Layla leaned in.
Juliet stopped twirling her glass and took a long, stalling sip. In an attempt to divert the subject, she said. “This is delicious wine, don’t you think?”
But Layla would not be deterred.
“Oh, come on. You’ve got to give me something. I’m an old married lady…let me live vicariously through you. It’s been a long time since I have felt the blush of new love…all that heat, all that passion...all that sex!!” Layla, always with a flair for the dramatic, raised her voice, and waved her hand in the air. She put loud and heavy emphasis on the word sex. The two high school girls in the next table giggled, while the man standing at the counter turned and winked.
“Layla! People can hear you.”
“Oh, so what.” Layla scoffed. She gave the high school girls a small wave and winked back at the guy at the counter. Then Layla turned her attention back to Juliet. “Spill.”
“P.J. and I…we’re still getting to know each other.” Juliet offered with hesitation.
“Well, that’s how every relationship starts.” Layla stated the obvious. Then because she knew she was making her friend uncomfortable, Layla forced herself to settle down, even though every fiber of her being was dying to know exactly what was going on with P.J. and Juliet. Last week, Reggie had gone up to P.J.’s early in the morning before work to return some tools. But P.J. hadn’t been there, and because Reggie had not wanted to leave the tools out in the weather, he returned the next morning. P.J. had been home, but he hadn’t invited Reggie in for coffee like he usually would. Through the open door, Reggie had seen Juliet’s boots on the floor and her jacket hanging on the back of a chair. The shower had been running.
“So, is that why you invited me here for lunch, so you could hear all the details?” Juliet said in a tone that was slightly exasperated and only half teasing.
“Not all of them. Only the juicy parts.” Layla admitted ruefully. Then she said gently, “Seriously, Juliet do you think that it’s… like… going anywhere…the two of you?”
Juliet thought about the weeks since the storm and the way her relationship with P.J. had developed since then. Once P.J. had backed off the issue of Juliet’s past it had become easy and natural. Layla was right, they had been spending a whole lot of time together, but where this all was leading? Juliet had no idea.
“I guess it depends on what you mean by going anywhere.”
Layla raised an eyebrow. “Girl, you know exactly what I mean.”
Juliet shook her head at Layla’s tenacity and sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Well then?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Do you want it to go anywhere?”
Juliet shrugged and repeated. “Don’t know.”
“Does he?”
“Jesus, Layla…” While Juliet frowned in protest at her friends resolve to ask the hard questions and totally butt into Juliet’s business, Layla called the waiter over and ordered two cappuccinos.
“Well, if you’re not going to talk to me about it, then I hope you have back up somewhere?”
“Back up?”
“Yeah, you know you have to talk this through with somebody, Juliet. No woman can get through this stage without having her girl to back her up and to use as a sounding board. It’s all part of ….”
“Girl code.” Juliet nodded her understanding. As Layla added a heaping teaspoon of sugar to her coffee, Juliet thought about what Layla had said. While Juliet stood steadfast about not revealing the juicy bits of her relationship, it would be nice to have someone to talk to about the confusion Juliet had felt about P.J.’s most recent request.
“He’s going to go visit his family. I guess he has some business to do, and he wants to see them for the holidays.”
“For Christmas?” Layla puzzled. “That’s new. I’ve never known him to go home for Christmas. Actually, he usually spends the dinner with us. He’s always said that the hype is too much for him. I guess he has a zillion cousins and they all have kids and Christmas morning is like...well, I think it would be a blast, but then again, I thrive on confusion!” Layla as usual jumped from one thing to another. “Now that I think of it though, he does always go there about this time every year.”
“Yeah, P.J. said the same thing to me about the actual holiday, it drives him crazy and he claims that he never liked having a warm weather Christmas. But he sure isn’t skimping on