“Yes, I went out last night and I guess all the singing, dancing, and drinking took its toll on my voice,” I said as the bedroom door opened quietly and Josh came in with a tray. There was milk, orange juice, coffee, and a plate of eggs, toast, bacon, and fruit. I gagged looking at it. He handed me three aspirin and the orange juice. He gave me a wink and mouthed the words ‘trust me’ with a smile. It lit up the room. I took the aspirin and orange juice.

“I completely forgot. Go rest. I will call you during the week.”

“It’s okay, Janie. We can talk,” I said a little better now that I had some juice to take care of my cotton mouth.

“It sounds like you had a good time last night.”

“I did. It was one of the better times I had in quite sometime. You were not kidding about Christian Kane. He puts on one hell of a concert.”

“I told you. He is so good at keeping the audience engaged.”

“He is. We even met him before the concert.”

“How did you manage that?”

“We ate at the café across the street from the bar and he happens to eat there when he comes in. Maggie, the owner and server, introduced us.”

“You are so damn lucky.”

“I know. Dave, our bartender, tried to introduce us again once we were inside, but Christian told Dave we already had met. We got as close as we could to the stage and sang and danced all night. It was great.”

“Alison didn’t get naked in front of him did she?”

“No,” I laughed. “We left before that could happen. After the concert, we were still hanging out singing, drinking, and dancing. The minute she said she was hot we left. She did buy him a shot of whiskey when he sang ‘Whiskey on My Mind,’ though.”

“Oh jeez.”

“I know, we tried to stop her. It was impossible.”

“Claire, that is too funny.”

“It was pretty great.”

“I am glad you had such a good time. Relax today. Anything that needs to get done can wait until tomorrow. Go back to bed. I love you, Claire.”

“Thanks, Janie. I love you, too. I
’ll call you during the week.”

“Okay,” she said and hung up the phone. I put the phone back on the base. I looked at Josh who was sitting at the end of the bed. “Good morning. Did you turn my alarm off?”

“I did. I knew you were going to be in no condition to get up this morning. I turned it off before I came to get you last night.”

“Thank you for that. The sleep was well needed, but I think I need more.”

“Most likely. Eat your breakfast and make sure to drink everything here. It will help with the queasy stomach and headache.”

“I don’t know if I can. Looking at it is making me gag.”

“That tends to happen, especially with a first hangover, but you will be okay.”

“Okay, I am trusting you on this, but if I get sick.”

“You won’t. I promise. If you do, I will be right here. I will even hold your hair for you.”

“Thanks for the comfort,” I said rolling my eyes. He laughed. I took my first bite of eggs. My stomach lurched, but it stayed put. I took another bite. Again, there was a lurch, but all stayed where it was supposed to. I took a bite of toast. My stomach steadied itself. I finished my breakfast, doing as Josh said. After it was done, I felt better. “I think I can officially start the day.”

“You just stay in bed. I will take care of everything, today. You don’t want to rush into doing things. You will get sick.”

“Okay, boss.”

“Don’t sass me, young lady,” he said with another smile that lit the room up. I laughed at him. He grabbed the tray and went to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“To put the dishes away and start the dishwasher, then Vanessa called, so I am going to run to her house to talk to her.”

“When are you coming back?”

“I shouldn’t be long. Relax, watch a little TV or go back to sleep. I will come up here as soon as I return.”

“Okay,” I said, settling back into bed. My eyes suddenly grew heavy again. I fell back to sleep. He went downstairs. After loading the dishwasher, he went to see Vanessa. He knocked on her screen door.

“Hey Josh,” she said. “Thanks for coming.”

“You’re welcome. What’s up?”

“Not much. I just wanted to talk to you about Claire.”

“Okay,” he said with a furrowed brow.

“You know that I know, right?”

“Yes, Claire told me.”

“Good. What are your feelings toward her?”

“I’ve fallen for her. She is an amazing, beautiful woman with a big heart.”

“You know she is still grieving for her husband, right? Did she tell you about him?”

“Yes, we talk about him. I think it helps her, but there are times it breaks her heart all over again.”

“I am glad she talks about him. They had a love like none I had ever witnessed before. If you are going to love her, you will have some big shoes to fill.”

“I know,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Don’t get discouraged by it. I can tell by the way she talks about you that she is coming around. She does like you, a lot. Her face lights up and she gets a little embarrassed. She was the same way with her husband. You have a great person in your life now. Please just be there for her and know it will take some time for her to completely open up to you, but it will happen.”

“She has already begun that process. We talk about a lot of different things. I have even spoken to her brother on the phone. Not her sister, yet. But I think she is waiting for the right moment with her sister.”

“Her sister can be a bear. Her brother, on the other hand, just wants to see his sister happy and Alison naked,” Vanessa laughed.

“Yeah, that is too funny. He has the worst thing for her. Claire told me why. I laughed. I think I am going to like her brother. She also told me about her sister. She said she will sit me down and ask all kinds of questions.”

“Yes, Janie is very protective of her younger siblings. How is Claire feeling? Was she even awake when you left?”

“Yes, she is okay. Her head hurts and her stomach is queasy, but I gave her the hangover cure you used to give me.”

“Good. She will be fine then.”

“Yes, she was going back to bed and I don’t blame her.”

“No, not at all. I am sure Alison and the rest of the girls are still sound asleep.”

“Most likely.
Claire said you all met Christian Kane last night.”

“We did. He seemed nice.”

“That is awesome.”

“It was. We had such a good time. Did she tell you about Alison buying Christian a shot?”

“I heard about it when she was on the phone with her sister. I can’t believe she did that.”

“Believe it. Alison gets a little crazy when she is drunk. It makes us all laugh. We have to be careful with her. Half the time she doesn’t remember anything that took place the next morning. We are hoping that she at least remembers the concert. It would suck if she didn’t.”

“From what I saw last night, Alison may need a reminder.”

“Yeah, what was up with that last night. How come you were all here waiting on us to get home?”

“We discussed it. We thought it may be better for the girls if they woke up in their own beds.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Considering how much drinking got done. It was probably best.”

“Definitely. We would all be here now picking the girls up or you would have had a lot of dinner guests.”

“Yes, I would have. Thank you for taking Alison with you.”

“It was not a problem. I promised Bob I would bring her home. The Everetts have always been good to me. I like them both.”

“Does Bob, Rich or any of the guys know about you and Claire?”

“Not yet. She did tell me that I could tell whoever I wanted to, now that all of the girls know.”

“She was pressured into it. I felt bad for her. I know that she was not ready to tell everyone.”

“She said that they all guessed as much. I know that was my fault. I kept stealing glances at her and I tried to kiss her in front of everyone at Alison and Bob’s party. Thank God only you women noticed.”

“Yeah, or the guys would have been ribbing you all night. They can be
worse than us women.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“No, us women are probably worse, but we just want to make sure our friend is in a good place and happy. She doesn’t need to fall into a worse state of depression than she is already in. With you there, though, there has definitely been an improvement in her mood. From all of us girls, we thank you for that. Seeing her continue to hurt was killing us. We could not get her to come out of it. We felt like there was nothing we could do.”

“You’re welcome. I will continue to try and bring her back to the way she used to be. She deserves nothing but happiness.”

“I am glad you feel that way. Now get the hell out of here and go tend to her.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Josh said, standing up and giving Vanessa a tight squeeze. “I love you ‘Nessa.”

“I love you, too. You know anytime you need to talk just come find me.”

“I know. You have always been there. Growing up without siblings, you and Rich became my honorary ones. I could not have asked for a better pair.”

“Well, you are stuck with us.”

“Happy to be. See you soon.”

“Have a good one. Give Claire my love.”

“I will do that,” he said climbing into his truck. He drove back to the house. He came up the stairs and looked into the bedroom. I was still curled up under the blanket. He stripped down to his boxer briefs. I felt the blanket lift as he climbed into the bed. Wrapping his arm around me, he gave me a slight squeeze. I did not want to move. This is the only place I wanted to be at this moment.

“Mmm, how was your visit with Vanessa?”

“Good. She sends her love. How are you feeling?”

“Better, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. It is the same cure that Vanessa would give me when I showed up on her doorstep drunk beyond recognition.”

“You have put her through it all, haven’t you.”

“Yes, I felt bad after I stopped drinking the way I did. I have been trying to make up for it ever since. Every once in a while, I will go fix something for her. I think I will be repaying her for the rest of our lives.”

“I don’t think Vanessa will keep that happening.”

“I am sure she won’t. She is a good person.”

“She is,” I said turning to face him. “How come you never thought about dating Vanessa?”

“I don’t know. I think it may be because I was always afraid of her.”

“Afraid of her?”

“Yes, she could kick my ass. Probably still could if she wanted to,” he laughed.

“What?”

“I am serious. I was here two days when I first upset her enough for her to turn around and beat the crap out of me. Rich had to pull her off of me. She is a tough girl.”

“What did you do?”

“I threw a rock at her and hit her right dead in the back. She was pissed. She chased me, tackled me to the ground and punched me in the face numerous times. I walked away with a bloody nose, black eye, and fat lip. I think if Rich didn’t pull her off, it would have been worse. My grandparents saw the entire thing go down. They scolded me for it. They told me if I didn’t throw the rock it would have never taken place. They made me apologize to her. I was devastated. After that, we became friends, although I remained scared of her for many years to come.”

“I can’t believe you threw a rock at her.”

“Yeah, when I first came here I was terrible.”

“I guess so,” I laughed, picturing Vanessa kicking the crap out of Josh. I have never even seen her mad, let alone mad enough to hurt someone. I could not stop laughing.

“What has tickled you?”

“Picturing Vanessa kicking your butt.”

“Nice. I can’t believe that is making you laugh. She really hurt me.”

“You deserved it for throwing the rock at her.”

“I know I did. I like hearing you laugh. It is a great sound. I am hoping I can continue to make it happen. Hopefully, without it involving me getting my ass handed to me.”

“I think it will be hard to top that one,” I laughed.

“Gee, thanks,” he said, pulling me in closer to him. I snuggled up to his neck. He rested his head on mine. Draping my arm around him, I leaned
, picked up my head and kissed him. I was glad I told him how I felt about him. I moved on top of him, thinking about how he had kissed the back of my neck last night and walked away. One of his hands found the back of my head. The other landed on the small of my back. I could feel him begin to swell beneath me. I sat up and pulled off my top. His hands immediately found my breasts and began to massage them. I leaned back down and kissed him, again. He slid his hands over my back, plunging them underneath the waist band of my pink panties. Cupping my ass, he gave it a squeeze. I moaned into his mouth. He began to slip my panties off.