She chose shooing. Beth finished placing her order, then moved to the end of the counter, noticing Sid as she did so. “Morning, Sid. You look more awake than usual.”
“A cold dip in the ocean will do that to you. Is that Dozer out there?” Sid asked, pointing out the front window. As Beth turned to look, Sid mouthed “We need to talk” to Will. Then she nodded toward Beth and mouthed “without her.”
“Um …” Will murmured, sliding a brown cup under the metal nozzle on the espresso machine. “Sid, you mind if I make Beth’s drink before taking your order? I think she’s in a hurry.”
“What?” Beth said, turning back to the counter. “I don’t see Dozer out there. And who says I’m in a hurry?”
“Sorry,” Sid said, lifting a CD off the counter and reading the cover intently. “Must have been another dog.”
“You have to open the store in ten minutes,” Will said, passing the cup to Beth. “Don’t want to be late.”
Beth glanced up to the clock over Will’s shoulder. “I have half an hour.”
“Clock is slow,” Will said without hesitation. Sid had to give her credit for the impressive display of deception.
“It is?” Beth looked at the clock again. “Well crap. I’d better go.” She dropped a hand on Sid’s arm. “Tom is coming home from the hospital today and he’s insisted Patty take him by the restaurant on the way in. I tried to tell Lucas this morning, but he wasn’t at the house. Have you seen him?”
Sid had deception skills of her own. “Nope.”
“Weird,” Beth said. “He must have been out running. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Thanks for the heads-up on the clock, Will.”
As Beth disappeared through the door, Will turned on Sid. “Why’d you make me lie to her like that?”
“I didn’t tell you to lie. You did that all on your own. You got a break coming?”
Will yelled to a tall, long-haired kid wiping down tables, “I’m taking a break! I’ll clean up the patio in a few minutes.” To Sid she said, “You want your coffee before we sit down?”
“I already had my morning jolt today. Think I’ll skip it.”
Will’s brows shot up. “Do tell.” They moved to an empty table near the windows. “Did you say you took a dip in the ocean?”
“Not on purpose. Lucas showed up on the beach this morning.”
“Where you run? Did he know you’d be there?”
Sid snatched a napkin from the dispenser and began tearing off little pieces. “I don’t know. Seemed like it. He wanted to race or something. I think he was tired of losing all of those challenges.”
“What challenges? And do you always shred things like that?” Will asked, gesturing toward the growing mound of white paper.
“Bad habit.” Sid slid the pile aside. “Anyway, we were racing and I was winning and he swept me off the ground. I don’t think he meant for it to happen, but we both hit the beach and the next thing I knew, he was moving in for a kiss.”
“Ha!” Will exclaimed. “You move fast.”
“Calm your ass down. I wasn’t moving at all. I froze and then the wave hit and I nearly drowned.”
“Damn. So what happened next?”
Sid went back to tearing the napkin. “I laughed.”
“You what?”
“I don’t know what happened. I was under him and then I was coughing up salt water and then I was laughing. It’s as if my brain got overloaded or something.”
“Hmmm …” Will tapped a nail on the table. “That’s probably not the reaction he expected.”
“None of it was what I expected. But then he tried to play it off like he wasn’t going to kiss me and I pushed and called him prissy and he snapped.”
Will straightened. “He snapped?”
“Yeah. Picked me up and kissed the shit out of me.”
Will cringed. “Not the most romantic description I’ve ever heard. So this is good, right? This is what we talked about.”
“Except Lucas turned all noble and pushed me away. Said something about me not being the casual sex type.” Sid ground her teeth. “It’s not like I’m walking around with a veil or something. What’s he mean, not the casual type?”
No answer came. Sid met Will’s eyes and the woman shrugged. “He’s got a point.”
“What do you mean he’s got a point?” Sid slapped a hand on the table, sending tiny pieces of napkin flying in the air. “I’m just as casual as the next chick.”
“You’re cleaning that up,” Will said, unaffected by Sid’s outburst. “I’ve been on this island nearly a year and never even seen you go out on a date. When was the last time you had a boyfriend?”
Sid didn’t like this line of questioning. “A while. What’s that have to do with anything?”
“How many boyfriends have you had?” The woman would not let up.
Behind her hand, Sid mumbled, “Two.” Will held her hand behind her ear as if to say speak up and Sid clarified. “Two, okay? And the last one was five years ago. So I’m not good at the dating thing. That makes this the perfect situation. I don’t want to date Lucas, I want to fuck his brains out for a few weeks.”
Will shook her head. “You do have a way with words. But you’ve wanted this guy for more than a decade. You think a few weeks will be enough?”
Damn it. This had been Will’s idea. “You’re the one who said I should rock his world and get him out of my system.”
“True,” she admitted. “That might have been bad advice.”
“I’m telling you, I can do casual. I’m not ready to settle down. I like my space. My independence. I’ve got plans, and they do not include having a man underfoot all the time.”
Will gathered the scattered paper. “You’re sure? If this turns into something, you won’t have any problem watching him drive away?”
Sid pictured the scene. The silver BMW fading up Highway 12. Her chest tightened.
“I can handle it.”
Will didn’t look convinced, but she caved. “Okay then. How can I help?”
Sid had never worn a shirt this tight in her life. And she did not want to know why Will kept a change of clothes and all basic necessities packed in her VW van. The bartender came by her moniker honestly, being as willowy as the tree that bore her name. And she was a B cup at best, which meant her shirt stretched across Sid’s double Ds was like wearing a neon sign over her head.
Look, everyone, I have giant knockers flashing in bright letters.
At least the plain tee was olive green instead of orange or pink. Will might wear an arm full of bangles but she liked to pair them with army boots, which sounded strange but somehow worked on the lanky brunette.
The shorts were another matter all together. Will had cut the things so short, the white material of the pockets stuck out below the tattered denim. Sid wore bathing suits that didn’t show this much of her ass.
According to Will, the best way to barrel through a man’s morals was to make him too horny to hitch a ride on the high road. Which made it sound a lot like Sid was taking the low road, but if that low road led to sex with Lucas, she’d follow it to the end.
With part A of the plan in place, that being the new wardrobe, the time had come to initiate part B, which sounded way harder than a change of clothes. Pretend nothing had happened.
With a deep breath and a final tug on the T-shirt, Sid waltzed through the doors of Dempsey’s Bar & Grill attempting to look cool and unaffected. No kiss on the beach. No scaling Lucas like a drowning woman desperate for higher ground. And definitely no argument about who was or was not going to have sex.