One-Off (31 page)

“All three, load it on.”

I started pulling out various ingredients. “What’s got you twisted up?”

Dallas reached into a cabinet and set the waffle maker on the counter. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Dinner?”

“Marriage.”

I stopped what I was doing and grabbed her arm to make her face me. She looked guilty that she’d said it and miserable that she didn’t know what to do about it. “Did something happen?”

“No, yes, he just doesn’t listen.” She let out an audible groan. “We were supposed to spend yesterday painting the unfinished drywall in my garage. Instead, he spends an hour online, and the next thing I know, he’s calling Ainsley to see what she’s doing. They end up going to a soccer game together.”

I pushed her onto a stool at the counter before giving her my opinion. “Here’s what I see. You guys get along great. You have fun together, and you obviously care for one another. You have a great working relationship. You love him, more than you’ve loved anyone else, which is why you wanted to marry him.” I paused before I started with the more sensitive observations. “You’ve only known him for nine months. This is your first hiatus together. You both work like dogs to get your shows put together. You haven’t seen him when he has time off.”

“We spent weekends together.”

“That’s not the same as two and a half months off. He might like to shut down for that time. He might think that work of any kind, like painting when he’s supposed to have time off, is the same as the work he’s taking a break from. Or he may think that you should hire someone to do that kind of work.”

She looked uneasy. “He did say we should hire someone, but you know I love doing stuff like that for my house.”

“So he didn’t so much ignore you as think he told you what he wanted and thought you didn’t hear him?”

“I did hear him. I just disagreed.”

I let out a breath and tried to figure out how to break this to her. “I’m going to say something hard to hear, but I do it because I care. That’s an area where you both need work. You both seem to think that if you say something and the other disagrees, as long as you say it again, it’s settled. It’s not. Like the house thing.”

She made a disbelieving sound. “Do you know he still thinks we’re moving back to his loft when Ainsley leaves in a couple days?”

“I’m going to give you the only advice I’m qualified to give about marriage.” I went to the desk area in the kitchen and reached for the business card I’d been holding for two months.

Dallas studied the card and looked at me in confusion. “You’re seeing a therapist?”

“She’s a marriage counselor.” I watched my friend’s eyes go wide and stand from her seat. “Listen, just listen for a sec. She can help you figure out how to communicate with each other.”

“We communicate just fine. He just chooses not to listen.”

“And what if he’s telling his best friend the same thing about you right now?”

Her mouth dropped open. She clearly hadn’t thought about that.

“How many times have we been out together, you guys disagree on something, and I come up with a solution?”

“A few.”

Try almost every time. “I’ve been a mediator at times. That’s a quick fix, but I don’t have the skill set to help you both mediate for yourselves. I can come up with suggestions for whatever issue you’re debating, but I don’t know how to get you to the point where you recognize that you’re going in circles, you’re not hearing each other, and you need to come to a solution together.”

“He won’t like this.” She sighed and tapped the card against the counter.

“Too bad. He’s half the problem. Use the house thing as a reason to go to one session. You’re not backing down and he doesn’t sound like he’s backing down. That’s not a problem that can be fixed easily.”

“I guess you’re right. I mean what am I going to do if he just drives me to his place after we have dinner one night? I don’t want to live in that cold, impersonal place.” She shuddered.

“A therapist could make him realize how much you love your place and how he doesn’t love his as much. Or she might make you realize that you could turn his place into the warm, lovely home you have now. It’s also possible she could suggest you both sell your places and buy a home together. Any suggestion she has will force you to understand that what you want isn’t necessarily what he wants and you’ll have to make accommodations from time to time.”

“So you think I should just move into his place?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Because she looked devastated by her question, I added, “Actually, I think he should move into yours. I know how much work and love you put into your house, and I don’t think he did the same with his. But if I were in this situation, I might think that the only real compromise is for you both to give up the places that you love and find a new place together.”

“You’d do that? You love your place, too.”

I took a seat, considering her question. “I’ve never thought about it, but yeah, I think if I loved someone enough to marry her and my home wasn’t her ideal, then we’d find a place together.”

“You make me sound like a selfish bitch.”

“You’re not, and that’s not at all what I’m saying.” I squeezed her forearm. “I just think you both need to learn that the way you solve differences on your show isn’t how you can solve them in your marriage. Floyd, Van, and I won’t be there for marriage disagreements like we are for story or production disagreements. You have to learn to express your feelings even when it’s difficult for him to hear.”

“Yeah, like he wants four kids and I only want two.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “He thinks we’re already trying.”

“Dallas!” I admonished. “He thinks you’re trying to get pregnant?”

She shrugged. “Sort of. I mean he said we should try for a baby, and I didn’t really say no, but I’m still taking birth control.”

“And how do you think he’s going to feel when he finds that out?”

Her face fell. “You’re right, but I don’t want to be pregnant yet. I want us to enjoy married life first.”

“Then tell him that. Tell him why. He can’t object to you wanting to spend more time with him alone before you add a baby into the mix.”

Her eyes misted. “You always see things so clearly.”

“It’s because I’m not involved. That’s what a therapist can do for you.”

“I’ll talk to him. He won’t like it, but you’re right. We do need to figure out a way we can communicate our feelings without just stating what we want.”

“I’ll help you paint the garage next weekend if you want.”

“Thanks, but I’ll get him to help. He needs to learn that you can’t hire someone to do everything for you.”

“Good luck.” I squeezed her arm again. It made me sad that she was having such difficulty so early on in the marriage. I’d heard the first year of marriage was the hardest. Maybe everyone has to go through these stumbling blocks.

Forty-One

Coming back to the living room after I’d cleared our coffee mugs, I caught Dallas scolding Colin. “We are not using Ainsley’s last night in town to address thank you cards.”

Ainsley was set to leave tomorrow. My feelings were no longer mixed about it. I didn’t want her to leave. We’d grown to be good friends over the past two months. I didn’t want to give that up. Emailing, webcams, and phone calls weren’t the same. Even knowing she’d be back next summer for a few weeks wasn’t the same. I almost wished she hadn’t been Colin’s cousin. I would have been perfectly happy to go through the rest of my life remembering her as an antagonistic housemate who found me really irritating. Instead, every time I thought of her now, I’d miss her. Desperately.

“But her handwriting is so much better than mine.”

“Lazy arse,” Ainsley scolded him. “It’ll be good for you.”

“You know you want to spend your evening helping us,” he goaded.

“You know I don’t.”

“We should get going,” Dallas said, probably noticing that I was fading from a full day at work when none of them were back to work yet.

I didn’t want the evening to end. More specifically I didn’t want my time with Ainsley to end. It was stupid. I’d gone thirty-five years without her friendship including a year we spent together when she couldn’t stand me. I should be able to go thirty-five more without any issues.

“Probably, since we have to drive in the opposite direction to drop Ainsley off at my place,” Colin agreed. “It’d be better if we just stayed at the loft tonight.”

“Babe, we talked about this with the counselor,” Dallas said calmly. “Until we come to a resolution, we stay where we are.”

“Fine. Oh, and thanks for the head shrinking by the way, Skye.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. He’d be thanking me when they finished all the sessions and he’d learned to communicate with his wife.

“It may turn out to be the best advice we’ve ever been given. So shut your trap.”

We laughed at her clear lack of learned skills from the one counseling session they’d gone to. I hoped they’d stick with it. They had a temporary solution to their housing disagreement, and Dallas had broken the news that she wasn’t ready to start having babies yet. So at least two issues had been discussed. From what I’d seen, they had twenty or thirty more, but baby steps.

“Yes, dear,” he joked. “You ready, Ainsley?”

I practically sprang off the couch. “I’ll take you home. It’s out of the way like Colin said.”

Colin’s eyebrows rose, but he turned to his cousin. “Cool with you?”

She nodded and shot another sideways glance at me. My request surprised her. It seemed to have surprised everyone, including me.

“We’ll be by just before ten to take you to the airport,” Colin told his cousin. The melancholy in his expression made a lump form in my throat. “Unless you want to take Georgetown up on their offer?”

My head whipped around. Georgetown had made her an offer, too? She blushed and stepped back. Her head shook but her eyes sought mine for a moment. Was that a question in them? Or regret that, like me, she’d miss being here with us, with me?

“Had to try. Are you going to meet us at the loft, Skye?”

“You don’t have to,” Ainsley insisted.

“You should have a proper sendoff,” I said and walked Dallas and Colin to the door. We stood on the front stoop and watched as they got into Dallas’s car. Colin was driving because he apparently had trouble letting Dallas drive. Yet another of their issues they needed to work on.

“You made them go to therapy sessions?” Ainsley kept her eyes on the car as it pulled away.

“I know, I’m an asshole. You don’t need to say it.”

“I wish I’d thought of it. I think we might have done them a disservice by planning the wedding for them. If they’d had to go through all the steps, they might have learned to work through some of these decisions.”

I shook my head and blew out an amused breath. “It amazes me because they work really well together. They have to agree on the stories they want to pursue. I didn’t realize the extent to which it wasn’t carrying over into their personal lives.”

“Honeymoon phase,” Ainsley said as she followed me back inside. “Ever since they got together he’s been off his head about her. They weren’t together long enough to get past that phase before the wedding.”

“Want some tea?” I offered.

“We just had coffee.”

“Right.” I searched for something else to say. Anything that would extend our time together. “I can take you to the loft if you’re ready.”

“I’m okay for now.”

I let out a relieved breath when she took a seat on the couch and hurried to join her. “Are you ready to get back home? You must be missing your friends.”

“Most everyone I know is a professor. We usually stay out of touch over the holiday until the big bash before term starts.” Her eyes met mine. “This year, I’ll have a lot to tell.”

I smiled. “Yeah, like how you were ambushed into planning a wedding with a woman who used to irritate you no end.”

“No one would believe it.” She laughed and the sound surrounded us.

“Anything you didn’t get to do or still want to do before you leave? Some places are still open.”

She gazed at me for a moment. “Yes.”

I waited for her to say more but nothing else came. I flipped my hands up, asking her to tell me. She stood and went to my stereo, flicking through the music selection until she chose something. One of my favorites started playing. No surprise that Ainsley liked her since the singer was a Brit who could belt out soulful songs better than almost anyone.

She turned to me and held out her hand. “Another dance.”

I blinked and had to remind myself to breathe. “What?”

“I’d like another dance before I leave.”

“With me?”

A sly smile inched across her face. “Do you see anyone else here?”

“I’m sure my neighbor’s home. I can see if she likes to dance.”

“Arse,” she chuckled and flicked her fingers to beckon me.

“I’m leading this time.” I had to say something to make it seem as casual as she was being, but I couldn’t talk much or she’d hear my voice shaking.

“How do I know you can lead?” Blue eyes sparked with daring.

Her challenge had me off the sofa and closing the distance between us. I slid my hand onto the small of her back and held my other out for her to place hers in. As soon as we joined hands, I took a step to the side. Her free hand came up to curl over my shoulder blade. We still had several inches between us as we began to move. I avoided her eyes because I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I looked into them. With every step we inched closer together until there was barely a breath between us.

Halfway through the song, I felt like my skin was going to incinerate. I couldn’t deny this attraction any longer. My hand pressed onto her back, fusing her body to mine. Her scent pulsed over me. I closed my eyes and breathed her in. When I opened them again, she was looking at me. Her blue eyes sending messages I didn’t know if I was reading correctly.

“You’re very good at this,” she said in a soft voice.

“As are you.”

She shifted both arms to wrap around my neck. I slid my other hand around her waist and held her close. The length of her body pressed against me as we moved together. Every surface, every curve, every softness she possessed teased my senses with each step and turn in my living room. I never wanted to let her go.