Getting Lucky (25 page)

“I don’t mind at all.”

“I’d love to learn to make some of this other stuff too,” Peyton said, looking around the room. “The lotions and stuff are amazing.”

Hope felt a surge of pride at that. “I can show you how to make shampoo and perfume and stuff that’s great for your nails.” She couldn’t help herself—she took Peyton’s hand again and lifted it. “Working here, you’ll be washing your hands a lot. I have a hand mask that would be great for your dry skin and cuticles.”

“A hand mask?”

“Like face masks—and I have some awesome ones of those too—but you put it on your hands and leave it for a while. Softens everything right up.”

Peyton looked up at her. “See, you’re so interesting.”

It was so similar to what Hope had said to TJ yesterday as she was getting to know him that she was unable to reply for a moment. Finally, she took a breath and forced a smile. “When’s your day off? If you’re not busy we can play around in TJ’s kitchen.”

She was going to assume he wouldn’t mind. He, after all, was the only other person on the planet who knew who Peyton was to Hope.

“Not until next Thursday,” Peyton said regretfully.

That was several days away. It looked like Hope had another reason to stay in town. She
had
to teach Peyton these things. Something lasting. Something Peyton could do and think of Hope—even if she didn’t know who Hope really was.

That idea caused a twinge in her chest, but Hope ignored it. She didn’t actually want Peyton to know her real identity. That would be messy.

This was fine. She could stay here as TJ’s girlfriend, give him what he needed while still giving something to Peyton too. Peyton didn’t need to know that Hope was her sister to enjoy and benefit from learning about the soaps and chalks and lotions.

“You’ve got to go with us to the Come Again tonight,” Phoebe said, crossing the room to retrieve more of the plastic containers for the women to take creams home in.

“Me?” Hope asked.

“Yeah. We’re going down there for burgers and margaritas,” Phoebe told her. “Not that you’ll eat the burgers, but Lauren needs some cheese and grease.”

Hope glanced at the pregnant woman. Lauren grimaced. “This baby is a Bennett for sure. I mean, I like a good burger once in a while, but I ate a lot healthier before this kid started bossing me around. He loves fried food, especially onion rings.” If it was possible for a woman to look disgusted and tempted at the same time, Lauren pulled it off.

“It’s a boy?” Hope asked, finally letting go of Peyton’s hand and wondering if the girl thought the hand holding had gone on past the appropriate stage.

“It’s gotta be,” Lauren said. “No lady would act like this.”

Phoebe snorted. “What makes you think she’d be a lady?”

Lauren arched a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, sure, hoity-toity city-girl genius scientist,” Phoebe said. “You can try to act all superior, but I’ve seen you chug a beer faster than
I
can and belch afterward. And you dance in the back of Travis’s truck in boots and short shorts with the best of us when you’re not knocked up.”

Lauren sighed. “I so hope I can wear short shorts again after this.”

Phoebe laughed and turned back to Hope. “There’s not much to eat there for you, but margaritas are vegan, aren’t they?”

“Think they would use agave syrup?” Hope asked.

Phoebe hesitated. “I’m not sure they would
have
agave syrup.”

“I can supply it,” Hope said, fighting a smile.

Phoebe nodded. “Then, yeah, they probably would. Especially if Derek’s tending bar. You flash those big green eyes at him and he’ll probably let you behind the bar to make whatever you want, however you want.”

That she could do. She didn’t drink alcohol often, but she did happen to have an amazing recipe for margaritas. “Great, then I’m in.” She turned to Peyton. “You want to come?”

Her sister had to be twenty-one. Probably.

Peyton’s attention went to where Adrianne was cleaning one of the huge mixers they’d used to whip the coconut oil. Peyton lowered her voice and moved in closer. “I just got this job and I don’t want to mess it up.”

“You’d be off the clock, right?” Hope asked. “Surely Adrianne doesn’t care what you do in your off time?”

“Well, I…” Peyton trailed off. She studied Hope for a moment and then took a deep breath. “I tend to get into trouble when I drink tequila.”

Hope could tell Peyton was surprised she had confessed that to a near stranger.

“We’ll have to keep you away from the tequila then,” Hope said.

“And rum. And whiskey. And vodka.”

Hope bit the inside of her cheek. Okay. TJ had told her that Peyton tended to get into trouble. She’d assumed it was more the bad-taste-in-men thing.

“So maybe you can just stay away from all of that.”

“At the Come Again?” Peyton asked, clearly skeptical. “That’s why people go.”

“What about just having a good time talking with friends and maybe dancing?” Hope suggested.

Peyton shrugged. “Everything is more fun with alcohol.”

Hope decided to change her mind. “I’ll prove that’s not true,” Hope said. “You come out with us tonight, I won’t drink either, and I promise you’ll have a wonderful time.”

Peyton studied her again. “Why do you care if I go out with you?”

She had to be careful here. “I like you.”

Peyton’s eyes widened with surprise. “You do?”

Hope’s heart clenched again. Was that really so surprising? “I do.”

“You barely know me.”

“I’m very intuitive,” Hope said. That word was getting a lot of play in Sapphire Falls. Was everything black and white here? Was everyone here the I-have-to-see-it-and-touch-it-to-believe-its-real type?

“I heard you tell the other girls that.”

“It’s true. I get senses about people. And I’m almost always right.”

“And you get the sense that I’m likable?” Peyton asked.

Hope wanted to hug her again. “I really do.”

“We’ll have to go to Julie’s,” Lauren said, waddling to the sink with her plate and cup. “You’ll need some new clothes.”

Hope looked down at her dress and sandals. “I will?”

“You’re going to need some denim.” Lauren put a hand on her back and took a deep breath. “Red, tell her about the denim. I’m too tired.”

Phoebe chuckled and took Lauren’s plate and cup. “Do you have any blue jeans, Hope?”

She did. Back in Arizona. And she didn’t particularly care for them. They were too confining and denim was too rough for her. “No, sorry.”

“Then we’ll go to Julie’s and hook you up,” Phoebe said.

“With blue jeans?” Hope asked.

“And then Phoebe will cut them off,” Lauren said.

“Why?” Hope wanted to know.

“To make shorts,” Phoebe said with a shrug.

“I have to wear denim shorts to the bar?” That was a strange dress code.

“TJ wants you to wear denim shorts to the bar,” Lauren said.

Hope’s eyebrows went up. “He does? How do you know?”

Lauren smiled. “Denim is like Viagra to the men around here.”

Phoebe laughed. “Especially short denim.”

“And I personally can’t wait to see my brother-in-law’s face when he sees you in short denim,” Lauren said.

Hope was starting to feel her tolerance for denim growing. “Really?”

“TJ’s the gruff introvert of the group,” Lauren said. “But he’s a great guy underneath all the grumpiness. I want—I
need
—to see him happy and having fun and…ruffled.”

Hope agreed with the happy and having fun stuff. She liked Lauren. “What do you mean by ruffled?”

“Not so sure of himself, crazy about someone, distracted and…ruffled,” Lauren said. “He usually acts bored and underwhelmed or even uncomfortable in social situations. But I’m thinking if he’s got you in a pair of short shorts, that might be different.”

Hope would love to see TJ ruffled too. Or maybe it was rumpled—as in, his clothes had been thrown all over the floor on the way to the bedroom…

Okay, she could put up with denim for a few hours.

“I thought he was pretty outgoing and into partying at one time?” she asked. That was what he’d told her, wasn’t it?

“Nope,” Lauren said. “TJ’s always been the dependable one. But he used to know how to have fun. He used to be happy.”

Hope didn’t need to know anything more about Lauren to like her immensely. She cared about TJ and wanted him to be happy.

“That was why Michelle was attracted to him,” Delaney added. “That’s what Tucker says anyway. Michelle needed someone who was stable, to be her rock. That was TJ. But because he
wasn’t
a big partier, she would get bored and they’d end up fighting and breaking up. Then, eventually, she’d be right back, needing his help.”

Lauren sighed. “When she showed up on his doorstep, pregnant and pathetic, he went way beyond responsible. He worried all the time. He was uptight, perpetually pissed off. Being with that bitch twenty-four-seven ruined him.”

Hope didn’t move. She didn’t even breathe deeply. She didn’t want these women to realize they were spilling all of TJ’s secrets and stop. She wanted to know
everything
. Michelle had been pregnant? With TJ’s baby? Was that the boy Delaney had mentioned Michelle left behind when she came to party in Sapphire Falls?

“Then she told him the baby wasn’t his and left to be with his real father and he hasn’t been the same since,” Phoebe said. “I didn’t know him before all of that, but Tucker and the other guys say that he’s really withdrawn into his own bubble now. I think he’s great, but he definitely seems unhappy a lot of the time.”

Michelle had
lied
to TJ about the baby being his? And had then left him? Hope hadn’t known TJ long, but she knew deep, deep inside that losing the child he’d thought was his son had been worse than losing Michelle.

She really wanted to slap Michelle. Hard. More than once. And Hope had never wanted to do harm to another person.

“So you can see why we would love for him to really fall for someone,” Delaney said, focusing on Hope again.

“Delaney and Tucker said it was so nice seeing him happy last night,” Lauren said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

The breath caught in Hope’s chest. She looked around the room and saw the same thing on everyone’s faces—hope. Ironically.

Including TJ’s mother’s.

Oh…crap.

She wanted TJ to be happy too. She’d already surmised that he needed to have some fun, to spend time with a woman who truly liked him and had no other agenda. But it was
some
time. Short-term. The summer, at most. Now these women, who she was growing to actually like, in spite of the fact they knew a scary number of details about everyone’s lives, were looking at her as if she was some kind of savior.

She really liked TJ. And she thought that some fun with her could go a long way toward healing his heart. But she was going to leave eventually. And these women would all hate her then.

“TJ and I are just getting to know each other,” she started.

Adrianne laughed. “You guys are scaring her,” she said to Lauren and Delaney. She turned to Hope. “Don’t worry. We know you just got here.”

“But this is Sapphire Falls,” Phoebe said with a grin.

Hope looked at her, worried for some reason. “What does that mean?”

“People fall in love fast here,” Kate said.

Love? Yeah, she was going to have to be careful here. She wanted to have a fun fling. She wanted
TJ
to have a fun fling. Love was something else altogether.

“Fast?” Hope repeated. “Like how fast?”

“Two or three days,” Phoebe said happily.

Two or three
days
? Hope shook her head. “But not TJ. He’s way too…”

“Grumpy?” Delaney asked.

“Cynical?” Lauren offered.

“Serious,” Adrianne supplied.

“Ooh, suspicious!” Phoebe said, as if they were playing a game.

“Yes, all of that,” Hope said. “TJ does
not
seem like the type of guy to fall in love easily or fast.”

“But he’s a Bennett man.”

This comment came from the woman sitting at the counter, sipping a cup of coffee and smelling like wintergreen cream.

Kathy Bennett.

Delaney and Lauren nodded in response. The other girls just grinned at Hope.

“What do you mean?” Hope asked Kathy, almost not wanting to know but not able to
not
know.

“My sons are hardly perfect,” Kathy said with a smile full of affection. “But they know what love is, and when they find it, they figure it out quickly and hold on tight.”

Hope felt an almost painful twinge in her…all over…at that.

“But at this point,” Kathy said. “I’m just thrilled you’re here to help with his shoulder and make him smile.”

“He hasn’t done
a lot
of smiling yet,” Hope said honestly.