Jace got up and followed. “Care, wait,” he called. His conversation with Michael was at the forefront of his mind, and he needed to get it out. “I think you might be upset for an entirely different reason.”
“And what different reason is that?” She spun around, her blonde hair fanning out around her, her face still flushed from their recent activities. She looked beautiful, even angry. “My reason isn’t good enough for you?”
He glanced at the floor before meeting her gaze. “I think you’re pushing back because you like what I said too much, that maybe this is…your thing.”
“What thing?” She placed her hands on her hips.
His eyes searched hers. “You like the idea of others being in our bedroom, and it scares the hell out of you.”
6
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Caroline had been relieved Piper had canceled their lunch date the day after her wine-soaked hangover, and for the rest of the week she’d successfully dodged her calls and texts. She was still smarting over Jason’s comments about her liking what he’d said and wanting more in the bedroom, but they’d come to a tentative truce not to discuss it anymore. It wasn’t getting them anywhere to keep arguing about it.
In the end, Jace had promised not to bring up the neighbors in their bedroom, and she promised to forgive him and move on.
But there hadn’t been any time to test it, since they hadn’t had sex in five days.
“Yes, that sounds good,” Caroline said into the phone. “The order is for two hundred cards, plus envelopes. Yes. Send me the invoice once it goes out. Thanks, Ellen. Talk to you soon.” She hung up and turned back to her computer.
The rap on the kitchen door was tentative.
“Crap.” Caroline sighed. It was likely Piper. Her best friend had finally decided to call her bluff. Reluctantly, Caroline rose from her desk and padded into the kitchen. Through the window in the back door, Piper held up a carton of praline ice cream, Caroline’s favorite, and a bag from SoHo, which she knew held her favorite sushi.
“Am I welcome here?” Piper called through the glass. “I come bearing gifts.” She shook the bags. “And sweets.”
Caroline laughed.
She couldn’t help it. She’d missed her friend, and seeing her at the door made it crystal clear. “Of course you’re welcome here, Piper. Come in.” She unlocked the door, trying not to feel guilty that she’d been locking it, and ushered her friend into the house.
“Oh my goodness, Caroline.” Piper breezed through the short hallway and into the kitchen. Once she was there, Piper threw the treats on the counter and pulled Caroline in for a big bear hug. “I had horrid visions all week of you never letting me back in again. I’ve had nightmares where I sneak over here and you’ve painted all the windows black and don’t answer the door, and when you finally do answer, it’s some strange old lady who looks like a cross between Carol Burnett and Rosie O’Donnell. She answers the door and yells at me to get the hell out of her sight, all while shaking her fist in the air and using curse words that would make a sailor want to call his mother and apologize. Not fun at all.” She let Caroline go reluctantly. “It’s so good to see you, and doubly good you let me in. I’m grateful.”
Caroline had hugged her friend back, and now she felt even guiltier that she’d locked Piper out all week—not only out of her house, but essentially out of her life. It wasn’t Piper’s fault Caroline felt the way she did. Or that she was still struggling to come to grips with her daydreams. “I’m glad to see you, too. Let’s sit at the island. I’m starving.”
“I got your favorite, it’s the zesty crunch roll.” Piper retrieved the SoHo bag and began to unload the containers onto the counter. “After we stuff ourselves with sushi, the plan is to cry into the praline ice cream together until we’re all out of tears.”
“Why are we crying?” Caroline asked, getting out two plates and a bottle of soy sauce and bringing them to the island.
Piper took the ice cream to the freezer. “Um, because I was in attendance during a very intimate time between you and your husband, which is why you’ve been avoiding me like the plague all week. And, I’m telling you right now, we’re going to get through this—but in order to do so, we’ll have to dig deep into this carton of joy”—she shook the ice cream—“and cry our eyes out until there’s nothing left. But when it’s all said and done, we’ll be best friends again. That’s how all this works.” She set the ice cream in the freezer and shut the door. “And if that doesn’t do the trick, I’ll just bring over burgers and brownies for lunch tomorrow, and we’ll try it again.”
Caroline chuckled as she pulled out a stool. “There’s no need to keep plying me with treats. This will work. I just needed…some time to process everything. It had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.”
“Puh-leeze. I should have known better than to let it get that far, so I’m going to be the first one to apologize.” Piper sat down, immediately plucking out the to-go chopsticks, tearing the wrappers off, and handing a set to Caroline. “I should never have shared so much with you in the first place. That was rule break number one. I’ve been on a sexual odyssey for years. I’ve coped with my fair share of guilt and self-loathing along the road, but during our chat I boiled all that hand-wringing and self-doubt down to nothing. I made it sound like it was so easy! Like everyone could do it! And if they didn’t choose to step over society’s sexual line in the sand, they were stupid for not trying. That was so wrong of me. This is a serious topic, and I should’ve treated it as such. I hope you accept my sincerest of apologies.”
Caroline popped the cover off her sushi and contemplated Piper’s words. “Piper, I’m a grown woman who can think for herself, and it doesn’t matter how you spun your story the other night. You could’ve said unicorns and rainbows sprang out of your hoo-ha every time you had sex and I still should’ve shown restraint. I acted like a child who wanted a piece of candy immediately and would have had a tantrum if I didn’t get a piece. It was totally my fault.”
“Hoo-ha?” Piper chortled. “I think we’re well beyond hoo-has and straight on to vaginas. Or, at the very least, we can call them what they are—divine pleasure centers. And you acted appropriately. You’re not to blame. We were drunker than skunks, and we got there very quickly. I should’ve kept my big, fat mouth shut. You’re not me, and I’m not you. What we want, and how we prefer sex, is an extremely personal choice, and it’s not up for discussion after this. I purged, you listened, and now we leave it alone. My preference would be that we pretend that night never happened. It was a wine-induced hallucination and nothing more. I wish I had one of those memory-erasing things like they had in Men In Black. If I had one, I’d use it.” She mocked holding something in her fist and aimed at Caroline’s head. “Poof. Now it’s gone, and we go back to our normal, blissful selves.”
Piper was one of a kind.
Caroline took a bite of sushi, and while she ate, she thought about agreeing with Piper and just letting the discussion go, never to be brought up again. That would be the easiest. But the warring feelings inside her thrummed against her chest, the truth needing to get out one way or another.