A while later, as we lay in bed, fully satisfied, a small cloud of guilt returned. Not sure why I’d thought of it in this moment. Maybe it was my inclination to always feel undeserving of peace in the rare moments I experienced it.
“I think I need to tell Jasmine about us sooner rather than later,” I said.
Troy nodded. “I agree, if that’s been weighing on you. I don’t think we owe her an explanation personally…but she’s still your friend. So I get it.”
I looked over at my phone. “I have about an hour left before I have to go pick up Kiki from my parents’ house.”
“Did you have lunch?”
“No. I left work before I had a chance to eat.”
“Let me whip you up something. You can have eggs, so how about an omelet with veggies—no cheese?”
My stomach growled. “That sounds amazing.”
After we put our clothes on, I followed him to the kitchen, and Troy prepared me a yummy late lunch. We sat at his counter and ate our omelets together while Patrick eagerly awaited any scraps by our feet.
When we were cleaning up, Troy randomly stopped what he was doing, wrapped his arms around me, and planted the longest kiss on my lips. To my surprise, he concluded by dipping me back in an exaggerated fashion, causing my head to hit the side of the center island.
“Ow!”
“Fuck. I’m sorry. That was supposed to be a dramatic dip.” He swore under his breath as he rubbed the top of my head.
“It was dramatic alright.”
“God, I’m a disaster.” He pulled me close and kissed over the area that had been injured. “Damn Nonno and his secrets. I’m two for two in the failure zone.”
“What are you talking about?”
He kissed the top of my head again. “Nothing.”
• • •
Four days later, Troy and I were in the middle of yet another weekend together. Lazy Sundays had apparently become our thing.
We were napping in my bed after playing around all morning when a knock on the door caused us both to bolt upright.
“Are you expecting someone?” he asked.
I rubbed my eyes. “No?”
Totally naked and warm in my bed, I was in no condition to answer the door.
Troy moved to the edge of my bed, displaying his beautiful, carved back and the crack of his muscular backside. “It’s not Kiki this early, is it?”
“No. She and my mother went to the harvest festival today.”
The harvest festival was one of the biggest things to happen in Meadowbrook every year. It brought people all the way from neighboring states like New York and Pennsylvania. I’d almost suggested Troy and I go, but I sort of preferred just hanging in with him today.
Then I remembered I’d ordered from my favorite organic market, and FedEx was scheduled to deliver it today.
“I think it’s a delivery I’m expecting.”
He turned around and kissed the tip of my nose. “Stay here. I’ll go grab it.”
“They probably just dropped it at the door,” I said. “They usually knock to let me know I have a package, so it’s not sitting out there.”
As Troy slipped on his jeans, I enjoyed the brief glimpse of his sculpted ass.
A few seconds after he left the room, I could hear muffled talking. It sounded like more than one person. And then came the sound of baby babble.
I jumped out of bed.
What the hell?
Rushing to grab my silk robe from the closet, I wrapped it around myself before venturing out to the living room.
Then my heart nearly stopped.
Troy stood there with no shirt on as he faced Jasmine and her husband, Cole, who was carrying their baby, Hannah.
I gulped, tightening the closure on my robe as I felt adrenaline rush through my body. “Jasmine! What are you doing here?”
“We were in town for the harvest festival,” she said, her eyes wide. “We drove right by here on our way home, so I figured we could pop in and say hello since I’m never in Meadowbrook.”
I had called Jasmine this week and made plans to visit her next Saturday, specifically so I could tell her about Troy and me. This was certainly not the way I’d wanted her to find out.
Jasmine’s face grew flushed. “Troy was telling me you guys have been…hanging out.”
Troy looked them straight in the eyes, making it clear he had nothing to hide. That was the opposite of how I felt—like I was going to lose my shit any second. His just-fucked hair sticking up only made the situation worse. I wasn’t ashamed of what he and I had developed, just that I hadn’t had a chance to properly explain it to her.
“I know what this looks like,” I stupidly said. “Okay, not what it looks like—what it is. This is the reason I wanted to come see you next weekend, to explain that Troy and I have been seeing each other.”
Jasmine looked between Troy and me. “You don’t need to explain. If you remember, I sort of called this. So, it’s not a total surprise. The way you kept rambling on about him that day you came to visit—I kind of suspected something would happen.”
Troy snickered. “Rambling on about me, huh?”
Cole bopped the baby up and down awkwardly but didn’t say anything.
Jasmine grabbed her husband’s arm. “We should go. Clearly we’re interrupting.”
“No!” I insisted.
I couldn’t let her go now. As embarrassed as I was, I needed to face the music, and letting her leave would only make things harder to explain later.
“You guys almost never come to Meadowbrook. Please don’t go. Stay.” I looked over at Troy. “We obviously have a lot to discuss.” I pointed toward my kitchen. “I’ll put on some coffee.”
Troy held his palm up. “Actually, you know what? I think I should leave you to enjoy your friends in peace. I have to head home anyway because Patrick is getting a little low on food, and I’ve neglected him enough this weekend.” He pointed his thumb back toward my bedroom. “Just gonna grab the rest of my stuff.”
Hannah babbled. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I gestured to the sofa. “Sit. Please. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
I went to my room and put on a bra, top, and some pants while Troy went in search of his shirt.
“I’m fucking sorry this happened before you had a chance to tell her,” he whispered as he pulled it over his head.
“It is what it is,” I said in a low voice.
“I don’t want you to think I’m leaving to throw you into the fire alone. But I figure it will only make it more awkward if I stay. And I assumed you weren’t gonna tell me to leave. I made up that story about needing to feed Patrick, but if you want me to stick around, I will. Just say the word.”
“No. That was a good call. I do think it would be more awkward if you were here.”
“I’m sure she’s gonna want to bitch about me in peace. She deserves to be able to do that, I guess.”
“Yeah.” I flashed a sympathetic smile.
We went together back out to the living room. After Troy bid them a quick adieu, I walked him to the door.
He pulled at the material of my shirt. “Call me when they leave, okay?”