Forever in Blue Jeans (4 page)

Miffed? Yeah, there was one of the differences between the two men. Cort would never use the word "miffed." Not for anything. Neil, on the other hand, had finally realized he was more feminine than masculine, and about six months ago had fully embraced it.

"I don't think he liked finding you standing there; then again, it could easily have been that he is still pissed at me. Probably both"

"Oh the jealous kind. Nice. They are so hot, and you haven't had one of those in ages. Come to think of it, you haven't had any kind of 'one' in ages."

"Nice of you to point that out. Again. You and Rosie keeping a tally sheet?" She reached out and took his hand to tug him inside. "Come inside and I'll tell you all about him."

"Did you tell Rosie about him? Does she know?" Neil stepped over the threshold by an inch if that and dropped his overnight bag on the floor. "Okay, I'm in. Tell, tell."

Blue laughed at his eagerness. "No, Rosie doesn't know either." She reached out and tapped his smiling mouth with her finger. "And wipe that grin off your face. I'm sure she'll know soon enough."

"Of course she will." Neil grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to the couch.

Plopping down on it with her, he said, "Now, tell me."

She might as well get it over with. He wasn't going to stop asking until she did. "Okay.

Remember a few years ago, I took that trip to Savannah after Aunt Violet died?"

"Yeah. We were so worried when you would let me or Rosie go with you."

She smiled and snuggled into his familiar warmth. "I know."

Neil kissed the top of her head and pulled her in close with an arm around her shoulders.

"What does that have to do with tall, dark, and grumpy?"

"I met him that weekend in a bar down on the river."

"Uh-oh. What did you do, B?"

She nudged him in the side and lifted her head from where it rested on his chest to look at him. "What do you think I did? You saw him just now, right? What would you have done?"

"You've got a point there. The man did have the best eyes and those lips... Damn, girl. When you do manage to find them, you always find the good ones."

"You'll find a good one. He might not be in a bar or a club, but he's out there somewhere, babe."

"It's so nice to know one of us still believes that. Now, what happened between you two other than the obvious?"

Blue shrugged and found her place against Neil's chest again. "I left. He was asleep, and I left in the middle of the night. Well, it was more like five in the morning, but still..."

"Oh my God, B, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't. You left him sleeping? Even I know better than to do that. Did you at least leave a note?"

"No. I got dressed and walked out. I was in no shape to... I shouldn't have let things progress to that point. I was sad and feeling alone, and he walked in. We started talking while he waited for his beer, and I liked it. I liked him. Immediately. He made me laugh, and for a while, he made me forget my sadness."

Neil clucked his tongue. "Bad form not to leave a note saying good-bye. You'd have kicked my ass across three counties if I did something like that."

"One night stands aren't supposed to be like that, though. I'd had them before and they've never affected me like that, like he did. I wasn't ready."

"I know, honey. I take it neither of you knew the other was going to be here today?"

"No. I think if he'd known it was me, he wouldn't have come at all, friend request or not."

"Friend? Who?" he asked, his voice excited and full of nosy curiosity.

"He's a friend of Decker's, and when he got to town, Rosie asked if he'd be interested in taking a look at the wiring in the mansion."

"Damn, it's a small world."

"No shit. He probably wishes it was a whole lot larger. Anyway, I apologized to him right before you showed up."

"What did he say?"

"That it didn't matter."

"Ouch. Men can be so cruel. You believe him?"

Blue sighed. "I don't know. I don't think he meant it, but I probably deserved to hear the words."

"Why do you think he didn't mean it?"

Blue thought about it again, about how his eyes had softened right before the words came out. "Everything he feels is in his eyes. I noticed that when I first met him. Every emotion registers there. He tried to be cold and heartless, but he couldn't pull it off. His words were perfectly unfriendly, but his eyes told a completely different story."

Neil squeezed her shoulder. "Are you sure? Are you sure you didn't just imagine it or hope he didn't mean it?"

Blue poked him lightly in the ribs. "I'm not the fanciful, romantic one, Neil. That's you."

"Uh-huh. Lie to me another day. So, he's hurt?"

"I honestly don't know what he is other than angry."

"Five years is a long time to be angry at someone, B. Especially a one-night stand, unless it was just
that
exceptional."

"Unless the one-night stand could have been more had one of the participants not left like a thief in the night."

"Well, there is that. He wanted more?"

Blue nodded and rubbed the soft cotton of Neil's shirt between her fingers. She used to rub satin ribbon between her fingers as a child. It was something she did when unpleasant things were going on around her. She still did it when she was upset, but whether out of habit or because it calmed her, she really couldn't say. "It's silly, but... He wanted breakfast. Before he fell asleep, said he wanted to have breakfast with me at a little diner down from his hotel."

"It's not silly. It's very sweet. He obviously liked you and you... What are you going to do now?"

"Beats the hell out of me. He said he'd let me know Monday if he still wants the job on the house, so I guess I'll be waiting until then and going through my weekend as I normally would."

She didn't want to do that, knowing Cort was so close. No, she wanted to do what she'd done before--run. Though, whether she wanted to run toward or away from him, she couldn't honestly say right then.

She sighed and shifted a bit against Neil. She knew the night they'd met that she was in no shape to get involved. Hell, she'd never been in any shape to get seriously involved with anyone but especially not then. She was well and truly alone in the world, and she'd been scared shitless.

Now, though, years later, she was stronger, making her own way, her own name, and aside from dipping into the family trust to make all the upgrades and get through the red tape to make her aunt's dream come true, she was making her own money.

Too bad she hadn't had a job this weekend that could took her away from here. She pushed it all aside, or at least she tried, and sat up on the edge of the cushion. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Coffee. I've only had two cups today and could sure use another."

"How about I make us an iced coffee to take up to the house? I made some rum cake. You can't have much since I baked it for Rosie for tonight, but you can have a little sliver."

Neil stood and offered Blue his hand. "Bad girl, tempting me with alcoholic cake. You know I can't say no." He pulled her up from the couch and followed Blue into the kitchen. "He'll be at Rosie's cookout, wouldn't you think?"

"I suppose so. I suppose he's the reason she's having one, too."

"You know, it's been a few months since I've seen Rosie, and I have yet to meet her new man. We should go, make an appearance."

"No, Neil. I should just leave well enough alone. Let him have his anger or whatever it is.

You can take the cake for me."

"But you said his eyes changed. If you really believe he didn't mean what he said, then you have to try. That's what you always tell me. Time to walk the walk, baby."

"Yeah, and then you get your heart broken and come crying to me."

"As if you don't love it. You love taking care of me when I'm in need. The point I'm trying to make though, is if you want another shot, even if it's only just another one-night stand, you're going to have to make the first move."

"Hey. I'm the one who does the counseling and advice giving. You're the one who's supposed to ignore it. That's the way this friendship works." Neil stuck his tongue out at her, and Blue simply laughed. She opened the fridge and took out the pitcher of her latest addiction: cold-brewed coffee. She held it up. "You're going to love this. It's like no other coffee you've ever had, and you're going to love me for turning you on to it."

"I'm sure I will. I've never not loved anything you've made. Now stop changing the subject."

"Fine," she grumbled. What if he walks out on
me
? Does to me what I did to him?" She couldn't express how much she hated the vulnerability in she heard in her own voice.

"Would you deserve any less?"

"Ouch." Valid question or not, it still sucker punched her. "No, but two wrongs don't make a right."

"You could always explain to him why you left. Maybe it would keep him from doing you like that."

"I don't know why I left, Neil," she hedged.

"Sure you do. It's why you've always left. It's why relationships never work out for you. It's why you like to play, like to pose, like your tattoos, like your freedom to do as you wish. If you flit through, no one can get close enough to leave you."

Blue shot him a sidelong glance, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back. It was time to change the subject. "Do you want caramel or vanilla?"

"Chicken shit."

"Undoubtedly," she conceded. "But that still doesn't answer my question. Caramel or vanilla?"

"Vanilla." Neil opened the cabinet beside the fridge and grabbed two glasses. "We need to go to Rosie's barbeque."

Blue looked up, suspicions starting to form in her head. "How
did
you learn about that?"

"She told me."

He was still oblivious to the clicking of things in her mind. Son. Of. A. Bitch. "When?" She planted her hands flat on the counter and looked down at the smooth surface.

"When I stopped by the diner earlier on my way out here."

"I thought you said it had been months since you'd seen her."

"Uh... It has. Until today."

She was still staring down at the countertop. "What are you up to?"

"What? Nothing. I just got here, remember. I'm just now being filled on everything."

Blue didn't believe him. They were up to something, he and Rosie. "You're lying to me. You two are up to something."

"I swear, B. We--"

"Don't. Not another word. He'll be there, and so will I. This is why Rosie's having the barbecue today. It's because of him. Otherwise, she wouldn't do it on a day she's been working.

This is a set-up. I'm not working out of town this weekend, so y'all figure it's a great time to set poor little Blue up with the hot sexy electrician. Dammit, Neil." she ground out through clenched teeth.

"Hey, we didn't know y'all had history," he offered in his defense, though there wasn't a shred of conviction in his voice.

"Would it have made a difference?"

"Well that's not the point.”

"Then, please enlighten me as to what the point is."

"He'll be there and now that we know he's the jealous type, he'll hate seeing you with me."

"I'm not interested in playing games, Neil. I don't think he would be either."

"Who said anything about playing games? We're two friends going to a barbeque at another friend's house. If a man who has the hots for you, be they irritating to him or not, is going to be there, well, he'll just have to deal with it. Besides, Rosie says her new man is incredible with a spatula and a grill, and you know I never turn down free food."

Blue rolled her eyes back and tried to keep her patience in check. "Yes, I know."

"This guy makes you feel things, B. Don't be afraid of that."

Her friends had the best of intentions. She knew that and loved them for it but poor Cort. He wasn't going to know about this ahead of time like she did. He was going to be blindsided.

She turned back to busying herself with the iced coffees. She measured out the vanilla syrup into one glass and caramel syrup into another. "You're not playing by the rules of our friendship, Neil," she said with no malice or heat behind her words. "There's an ice tray in the freezer with cubes made from coffee. Get that out and put a few in each glass."

"So we're going?"

She really didn't have a choice. She nodded."I guess I know why she was twisting my arm about cake now"

"Great."

"Now can we talk about why you're here? Or is this it? The set-up?"

Neil handed the glasses back and watched as Blue poured coffee over the cubes. "No actually, that's not why I'm here, but my reason isn't nearly as interesting as your story has suddenly become."

"I need some half and half, please. It's in the door of the refrigerator." When Neil got it out and handed it over, she poured a quarter cup into a measuring glass and emptied it on top of each of the coffees. With a long handled spoon, she stirred until all the syrup and cream was blended with the coffee. Her mouth watered at the mere anticipation of the sweet concoction flowing over her tongue.

Neil was skeptical, in the scrunched up look on his face was any indication. "You sure I'm going to like that?"

Blue handed over a glass, along with a straw. "You're going to love it. I swear. I saw the recipe online and tried it one day just for something different. Sip slowly, though. It packs a powerful jolt."

"But I like powerful jolts," Neil teased but did as she'd said, taking two slow sips.

She watched the way his eyes widened. "Told you."

"Holy shit, B. That's... Wow. I think I might just move in."

"The offer is always open, babe, you know that."

"I know, but I'm not going to find Mr. Right here in the sticks."