hottie has to say.”
“I heard plenty last night.” Lacey folded her napkin and placed it on the table, over the phone, aware of their curious looks. “He showed up and laid his cards out on the table. Well, the hammock.”
“You were on the hammock with him?” Zoe sat up. “Did he lay anything else out?”
“A very ugly story,” Lacey said, and they all automatically leaned in closer.
She told them everything about the girlfriend who married the father, and got the expected responses. Tessa was disgusted. Jocelyn quoted Jungian psychology. Zoe said the old man must be hung like a horse.
They spent a good ten minutes imagining how something like that could have happened, how it felt, and what it did to a family.
“I don’t know about his family, but Clay’s scarred pretty badly,” Lacey said. “He’s not even going to pretend a relationship could be for any other reason but sex.”
“At least he’s honest,” Zoe said dryly. “’Cause some guys would take you for a major ride, believe me.”
“So what are you going to do?” Jocelyn asked.
Lacey shrugged. “I don’t know. I have one guy I don’t feel a thing for asking to share his life and have his baby, and one I’ve got the hots so bad for that I can’t think straight around him and all he wants is to get laid. What’s a girl to do?”
All three of them looked at her like she’d grown another head.
“What?” she asked. “You think I should? Get laid?”
“Why not?” Jocelyn asked.
Lacey frowned at her. “You’re not usually the one pushing casual sex, Joss.”
“Yeah, that’s my job,” Zoe said, dinging her spoon against her glass. “But thanks for the support. So let me repeat: Why the hell not, Lace?”
Lacey looked at Tessa, hoping for the voice of reason but getting a shrug. “I saw the guy. Put me in the why-the-hell-not camp.”
“Are you guys serious?” Lacey could barely keep her jaw from hitting the table. “You guys think I should…”
“Yes.” They answered in unison.
Lacey didn’t know whether to laugh or talk them out of this lunacy.
“Without any kind of relationship? Or, worse, with a working one? What if we have some messy breakup and have to—”
“You can’t technically break up if there are no strings attached,” Jocelyn said. “So I don’t see that as a problem.”
“What about the example I set for my daughter? Do you see that as a problem?”
Tessa took that one. “She’s not a baby, Lace. She wants you to be happy. You can be cool and not all in her face about it. You’ll be working with the guy. Working nights.”
“She wants me to be with David,” Lacey replied, each excuse sounding weaker even to her ears.
“You can’t let her control you like your mother did.”
“Whoa,” Zoe held up her hand for a high five to Jocelyn. “Sigmund’s on fire today.”
Jocelyn tapped palms, but her attention was directed to Lacey. “I’m serious, Lace. Maybe Ashley doesn’t spend every breath telling you what you’re doing wrong like your mom, but she does use her behavior to get you do what she wants you to do. It’s time to not give her that power.”
Lacey just blinked at her. “Well, then, I guess I…” Am running out of reasons why this affair was a bad idea.
“Are you out of excuses?” Tessa asked.
“Seriously, Lace,” Jocelyn said. “When was the last time you did something just for fun? For you? For the pure pleasure of feeling…”
“His magic drafting tool,” Zoe said, getting a loud burst of laughter that drew a few harsh looks from the other Ritz patrons.
Jocelyn slid the leather bill folder to the side of the table. “Let’s take this inside or down to the beach, ladies,” she said. “I don’t think the Ritz can handle the Fearsome Foursome of Tolbert Hall.”
“Ah, the good ol’ days,” Zoe said as they pushed back their chairs and gathered their bags. “When we had nothing but a few finals and frat boys to worry about.”
“You had frat boys,” Tessa said. “I had agriculture-major nerds.”
“And I had the good luck to meet David Fox.”
Zoe put an arm around Lacey. “I believe I tried to talk you out of Asian Cultures that semester.”
“No, you tried to talk me into a linguistic class on Elvish.”
“I was in my Lord of the Rings phase.” She squeezed Lacey’s shoulder and indicated the phone. “I’m dying here. Read the text, Lacey.”
“All right.”
“Out loud,” Zoe insisted.
Lacey clicked on Clay’s name, really wishing that simple act didn’t make her heart ratchet