“Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? At my place?” I ask her as I help her smooth her shirt and hair down. “I’d like to cook for you.”
“I’d love that, Jude.”
I think about the words that are about to come out of my mouth and feel like Laura and I are in the same place. “Maybe pack a bag and stay the night?”
“Only if I can sleep on the right side,” she says with a smile.
I lean down and kiss her before saying. “I was really hoping we’d share the middle.”
7
Laura
Holy hell in a handbasket. I don’t know what’s come over me, but if I knew I wouldn’t get Jude in trouble with the college, I would’ve insisted we finish what we started in the library. It was exhilarating. My sister won’t believe it when I tell her.
The phone rings and I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. “Come on, Anna.”
“Hey, sis,” she finally answers. “What’s up?”
Thoughts of Jude run through my mind and I giggle. There was definitely something up on him just a few minutes ago. “Oh, nothing much,” I say in a sing song voice. “Just made out with Jude in the library.”
“You are bad,” she laughs.
I turn into the parking lot of my apartment and shut off my car. “Which is why I want to talk to you. I’m staying the night at his place. Is it too kinky to wear lingerie?”
Anna squeals. “This is awesome. You two are finally going to seal the deal. It’s about damn time.”
Rolling my eyes, I hurry out of the car and into my apartment. “So it’s not too kinky to wear lingerie?”
“Of course not. Do you have something see through?”
It just so happens I have a bunch of lingerie I never wore for my ex-husband. It’s all piled up in my underwear drawer. Several pieces are very sexy and see through. “I do,” I say, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks.
“Good. I hope you have fun. Make sure to call me tomorrow morning to tell me all about it. No, wait… I don’t want to hear all the sordid details.”
We both laugh and I shake my head. “I wasn’t going to tell you anyway.”
We say our goodbyes and I get to packing my bag. When it gets time to pick my lingerie, I choose the perfect set. It’s a black see through lacy dress with a matching pair of black thongs. Very sexy. Once I have everything packed, I make my way over to Jude’s cabin. I haven’t seen it yet, but when I pull up, it’s exactly as I imagined it would be. It’s small, yet manly with his Jeep sitting out front. The view of the Blue Ridge Mountains is amazing. I don’t know how I ever left in the first place. Nothing compares to the serenity of it all.
One of the things I always loved about Jude was how normal he was. He never cared about material things like Shawn. Even if Jude had a bunch of money, he would never flaunt it. With Shawn, I constantly had to live up to everyone’s standards. I had to wear the right clothes, the right jewelry. It was exhausting.
I get out of my car and reach into the backseat for my bag. The wind blows a familiar smell my way and my stomach growls. The front door is open and when I walk in, Jude is in the kitchen, standing over the stove.
“Is that your spaghetti I smell?”
Jude glances over his shoulder at me, grinning devilishly. “Figured you’d want it. Come over and taste test it for me.”
Setting my bag down on the couch, I hurry over to him. He holds out a spoon of spaghetti sauce and blows on it to cool it off. I open my mouth and he slowly slides the spoon onto my tongue. Closing my eyes, I feel like I’m in heaven. Spaghetti has always been my favorite dish, especially Jude’s. I tried cooking it for Shawn one day, but he hated the green peppers in it. So needless to say, I haven’t had good spaghetti in over six years.
When I open my eyes, Jude stares at me with a smile on his face. “Good?”
I moan. “The best. It’s been so long since I’ve had spaghetti this way. Shawn hated green peppers and he liked his sauce to be bitter, not sweet.”
Jude scoffs. “Figures. The man had zero taste. I swear, I don’t know what you ever saw in him.”
“Sometimes I wonder the same thing. We all make mistakes.”
He stirs the pot of sauce and gives me a smile. “Yeah, but sometimes we get the chance to right them.”
And thank God for that. While Jude finishes up with the noodles, I grab two plates out of the cabinet. He fills them both up with spaghetti and we sit down at the kitchen table where he already has a bottle of wine and two glasses ready for us. A Riesling, my favorite.
“Do you remember that one winter where we strapped the inflatable sled to your Jeep and you drove me and my friends around it all over campus?”
Jude tilts his head back and laughs. “How can I forget? We got into so much trouble over that. I’m surprised the school let me have a job here. Back then, they called me irresponsible.”
I wave him off. “We were just having fun.”
“We had a lot of that.” We both smile and I start on my spaghetti. Jude pours us both a glass of wine. “So what are your plans after you get your degree?”
“Well,” I say, taking my glass of wine, “I was thinking of finding a house and staying. I kind of like it up here.”
“Think you’ll ever marry again?”
I bring the glass of wine to my lips. “Maybe. If the right person comes along.”
Jude gives me that devilish smirk of his. “Maybe he will.”
Something tells me the right guy has been in front of me all along. I just failed to see it when I should have. I’m a firm believer on when it’s the right time, it’s the right time. Back then, it wasn’t mine and Jude’s time. We both did a lot of growing up the past few years. I see things a lot differently now. All in all, I like who I am now.
We both finish up our spaghetti and it’s so good I could eat another plate of it, but I don’t. I have big plans for tonight, and I don’t want to be stuffed. I just hope Jude likes what he’s about to see. Jude grabs our empty plates and takes them over to the sink. I walk over to help him, but he holds out his hand, stopping me.
“I got this. You go relax.”
“You sure?” I ask.
He kisses me and nips my bottom lip. “I’m sure. It won’t take me long.”
This works out perfect. “All right, I’ll leave you to it.” While he’s busy cleaning the dishes, I grab my bag out of the living room and sneak off down the hall. I peek into each room until I find what has to be his bedroom; it smells like his cologne. He has a king-size bed with a navy blue comforter and gray sheets. There aren’t any pictures on the walls, but on his dresser there’s one of our high school graduation. It’s of me and him, dressed in our cap and gown, sticking our tongues out at the camera. Those were good days. You would never find one of us without the other. That’s how close we were.
Dishes bang around in the kitchen, drawing me back to the task at hand. I toss my bag on the bed and pull out my lingerie and black heels. Once I have everything on, I slowly saunter down the hall, trying my best not to make any noise. I peek around the corner and Jude is still at the sink, cleaning the dishes. Grinning wide, I close the distance and wrap my arms around his waist.