Josie Day Is Coming Home (30 page)

“Hey, Josie. Wait.”

She stopped in the parking lot beside his motorcycle, her
expression unreadable. Luke frowned. Something about her had changed. She
seemed to have added three inches to her already willowy height, and the angle
of her chin made him nervous as hell.

Probably, he told himself, she was bugged by that
tight-assed busybody who’d booted them out of the Kincaid House.

“That docent didn’t have anything on you,” he
said, hooking his thumb toward the tour they’d just left. “She was
guessing. Trying to stir up trouble. Don’t let her get to you.”

“I’m not. I’m just ready to leave, that’s all. I made
plans to meet up with some old girlfriends later tonight, and I need time to
get ready.”

Luke examined her, his suspicions growing. He’d swear
something was different. “You look fine to me already.”

She scoffed. “Are you crazy? I can’t go out for a
girl’s night looking like this.” She held out her dress’s gaudy green
fabric, letting it billow a good foot in both directions. “I look like an
Amish hooker.
Not
the impression I’m going for, trust me.”

He did trust her. But he didn’t trust her mood.

“I’m sorry,” he said, intent on getting to the
bottom of things. If he knew women—and he did—an apology was always a good
place to start. “I got carried away in there. On the bed. You just felt so
good, I—”

“It’s over with. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Josie grabbed the spare helmet and tugged it on. She hiked up her dress with
both hands, then straddled his Harley. “Let’s go. I’ve got lots to
do.”

Acres of bare, showgirl-perfect leg showed from beneath her
still hiked-up dress. Temporarily befuddled by the sight, Luke just stood
there. That outfit wasn’t half bad when worn that way.

The sound of Josie snapping her fingers brought him to.

“Earth to Luke. I don’t know how to drive this
monstrosity, but I’m willing to give it a go. Toss me the keys.”

The hell he would. “I’ll drive.”

All the way to Blue Moon, Josie hugged herself to him. Her
curvy dancer’s thighs gripped his hips; her breasts teased his back. Her dress
fluttered behind her like a battle pennant, green and wild in his rearview
mirror.

What the hell was going on? The change in her had him
bewildered. Luke couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but he’d bet it had something
to do with her absolutely steely sunniness—and her new willingness to flaunt
her showgirl gams.
That
wasn’t part of the respectability playbook she’d
been using until now. Neither was the rebellious whoop she’d let loose as
they’d peeled out of the parking lot.

Climbing off his Harley at the estate, Josie took off her
helmet the way she always did. No metamorphosis there. She raised her hand to
smooth her sensible ponytail.

Or so he thought. Instead, she wrenched something loose,
threw away her headband, and let down her long hair for the first time in
weeks. It tossed around her face in the breeze, impossibly red and inexplicably
her
. With a plink of her fingers, she pitched away her ponytail holder.

She ruffled up her hair. “Ahhh. That’s better.”

“I’ll say.” He took off his helmet. “I like
your hair that way.”

“Me, too. I’d forgotten how much.”

Small talk. Between two people who’d all but hooked up a
half hour ago. People who’d lived in each other’s back pockets for weeks now.
What was going on?

Perplexed, Luke turned over his helmet in his hands. Josie
wouldn’t talk about anything real. He couldn’t read minds. That left them at an
impasse.

He swore under his breath. One more try wouldn’t kill him.

“Let’s talk inside,” he volunteered.

“Later.” She whisked his helmet from his grasp and
put it down on his bike. “I’ve got beautifying to do, remember?”

She smiled, but her attitude still felt weirdly distant.
Distracted.

Luke realized what it must be. “Are you pissed because
I said you look ‘fine’ earlier? Because what I meant was that you looked
gorge—”

She shushed him with her finger on his lips. Wearing a
bemused expression, Josie lowered her hand. Her fragrance wafted toward him on
the same breeze that tousled her hair.

“I’m not mad at you,” she said.

More confused than ever, Luke stared at her. “You
looked—”

Cutting him off, she rose to kiss him. The touch of her
lips, although brief, felt soft and sweet.

“I’m not mad,” she repeated.

Stupid relief filled him. “You
looked
mad.”

“At you? Nah. You knew the truth all along.” She gazed
at him with her usual directness. “It just took me a while to catch
on.”

“Catch on to what?”

“To the truth. About me.” Her cell phone rang.
With an apologetic glance, she fished it out of her purse. “Hang on. Just
let me get this. It looks like it’s Parker.”

He nodded his approval.

“Sure?” She paused, poised to flip open her phone.

“Yeah. I’ve got things to do in the carriage house
anyway.”

Josie’s chattering voice faded as he crossed the lawn. Luke
headed for his garage, feeling grateful for the getaway. That probably made him
an asshole. But right now, escaping to a world he understood—a world where the
problems were concrete and fixable—sounded pretty damned good.

That didn’t mean he didn’t care about Josie, though. Halfway
to the carriage house, he stopped. Frowning, Luke glanced backward.

Engrossed in her conversation, Josie cradled the phone to
her ear, her expression hidden by the tangles of hair in her face. Head down,
she toed off her sneakers. She scooped them up and dangled them carelessly from
her fingertips.

Ordinarily, she’d have worn them all the way into the
house—another of her self-imposed “rules for respectability.” Today,
she wiggled her bare toes in the grass, then meandered toward the porch.

Hmmm. That was weird. He debated going back and pressing her
for answers. But then his mind spun toward the latest of his growing list of
jobs—the carburetor repair he’d promised to do on a friend’s Harley—and Luke
kept going. Whatever Josie’s problem was, she’d tell him when she was ready.
Until then, he might as well get some work done.

Making her way upstairs, Josie paused on Blue Moon’s east
wing landing. She held the phone to her ear, hardly able to believe what she’d
just heard.

She’d been cut from her show at Enchanté.

“I’m really sorry, Josie,” Parker was saying.
“I wanted to come there and give you the news in person, but with the
schedule the way it is…well, you know. Two shows a night, matinees—it’s just
impossible.”

“I understand.” Woodenly, she climbed the stairs
again.

“This was the best I could do. Management’s sending you
a ‘nonrenewal of contract’ letter, the cold-hearted bastards. Can you believe
that?”

Josie nodded. Then she realized her friend couldn’t hear a
nod. “I guess that’s just the way it’s done,” she managed.

“Not when I’m around, it’s not. The least you deserve
is to hear about it from someone who loves you.”

“Thanks.” Her throat closed up, making it hard to
speak.

“I’m sure it’s only temporary,” Parker rattled on,
sounding concerned. Also, irritated on Josie’s behalf. “You know how
Jacqueline is. She gets in those choreographer snits of hers. One whisper from
her and a dancer’s cut. It could have happened to anyone, honestly.”

“I know. You’re right.”

“If it’s any consolation, Greg really fought for
you.”

“That was nice of him.” Greg was the producer at
Enchanté. They’d worked together on the Glamorous Nights Revue for six years
now. “Tell him thanks for me, okay? Or maybe I’ll just do that myself.
Yeah. I’ll call him.”

“Josie….” Parker hesitated, worry in her voice.
“Are you going to be okay? I know you’ve got your dance school in the
works and everything, but it’s not every day a girl gets cut. I know how much
that hurts. You’ve been with the show a long time.”

“I’ll be fine.” In her bedroom, Josie sank on the
chenille-covered bed. She felt numb. “Not having the show to come back to
feels kind of weird. It’ll take a while to get used to the idea, that’s
all.”

There was a momentary silence. Josie let herself fall
backward, feeling the coverlet billow around her. She ran her hand over its
softness, still holding the phone to her ear. She sighed. She really hadn’t
seen this coming.

“That’s it. I’m coming down there,” Parker
announced. Something scraped in the background, then paper rattled. “I can
borrow Thad’s Jeep and be there in a couple of hours, tops.”

At Parker’s loyalty, tears prickled Josie’s eyes. God, she
was sick of crying. It wasn’t like her at all.

“No! No,” she insisted, forcing a note of
assurance into her voice. “Getting yourself fired—right along with me—won’t
accomplish anything. You’ve got a show to do. I’ll be fine. Really. Besides,
you and Thad will be married soon, right? If you want to buy a house in one of
those new subdivisions, you’ll need
both
your incomes.”

Parker hesitated. “You’re my friend. You’re more
important than a cookie-cutter house in suburbia. Thad and I can stay in our
apartment for a few more years. Heck, I’ll throw in an extra fishing trip every
six months. He won’t notice a thing.”

Sniffling, Josie grinned. “I know how much you love
eau
de trout
.”

“That’s right. So don’t try to change my mind.”

“Seriously, Parker. Don’t come here. I’m so busy
putting everything together for my dance school…. We’d hardly have any time
together,” Josie fibbed. It wasn’t strictly true, but she didn’t think she
could face her best friend’s sympathetic company right now. She just might
crumple. “I’ll be fine. Hey! I feel better already.”

“You do not. Five bucks says you’re wrapped up in a
blanket, shivering, right this minute.”

Stunned, Josie stopped in the midst of covering herself with
a double layer of chenille bedspread. Whenever she got truly upset, she always
got the chills. She’d forgotten Parker had been there for some of those
bundling-up episodes—such as the one she’d been through the first time her dad
had been a no-show for one of her performances.

“Shows what you know,” she said haughtily, trying
to keep her teeth from chattering. “For your information, I’m sprawled out
practically naked, like a drunk high-roller at the pool.”

“Really?” Suspicion sounded plain in Parker’s
voice.

Josie glanced at the fluffy mounds of chenille. She ducked
her head beneath one, cell phone and all. Ah. Blissful heat.

“Would I lie to you?”

Parker was too smart to fall for misdirection. “Why
don’t you want me to come?”

Leave it to Parker to ask the tough questions. The truth
was, Josie didn’t want her best friend to see her fail. Which was exactly what
she was doing at the moment, thanks to Donovan’s Corner’s refusal to let
bygones be bygones…and showgirls be dance teachers.

“I
do
want you to come. I miss you!” At
least that part was truthful. “But really, I’m up to my eyeballs trying to
get my dance school up and running.”

“You already said that.”

“Besides, you’d hate it here.”

Parker scoffed. “I’ve been to the boonies before.”

Helplessly, Josie smiled again. It was only a small smile,
but it was a start. “Your calling it ‘the boonies’ is kind of a red flag.
Just give me a couple more weeks, okay?”

By then, Josie figured either her dance school would be up
and successful or she’d have been run out of town on a rail. If it was the
latter, she planned to have earned every scandalous moment leading up to it.
Starting tonight.

“Fine,” Parker relented. “But call me
tomorrow to check in. I mean it!”

Josie agreed. She said her good-byes and hung up.

It was finally time to cut loose.

“Hot damn!” TJ said, clattering down the carriage
house stairs. “I am looking
fine
tonight!”

Luke glanced up. His buddy strutted into the garage and
posed beside a beat-up Kawasaki, his knobby elbows and lanky frame nearly
upsetting the bike. His gelled hair defied gravity. His ensemble for the night
defied common sense.

He couldn’t have looked more pleased with himself.

“Look,” Luke deadpanned. “It’s Yahoo Serious,
all decked out for the prom.”

“Laugh all you want, monkey boy. When the hottie I met
at the Founder’s Day festival sees me looking like this, she’ll be
all
over me.”

“Either that or she’ll be running away from you. Is
that shirt as radioactive as it looks?”

“It’s clean!” TJ sniffed his armpits. “Pretty
much. And check out what’s on the front.”

With a game show hostess flourish, he indicated the
lettering on his T-shirt.
I’m with stupid
, it said. The red arrow below
the words pointed to his crotch.

“Classy,” Luke said.

“Wait! You haven’t seen the back yet.”

Proudly, TJ pivoted.
So is she
, the back read. This
time, the arrow pointed left.

He looked over his shoulder, grinning. “Funny, right?
The only trick will be keeping Amber on this side of me.” TJ pantomimed
putting his arm around a girl. “So the shirt’s accurate.”

“Yeah. She’ll love that.”

“All the ladies like a man with a sense of humor.”

Luke wiped his hands on a shop rag. “Where are you
taking this laugh-a-minute girl? Provided she doesn’t bolt the minute she sees
you?”

“For your information,” TJ said with dignity,
“I’m a romantic guy. I’m letting
her
decide.”

“Wow.” Luke raised his brows. “I’m
impressed.”

“Between hanging out at Bubba’s and going cow
tipping.”

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. TJ, a native
Los Angelino through and through, had obviously gotten all his ideas about
small-town life from the movies.