Audrey reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Which brings us to Drew."
Jay slowly shook her head. "I can't deal with Drew right now. I think it was too ambitious of me to try to be friends with her. I... I get around her and I just lose all sense, you know."
"That's because you're attracted to her."
"Well, I can't be attracted to her right now." Jay rubbed her temples again. "Do you think I should talk to Katherine about this? Do you think we should have a heart-to-heart?"
Audrey grinned. "I'd wait until after the Hawaii trip."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"So, are you avoiding me or am I avoiding you?" Drew asked after she'd cornered Jay in the kitchen.
"I don't know what you mean."
Drew raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'd thought I was the one keeping my distance, but now I'm not so sure."
Jay leaned against the counter, wondering if Connie could hear their conversation, and wondering why she even cared. "I'm not really avoiding you, no."
"Not really?"
Jay pointed her finger at Drew. "But you can't say the same, can you?"
Drew took a step closer. "Look, I just thought, after our little talk, that you'd be more comfortable if you didn't see me every single day."
"So you were avoiding me," Jay said.
"Perhaps."
"And you've been out three times now with your blind date?"
"Yes."
"So what does that mean? Now you're going to break up with me?"
Drew laughed. "Cute."
Jay smiled. "Yeah, thought so."
Drew moved farther into the kitchen, standing close to Jay. "What are we going to do?"
"We can't do anything, Drew. Nothing's changed."
Drew caught Jay's eyes, seeing the sadness there, wondering if it were for her. She tilted her head. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.
Jay looked away. "My life's a mess."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I don't know what's happening with it any longer, that's why. Katherine and I are strangers, really. The woman I've lived with for eight years has turned into someone I don't even know." She looked up. "And you, Jesus, you confuse the hell out of me."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. I feel things when I'm around you." She met her eyes again. "Things I haven't felt in a very long time," she said softly. "And it scares me."
"Don't let it scare you, Jay. I told you, I know where I stand with you."
"I don't even know where you stand with me. How can you?"
"Look, whatever you're going through with Katherine, that's between you two. I'm just doing my thing, okay? I don't want to complicate anything for you. Right now, we're just friends. That's it. Whatever feelings are there, they're just going to be there. We'll work around them."
Jay shook her head. "I'm insanely jealous that you're on a third date with someone."
Drew leaned closer, her face only inches from Jay's. "And I'm insanely jealous that someone's had eight years with you."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Dinner? Tomorrow night?" Jay asked, holding her paintbrush in one hand and cell in the other.
"Yes. That won't be a problem, will it?"
"I just wish you'd given me a little more warning. I've got work planned all day tomorrow. Now I have to squeeze in shopping and cooking."
Katherine laughed. "How hard can that be?"
"A meal just doesn't miraculously appear on the table, Kath. And I have a deadline here, you know." Jay looked around her, the stained drop cloth littered with her painting supplies.
"Then let's just cater dinner and be done with it. Call a restaurant and order something extravagant. We could do French."
"No, that's ridiculous. I can manage."
"Then why don't you make that lovely pot roast I like? Maybe steam some asparagus? That would dress things up."
"Sure." A pot roast only took hours.
"Oh, and Jenna's bringing a date. I thought that would be better than just the three of us. Jenna and I will most likely sneak off to my office. I'm sure you'd be bored to tears listening to our stories."
"Of course. No problem," she said lightly. Just how I wanted to spend my evening... entertaining a stranger.
"Thanks, Jay. And since I'm making an early day of it tomorrow, I'll probably be here until after midnight. Don't wait up."
Jay nearly laughed. Wait up? She hadn't stayed up waiting for her in more months than she could count. In fact, there were times when she wondered if Katherine came home at all. She wasn't in bed with her when she went to sleep and she wasn't there when she woke.
And she was well past worrying about it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"You have no idea how much I'm dreading this," Jay said as she walked back into her office and shut the door. "I'd rather have a root canal."
Audrey laughed. "That's because you enjoy the gas he gives you."
"You know what I mean." She plopped down into her recliner. "And with my luck, Katherine won't even make it home in time and I'll be stuck here with them."
"Oh, she'll be home in time. This is her dinner, not yours. She'll be there."
Jay glanced at her watch. "I should get in the shower. I have to prepare the salad still."
"And for dessert?"
"Shut up, Audrey."
"Oh, I know you have something planned. What is it?"
"I got apple pies at the bakery."
"And ice cream?"
"Yes, and ice cream."
"You're such a good little housewife," Audrey said. "Now go get ready. You want to make a good impression on Katherine's new friend."
"Do I?"
"Of course you do."
"Would it be uncouth to wear shorts to dinner?"
"You will not wear shorts to dinner. Wear something light. Wear slacks and a sleeveless blouse."
"Khakis and sandals?"
"You can't wear your Teva sandals to a nice dinner. I swear, were you raised in a barn?"
"Very funny. Okay, I'm going to go now. Wish me luck."
"I shall think of you all evening."
"You will not. I know you're going out. And remember, don't have sex with strangers." She smiled, hearing Audrey howl with laughter as she disconnected.
But her smile soon faded as the hour approached. She wasn't sure why she was dreading the evening so much. Maybe she was just apprehensive about meeting Katherine's old fling. Although to hear Katherine tell it, their affair lasted only a semester. But still, here the woman was, newly divorced and out there, as Katherine had said. Was she jealous? With the fragile state of their relationship, did she view Jenna as a threat? Perhaps.
Or perhaps it was just the idea she was having to put on a dinner party for two people she'd never met before.
"Smells wonderful, Jay." Katherine closed the oven door and smiled, walking closer. "You look nice."
Jay shrugged. "Thanks." A light blue silk blouse—a gift from
Katherine—and her favorite khaki slacks won out. But she'd taken Audrey's advice on the sandals. She wore comfortable leather slip-ons instead.
"Well, let me shower and put on something a little more comfortable. Why don't you put some music on? Jazz perhaps? Jenna used to love jazz."
Jay nodded. "Sure." She knows I hate jazz.
"Have you picked out a wine?" Katherine called from the top of the stairs. "How about that burgundy I brought back from California last year?"
"Sounds good." Although far too dry for her liking. She would force down a glass, then open another bottle on the pretense she would let Katherine and Jenna finish the very expensive bottle from California. She much preferred the German wines from that little vineyard in Bryan. "Nothing wrong with Texas wines," she muttered as she found the bottle Katherine had requested.