Thursday Nights (The Charistown Series) (14 page)

“No harm done.” The sexy teacher smiled, wiping away the small splash of coffee from his suit sleeve. “I’ll join you if you’re walking out.” Janie watched the dimple in his right cheek deepen and nodded.

The silence as they walked was awkward, the clicking of their shoes on the blacktop the only sound. Janie couldn’t take it anymore.

“So, you survived your first day, huh?”

“I guess so,” he responded hesitantly, pulling at his shirt collar. “Who would’ve thought that eighth grade girls could flirt like that? It makes a man uncomfortable.”

Janie smiled and patted his arm. Her eyes widened at the feel of the bulging biceps under his sports coat. She gently took her hand off his arm as to not create more of a spectacle of herself. At just over six feet tall, the mocha-skinned man with milk-chocolate-colored eyes was a sight to behold. No wonder those girls were flirting with him!

“Listen, Michaels, junior high girls are hormonally charged time bombs. Do your best to be kind, but never be alone in your classroom with one of them.” Janie paused. “Let’s just say there was an incident a couple of years ago with a student and a married teacher…and I know the teacher was innocent. I also know the teacher is no longer married and no longer teaching here.” Janie raised an eyebrow at him.

“Uhh…” he said, looking flustered. “Well, that’s not good.” He chuckled then. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

“No problem,” Janie threw over her shoulder as they parted ways.

Well, Max, it appears as though I’m going to fuck you…

The words she whispered to him in the dim light of her room the night before reverberated in Janie’s head. She still couldn’t believe that she had found the guts to say those things to him. She wasn’t
that
person; she had never been
that
person. She must have been channeling Lyla. The thought brought a slight smile to her lips. She had tried so many times to be a super-confident, strong woman, but she never quite made it. Or maybe, she mused, maybe being with a man that made her feel comfortable and self-assured allowed her to dig deep and find the woman she was meant to be.

She felt herself start to frown when she began to think about the men from her past. After so many guys told her that she wasn’t enough, by either verbally abusing her or cheating on her, she’d started to believe that they were right. She lost a little piece of herself in every one of her poor romantic choices until all that was left was a shell of a person. For years Lyla had been trying to get Janie to take a look at who she really was. Not to show her what she was becoming, but instead to show her what she was leaving behind. Janie refused to take that look, though, and Lyla refused to leave her behind. Instead, Lyla stood just behind Janie through every damaging relationship and stood beside her during every single break-up.

And then there was Max.

Over the past six months, he had made her laugh to the point of tears. He always referred to her as “sexy,” or “sweetness,” or “babe,” and while Janie had never given it conscious thought before, his actions had given her the confidence to act on her desire to take what she wanted—no, what she
needed
—from him the previous night. The realization sent a jolt through her system. The question was, what should she do now?

Lyla responded to Janie’s text requesting they talk instead of text with a simple
I’m fine
, followed by
I promise to actually call you tomorrow
. Janie sighed but understood: Lyla needed more time.

The dinner invitation Janie received from Ashley and Julie helped to ease some of the hurt that Lyla’s absence was causing. She knew her best friend was going through her own stuff, too, but Janie needed Lyla, just as much as Lyla didn’t want to admit she needed Janie. At least a night out would be distracting.

The three women met at The Sombrero, their favorite Mexican restaurant, for dinner and drinks. The red walls met colorful Mexican blanket panels draped across the windows—décor that could make anyone cheerful, no matter her mood upon entering.

“Have you actually spoken to her?” Julie asked.

Janie tried her best to explain, without going into too much detail, how important it was to let Lyla have her space. “She promised to let me hear her voice tomorrow,” Janie stated. “You may not know this yet about Lyla, but she
never
breaks a promise, and she never lies. Of course, she can’t lie for shit…so maybe that has something to do with it.”

The three women chuckled and toasted their margaritas to Lyla.

“Okay,” Ashley said with a raised brow, “I have wanted to ask this for days, but I kept hoping you would bring it up…what’s the deal with you and Max?”

Janie’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She looked at both women. Julie silently sent a smile and a wink in Janie’s direction.

“I don’t know, Ashley,” Janie said, turning her attention to Ashley with a sassy flip of her hair. “What’s the deal with you and Ryan?”

Julie spit out her drink, and now it was Ashley’s turn to look like a fish out of water. “Message delivered, message received.”

As the women started on their third round of drinks and tapas, Janie was sporting a nice margarita-buzz.

“So, here’s the deal with Max,” Janie slurred slightly. “There is no deal.” She kept her eyes down toward the terracotta-tiled floor, not wanting to see the sympathetic stares she knew she was getting from the woman across the table. “He said he wanted me, and I wanted him
soooooo
badly. The phrase ‘sex with friends’ was thrown out, and my God, I have been half in love and completely in lust with that man for months. So when he tossed out the idea, I reached out to catch it, not caring if I wasn’t wearing a glove. So, he comes to me, seduces me…and I loved every second of it.”

The words were falling out of her mouth like sand from a sieve, but she couldn’t stop them. She knew she would probably regret the candid conversation in the morning, but damn it, she needed to get it off her chest. “So, the next morning he goes to get me coffee, and he comes back a different man. All skittish and kind of cold. He left and I didn’t hear from him for days. Then Sunday night…happened. You saw him Sunday night, right? It wasn’t my imagination?” Janie was finally looking her friends in the eyes.

Julie, having only sipped one drink all night, put her hand on Janie’s. “Yes, honey, we all saw how he looked at you—and how protective he was.”

“Thank God,” Janie said. “I was beginning to think it was all in my head! So, yeah, everything happened with Kyle and Lyla, and so I went home. I’m gonna be honest, I was a fucking mess. Lyla’s like my sister.”

Janie saw the awareness in Julie’s eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything? I would have stayed with you if you needed a friend...”

Squeezing Julie’s outstretched hand, Janie lowered her eyes back to the ground as she quietly replied. “Honestly, the only person I’ve ever had to depend on is Lyla…. When she left the house and went silent on me”—Janie’s eyes welled with unshed tears—“well, anyway, I didn’t know what to do. I went looking for her myself but no luck.”

“Janie!” Julie snapped. “You went looking for Lyla alone at night?!”

Janie nodded silently. When the silence stretched on for a beat too long, Julie took a deep, audible breath, and Janie lifted her eyes. She could feel the daggers being mentally shot at her as Julie’s posture went rod-straight and her mouth pinched tight.

With Julie’s next deep inhale, Janie heard Ashley stage-whisper, “Ooh, you’re in trouble!”

Julie’s hard grip on Janie’s hand pulled her out of her reverie. “Look at me, young lady. You are a young, beautiful, sexy woman. You do not
ever
go around town at night, getting in and out of your car alone. Do you hear me?” Janie nodded. “Words, Janie, I need words!”

With that phrase, an image of Max formed in her head, his voice saying that same line dancing in her mind. “Yes, Julie,” she sighed. “I hear you loud and clear. And what’s with you guys at the bar and your need for words?”

Ashley giggled through her fingers.

“Janie, I don’t know what kind of crappy situations you and Lyla are coming from because the two of you guard your secrets like the National fucking Treasure, but I will have you know that you are no longer alone.” Julie’s voice softened. “You have us.
All
of us. We are not perfect people, as Kyle can attest, but we love you. So, let us.”

Janie felt warm tears inching down her cheeks, and once she realized she was crying she gave herself over to the emotion. Great big sobs started pouring out of her small frame, and within a second’s time, Julie enveloped Janie in a hug. She whispered kind, loving words and stroked her hair. It was the first time in Janie’s life that she felt anything even resembling a mother’s love.

After a minute, Ashley cleared her throat and called to the waitress. “Another round, please.”

Janie wiped her eyes and started laughing.

“So,” Ashley said. “Can we get back to the whole Max thing now?”

Janie threw a chip at Ashley and continued their earlier conversation. “So, after he shows up at my apartment and tells me that he is there to be my friend, I turned into a complete slut and basically forced him to have sex with me.” The only thing hotter than the feel of Janie’s cheeks was the salsa on the table.

“Give me a break, Jane. I am willing to bet my tips on a Thursday night that there was no force needed to get Max into your bed,” Ashley declared.

Ignoring what was probably the truth, Janie forged on. “It was amazing and beautiful, but…I don’t know. It felt more like a good-bye than anything else.” Then with as much casualness as she could muster, she added, “Maybe it’s for the best.”

Her stomach clenched when she made Ashley and Julie promise not to get involved in the whole situation—or in this case, the whole
non
-situation—and they immediately gave each other what Janie could only describe as a suspicious look. Janie knew those looks. She and Lyla used them all the time…usually just before they did something they weren’t supposed to do.

On Tuesday morning, Janie received a text:

Hey, Jane. Just wanted to check in with you. Have you heard from Ly? M

I’ve got to stop looking for hidden meaning in this text
, Janie thought to herself as she read it over and over again, whenever she had the chance between classes. It’s a
friendly
text. He’s being
friendly
.

Having read and re-read the message for what felt like the hundredth time, Janie finally responded.

All’s fine. Got a text from Ly…should hear from her later today :) J

Before she could overanalyze her response, she pressed
Send
, slipped the phone in her pocket, and went on with her day.