Dating A Silver Fox (Never Too Late) (37 page)

Alexa caught Eddie’s attention and pointed to Regina. Almost instantly, a pomegranate martini appeared.

“Here. I’m sorry for taking such drastic measures. I don’t have your ethics. You and Lauren would mean more to me even if I did. I ordered this and put it on hold while Lauren was crying. Drink it quickly before she gets back. I’m not sure how she’ll react to seeing you stressed again. I said something about dresses earlier and she burst into tears because she thinks she’s fat already. This one has to be a girl. All that extra estrogen floating around is making Lauren uber female.”

“I can’t believe I have to go talk to Lydia at her freaking house,” Regina complained, sipping. “Do you know how much trouble I could get into for doing that?”

“Trouble for what? Talking to a friend?” Alexa lifted her glass. “You’re the best friend in the world.”

“What if I fail to get Lydia to see the light?” Regina asked.

Alexa shrugged. “I’ve not seen that happen yet. What’s your gut say about Morrie and Lydia?”

“They’re meant to be,” Regina said, sharing what she hoped, not necessarily what she thought was going to happen.

“Then you’ll find a way,” Alexa said. “Hell, we might be rounding out our trio with a fourth person again every week—trading Mama Jenna for Grandma Lydia.”

Regina snorted. “Now you’re just talking crazy. We are not going to be hanging out with Lydia. I may have to refer you to someone for that delusion.”

“No,” Alexa said, laughing at the droll therapist humor. “I just know you do good work. Look at me. Look at Lauren. Oh wait—seems like I heard that lecture already today.”

Regina lifted a finger to Alexa but still managed to swallow the last of the drink and get rid of the glass before Lauren came back.

***

The doorbell’s insistent chiming forced her to go check who it was. Lydia took her cell phone with her. If it was Morrison Fox, she was going to call the cops to have him removed. And tomorrow, she was changing her code to get by the gates. She was already boycotting her favorite restaurant because of him. She refused to let him run her out of her home.

Her shock when she looked through the peephole had her opening the door.

“Regina? What are you doing here? Did Morrison send you?” Lydia asked.

“No,” Regina said flatly, thinking one martini had not been nearly enough. “Actually, Lauren asked me to come. I’d like to come in, but I have to tell you I’m not here as your therapist. I’m here as a friend of your daughter’s—maybe yours. You’ll have to decide.”

“Lauren sent you?” Lydia asked, surprised.

“She bawled all over me, said you refused to talk with her, and she twisted my arm emotionally. Short of telling her you were my client, which I would never do, there was little room to refuse her request that I check on you. I didn’t want to stress her more than her pregnancy already is doing. She’s a regular waterworks these days and has no sense of humor at all,” Regina said.

Lydia blinked several times, trying to make herself believe Regina was here.

“So may I come in?” Regina asked.

Lydia stepped aside and gestured.

Regina looked around and smiled. “Nice house. Feels very comfortable,” she said.

“Thank you,” Lydia said. “Would you. . .can I get you something?”

“Ice water would be great,” Regina said. “I’m doing penance for the martini I just guzzled behind Lauren’s back.”

She was silent for a full minute, staring at how Lydia looked. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve just got to say this. Wow—that is some toned body you have there. Now I feel positively frumpy. If I gain one more pound, I’m going to have to start wearing spandex all the time just to hold in the fat.”

Lydia laughed, looking down at her yoga crops and t-shirt. “This is what I wear around the house.”

“You should wear it out in public too. If I looked like that, I’d for damn sure be showing it off,” Regina said, following Lydia to her kitchen. “Nice island. Ben and I are going to have one at the new house, which should be ready soon. I’m so looking forward to something other than condo living. We had to wait until there was room in a gated community. In my line of work, I need security.”

Lydia frowned. “I chose a gated community because I lived alone.”

“I think it’s great if you can afford it. In fact, I can’t imagine living without the peace of mind it brings. Ben and Casey are still putting a top-of-the-line security system in our new place,” Regina said, climbing up on a stool.

Her feet barely touched the foot rest on the stool, making her feel like a child. She pushed the mild aggravation away. She wasn’t here to be comfortable, but she hated feeling self-conscious.

“So. . .,” Regina said over the glass Lydia slid in front of her. “How are you? Lauren said you’ve been a little reclusive lately. Everything going okay?”

“Morrison hasn’t been to see you?” Lydia demanded, sliding onto a stool.

“He has,” Regina answered vaguely, “and I know how he is. What I’m asking is how are you? You can say ‘fine” and I can say ‘good.’ We can talk about Lauren, Jim, and JD or chat about the weather. Or—you can tell me something interesting and I can share my opinion of the events of your life—you know,
like a friend might
.”

“A friend?” Lydia repeated, laughing as she finally caught on to Regina’s concerns. “Are we friends now, Dr. Logan?”

“After today we might have to be nothing more than friends because coming here is not an ethical thing to do with a client. Though technically, we halfway decided you were cured during your last visit,” Regina said.

“I was either wrong about being cured or I’ve turned into an idiot since you last saw me,” Lydia replied. “I caught Morrie groping a woman in public. There were multiple witnesses, including his own daughter. He tried to say it was nothing.”

Regina snorted, mostly remembering what she had said to Morrie herself. Innocent or not, he deserved Lydia’s wrath simply for making a public scene guaranteed to embarrass the woman he professed to love. “That took some nerve for him to pretend it was nothing.”

“Right—like it was nothing important to watch him touching another woman in the exact same damn way he had touched me the night before. And I’m supposed to just somehow be okay with it and believe it was all some huge misunderstanding. I don’t care about the reasons. He was running his hands over and around her breasts like he was buying fucking melons or something.”

“I would have been royally pissed too,” Regina said in agreement, sipping her water. “I might have even knocked the woman on her ass before I broke Ben’s fingers. What did you do?”

“Do? What do you mean?” Lydia asked.

“To the woman—what did you do to her?” Regina demanded, crossing one set of fingers.

“Nothing. What was I supposed to do?” Lydia demanded in return.

“I don’t know. You’re just going to let her get away with her part of the whole thing?” Regina asked with an evil smile.

“You think I should confront her?” Lydia said.

“Why do you think the woman didn’t knock Morrie’s hands away? What was her part? Are they secret lovers? I’d for damn sure want to know, and then I’d decide if he was worth sorting it all out or not,” Regina said with a shrug.

“Yes. I damn well would like to know,” Lydia said, considering it.

“You’ve come a long way from the woman who tolerated her cheating husband. You’re not married this time, and for damn sure you don’t have to let some guy screw around on you behind your back. Make him do it out front if it’s going to happen. You’ll at least respect yourself and not feel like you have to hide out in your own house. Lord, that’s no life,” Regina said, taking a long drink to shut herself up.

It was for Lauren’s sake, Regina told herself. She was doing this for friendship. Hell, maybe she was doing it for Lydia. The woman should have knocked Morrie on his metaphorical, poetry-loving ass, and told the woman to leave her man alone.

“I never thought of it that way. I guess I have been hiding,” Lydia said, the idea taking root and growing.

“Haven’t you done that too much already in your life? Morrie may have unlocked the box, but you didn’t give him the key to relock it, did you?” Regina demanded.

“I don’t understand,” Lydia said, chewing her lip.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. What you decide about Morrie is really not any of my business, especially since
you’re no longer my client
,” Regina said emphasizing it again as she slid off the stool. “But if it were me, I’d put on clothes that made a point of showing how great I looked, and then go give that seducing vixen a good piece of my mind for messing with my man. Maybe I’m just not as nice as you though.”

Lydia’s mouth twitched at Regina’s vehemence. The woman made her laugh. And she could definitely imagine Regina taking on a woman who tried something with her husband.

“Have you ever done that? I mean seriously,” Lydia asked, walking with Regina back to the door.

“Yes. You know Stephanie Sawyer?” Regina asked.

“You mean the woman who does ‘About Town With Stephanie’? Yes I watch her. Oh no—you’re not the person that sent all those strippers to her are you?” Lydia said. “She almost got fired over them. Some of them got totally nude outside the station.”

“Ben was on her show when we were dating, and Stephanie was way more touchy-feely than she should have been with him. Nobody touches my man and goes unscathed,” Regina said firmly. “Since she wanted a man so badly, I sent her plenty to choose from that day. And let me tell you, those men were worth every penny I paid even if I didn’t get to enjoy any stripping personally. One of them was a friend of your daughter’s, by the way.”

“Oh my god,” Lydia said, tears streaming, laughing until she hurt. “I can’t believe you did that.”

The more she looked at Regina’s unsmiling face and twinkling eyes, the funnier it all became. But also—the more she began to see Regina was right. She was cowering again, cowering back and letting a man dictate how she felt about her own self-worth.

“Screw cowering. I’m not going to be a weeping victim anymore,” Lydia said.

“Only one person can change that,” Regina said, laughing when Lydia threw her arms around her and squeezed. “Lord, you’re strong. I want to be just like you when I get older. Even Lauren’s not in that kind of shape. What’s with you McCarthy women?”

“I’m not just strong. I have perky boobs and an ass like a twenty-year-old,” Lydia bragged, laughing as she let go.

“Well, be careful who you show your ass to from now on. Make sure he’s worth the trouble,” Regina advised. “Call your daughter. She’s weeping and worrying.”

“Yes. I will. Thanks for coming by,” Lydia said.

“Good luck,” Regina said, exiting the house and exhaling a sigh.

Lydia now officially knew enough about her to ruin her professional reputation. All she could hope was that the woman never got mad at her.

Chapter 27

“I’m going to miss you, Jane,” Lydia said, folding the last towel. “I see Walter has moved into one of the empty units. Hard to imagine that young man being content to live among so many older people.”

“I think it’s just one older person he wants to be close to,” Jane said with a smile, thinking of how much Walter loved Harrison.

On the two occasions she had met his parents, she had gone away wondering how those two had ever dealt with the kind of child Walter must have been. Now she knew. His grandparents had all but raised him, at least in the ways that mattered most.

“So. . .how are you? I’ve been busy and haven’t seen you. I told Walter I’d stay on for a couple of weeks to help him transition,” Jane said.

“I’m mostly fine,” Lydia answered, striving for the most sincerity she could. “I’m over feeling sorry for myself and being mad at your father. Well, that’s not true.”

Lydia pushed the clean towels into their storage cubicles before answering.

“I’m still angry at your father. Fortunately, the embarrassment is almost gone. Harrison and Walter were nice about it. I hope you know I don’t judge you by it either.”

“No. I don’t think that. I just wish it had been different. You made Dad happy—like really happy. It was good to see him that way again,” Jane said, watching the older woman close her eyes and sigh.

“Well, don’t let your father’s unconscionable behavior keep you from giving young Walter a run if you’re so inclined. Walter seems like a good man when it comes to all the important things—just like Harrison. That’s not to say I’d ride with them in vehicles anymore than I had to,” Lydia said with a smile.

Jane smiled back. “Actually, Walter is an okay driver. I rode to lunch with him and Harrison.”

“Must have gotten his sane driving from his mother’s side,” Lydia said dryly. “Leland probably holds some kind of record in Falls Church for the most driving violations. Their insurance was so high, April took over the driving almost completely.

Jane laughed again. She had never realized what a keen sense of humor Lydia had until she’d gotten to know her.

“So do you think you and Dad. . .” Jane stopped the question when she saw Lydia shaking her head.