You Had Me At Goodbye. Jane Blackwood
children had fond memories of the old place, too. After all, it was likely that they’d spent summers at the house when they were growing up. As much as Kat loved her aunt, maybe it wasn’t fair that she get the cottage. Then again, if Carl left it to her, he probably knew what he was doing.
Kat picked up her book and tried to read, then put it down, too tired to make sense of the words. She still couldn’t believe Brian had shown up to win her back. It was insane. Still, as she trudged to her room and peeled off her clothes, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she might have done if Larry hadn’t been listening in on them. When Brian had started to cry, she’d almost lost it.
Maybe she should have a summer fling to get over Brian. How crazy it would be to do something like that. No strings.
She laughed aloud. “Not in this lifetime.”
After trying to write for two frustrating hours, Lawrence decided what he needed was a beer and a blonde, so he walked down to Oak Bluffs looking for both. Four hours later, Lawrence left the Blue Moon Cafe feeling a bit unsteady. The blonde he was with wasn’t much better. She giggled a lot, which he found annoying, but a man had to do what a man had to do. And he hadn’t done what he wanted to do with a woman in too long.
“You’re so cute,” she said and mashed her lips against his.
“Likewise.”
“I just love your accent. And you’re so serious,” she said, putting on a serious face. “Say something else. Talk to me.” She flung her arms wide and spun around a bit, almost stepping off the curb and into traffic. Lawrence hauled her back, and she gave off a squeal, followed by the inevitable giggle. “Where’re we going?”
“I thought we could go to my cottage. It’s just down the street.” For the first time all evening, she hesitated, and Lawrence had a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to get what his body so desperately needed.
“Well,” she said, drawing out the word interminably, “I suppose I could. Sure.” And she threw herself against him with only the abandon a woman half-drunk could. He laughed, enjoying her exuberance and refusing to think about Katherine and her ex-boyfriend and how she felt leaning against him. He didn’t want to think about Katherine, so he pulled the blonde close and kissed her.
“Wow. You can really kiss,” she said, gazing up at him, her pretty blue eyes gone hazy.
“Lots of practice.”
She smiled, revealing brilliant white teeth. “You’re so cute,” she repeated, walking alongside him.
Lawrence was trying not to find her annoying, so he let his eyes drift to her bouncing breasts and got over his annoyance quickly. Ah, nothing like a beautiful, blond, willing woman.
“Here we are,” he said as they reached the cottage. Thankfully, nearly all the lights were out, which meant Katherine was asleep. He didn’t know why, but he felt slightly guilty bringing a woman home.
“Wow. You own this place?” the blonde said. She was “the blonde” because even though he was quite certain she’d given him her name, he’d forgotten it entirely.
“I’m just here for the summer.”
“Oh.” And in that syllable, he heard her disappointment, the mental calculation in her head that told her this guy wasn’t as rich as she’d thought. Then she brightened. “I’m here for a week,” she gushed and ran up the porch stairs.
“Do try to be a bit quiet. I have a roommate,” he said, fighting his conscience for bringing this woman home. He didn’t know why—it was purely ridiculous—but he had the strangest feeling he was being disloyal to Katherine. Pretending to be her lover was fogging his brain, he decided. Katherine wouldn’t care if he brought a woman home any more than he’d care if she brought a man home. Even as he considered that reality, his mind rejected that image.
The blonde comically clamped a hand over her mouth to make herself quiet, and he couldn’t help but think how darling she was. He fumbled briefly with the key and let them both inside.
“Do you have any beer?” she asked, heading toward the kitchen.
“I don’t think…”
“Oh, my God, what crap,” she said, holding up a half-full bottle of Katherine’s Arbor Mist.
“It’s my roommate’s.”
“And you can’t have it,” said a voice from behind them. Lawrence let out a sigh and turned to see Katherine standing there, her hair sticking up in spikes, her face flushed from sleep. She wore a tank top and sweat shorts, and for the life of him, he could not seem to tear his eyes off her, even with the gorgeous blonde standing next to him.
“This is Katherine,” he said to the blonde.
“Corey,” the blonde said, and Lawrence said a little silent prayer of thanks that he’d learned her name.
“I’m Kat. And I’m not his roommate. He’s only here temporarily.”
Lawrence rubbed his hands together. “Now that all the introductions are complete, good night, Katherine.” He wanted to get rid of her, out of sight, out of mind, because at the moment, with her standing there barefoot and sleep-tousled, her small breasts nicely outlined by the thin tank top, it was difficult to concentrate on the blonde.
Katherine’s eyes went from him to Corey, and they stayed on Corey so long he began to feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question, Corey?” Katherine asked calmly.
The girl shrugged. “Go ahead.”
“How old are you?”
That question gave Lawrence a start, and he decided to give Corey a closer look as well. Oh, good God, he thought with dread. Please be twenty-four, please. Even twenty-three would be all right…
“Eighteen.”
“Oh, Christ.”
Katherine nodded and gave the oddest smile. “Eighteen. Wow.” Then she turned to Lawrence. “Eighteen, Larry. Not that it’s any of my business since I hardly know you, even though we were, briefly, lovers, and given your reputation and your thrilling proposition earlier, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But you’ve got to be kidding.”
He held out both hands as if warding off an attack. “I didn’t know. How could I know? We were in a bar; she was drinking; I assumed she was at least the legal age to drink.”
“I took one look at her, and I knew she was probably still in high school.”
“I graduated this year,” Corey said defensively. “And it’s not statutory rape if I’m an adult.”
Lawrence let out a strangled sound. “I think you better go, Corey.”
“Oh, come on. Just because she’s all old.” Corey crossed her arms in front of her. “How old are you?” she asked him cautiously, studying his face in the light for the first time.
“I’m”—he swallowed—“thirty four.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. ‘Oh,’” Katherine said. “Just go home and count yourself lucky that you didn’t become another notch in Lawrence Kendall’s bedpost.”
“I guess I should go. My parents are already going to kill me for being so late.” Lawrence let out another little sound of horror. Corey went up to him and pulled his face down for a kiss, one that Lawrence just couldn’t bring himself to respond to. She was a kid, and Katherine was standing right there, looking as if she wanted to kill him. “Good night,” Corey said and walked out the door with a little wave.
“I didn’t know,” he said, turning to Katherine, who still stood there looking at him as if he were some sort of child molester.
Then she started laughing.
He