Too Good to be True, page 8
“And where do you fit in?”
“I’m faded aristocracy.”
Madison gave her a questioning look.
“It means I have the name but none of the money. I still belong socially not financially. It opens doors.”
Madison shook her head. “There’s so much about this I didn’t know.”
Jen spread her hands. “Anything you want to know, I’ll share.” Her watch chimed, and she glanced at the text. Carter’s after-school date was over, and he was heading home. Disappointed, she held up her watch. “Except some other time. Carter’s on the way back.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet.
Madison grabbed her work bag and her own wallet.
“I’ve got it.” Jen waved the bartender over and handed her the card.
“You helped me,” Madison protested.
Jen leveled a look at her. “Because you can’t afford to get your car out of the shop.” She tapped her finger against her empty bourbon glass. “Besides, I had the heftier bill. And remember, business expense.”
“We barely talked about the project.”
Jen smiled. “Next time.”
Madison relented, but Jen could tell the next time, she’d have to let her pay. Next time. Did she want a next time? Of course, she did. She needed it for the project. But she knew what she was really thinking. She liked Madison. She liked her at the wedding when she was a convenient diversion and then later when she was very pleasant company. That hum of sexual attraction and history buzzed a couple times during their talk, but there was something more to their interaction this time. Something deeper and Jen found herself wanting more of it.
As they headed back to her car, Madison thanked her again for the ride and the food. They drove in silence for the few minutes it took to get to Madison’s place. Jen mulled over a few different ways to ask to see her again that didn’t involve their work project, but without overt permission from Madison, she didn’t think she could ask.
Madison unbuckled her seat belt and paused for half a second. “Well, thank you again.”
Jen opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Madison opened the door and got out. “Good night.”
Shit. Feeling a mix of disappointment and frustration, Jen waited until Madison let herself into her apartment and then pulled away. She laughed at herself. What was she doing flirting anyway? She could read the signs, and Madison had said it herself. She wanted them to be a one-time deal. But not all the signs had said no. At least she knew why Madison was giving her mixed signals. Jen groaned. Why wasn’t it ever simple?
Chapter Eight
Seeing Travis threw Madison off-balance for the next few weeks. Jen’s kindness and support during and afterward messed with her resolution to keep a distance. Each time Jen’s name showed up in her email, a thrill coursed through her along with a slight tinge of disappointment when they turned out to be highlights on the progress of their project. Only the first email had been personal.
I wanted to let you know I got the money. You know you didn’t have to, but I understand why you did. I’m here if you need to talk. Jen.
She could hear her voice in those scant few lines, and it made her day better just hearing from her. She reread that email more than once, not sure what she should do or say, so she did nothing, and Jen’s emails continued but with a work focus.
She left work late and had enough time to shower and change before heading to David and Eamon’s party. She knew better than to show up empty-handed, so she grabbed a six-pack of cider and store-bought cookies. Her mother would be horrified. She spotted David in front of the fridge as she made her way through the people gathered in their kitchen.
David caught her eye as she put the cookies down. “Hey, there.”
“I brought cookies and cider.” She hefted the six-pack.
He smiled. “The essentials. Cooler’s out back. So is Eamon.” He leaned in and gave her a one-armed hug. He whispered, “If he’s on that grill, move him off.”
She smiled. “Understood.” Eamon burned more chicken than he cooked.
She opened the back door and stepped out on the deck. Sure enough, Eamon was at the grill. She scanned the rest of the partygoers and spotted Ashley talking with a small group of people around the firepit. She hadn’t seen her since their blind date and had forgotten she was a mutual friend of Eamon and David. Ashley waved. Too late to pretend she didn’t notice. Wanting to avoid her but unable to be outright rude, Madison waved back and pointed to the grill, indicating she was going to be busy. Ashley smiled and nodded before she turned back to her group.
Eamon put down his tongs and gave her a hug. “Hey, you made it.”
She handed him a bottle, and he opened it. She repeated the process until they both had something to drink. She took a pull and glanced at Ashley. She shouldn’t look, that would just encourage her, but if she shifted a little, Ashley’s view would be obscured, and then maybe she’d forget that Madison was there.
“What are you doing?”
“Hmm? Nothing.” Embarrassed at being caught, she played it off.
He waved. “You’re doing some sort of odd movement here.”
Madison stopped moving and reluctantly said, “I’m hiding from Ashley.”
He slathered the chicken with more barbecue sauce, and flames shot up. Madison cringed. He swung his tongs wide and almost hit her in the head. “Why? It wasn’t that bad.”
She snatched the tongs out of his hands while gently hip checking him off the grill. It was a practiced move. “Yes. Yes, it was.”
He moved off, not looking the slightest bit annoyed. “Why? She seems like your type.”
If by type, he meant a woman, then yes. But she’d had no chemistry with her, and they lacked the same interests. Nothing like that electric tingle she felt around Jen. “She’s nowhere near my type.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Well, what’s your type?”
Jen’s smiling face was still in her thoughts, and she spoke off the cuff. “Someone more like Jen Winslow.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. She could have said anyone’s name, why Jen? Saying it aloud made it more real than it already was.
“Jen Winslow.” His voice shot up a couple octaves.
She slapped his shoulder and looked around, hoping no one was in earshot. She didn’t need her business spread about the neighborhood. There was no way she was telling Eamon about their summer tryst, especially now that Jen was working with her. “Shh.”
He let out a low whistle and shook his head. “Shit. Really? You know she’s on the board, right?”
“Yes. I do. As a matter of fact, I’m working with her on a food security project.” She tried to be nonchalant, but her stomach roiled. Her boss already knew about it. She did not want any of her colleagues to know. She wasn’t ashamed of having sex with her, but she didn’t need her personal life crossing into her work life again. And he was the worst at keeping secrets.
“You know they’re friends?” Eamon took a sip of his cider while David came out carrying a bowl and extra serving utensils. Madison flipped half the chicken thighs.
“Who?” David set the bowl on the table. He dropped a pair of tongs into the salad and stuck a spoon in the potato salad.
“Jen Winslow and Kathleen.” Off David’s look, Eamon clarified. “Principal Kathleen.”
David finished his work on the buffet and turned. “And?”
Eamon waved him off. “Honey, you’re not listening.”
“I am listening. I know who Kathleen is. It was Jen Winslow that had me off guard. I didn’t know she was on your board.” He put his hands on his hips.
“I thought I told you,” Eamon said.
Confused, Madison asked, “How do you know Jen?”
“She lives in the neighborhood. That arts and crafts bungalow over on Angell Street. Across from the park.”
Eamon’s face screwed up. “I thought that belonged to Rachel.”
“It does. Rachel and Jen share the house.”
Her stomach churned. Who was Rachel? Madison went over every conversation she’d had with Jen and came up with nothing. Jen had never mentioned that she lived with someone. A familiar feeling of betrayal clawed up her throat. “Rachel?”
“Her ex-wife.” David smiled. “They have a kid.”
“Carter,” Madison breathed his name, and the lump in her throat shifted. At least she knew that much.
“Yeah, that’s his name. Anyway, they split their time in the house together. Rachel lives with Carter while Jen stays somewhere else and vice versa. But I think she’s on tour right now.”
Her mind whirled with this new information. She hadn’t given the details of Jen’s life much thought since she’d relegated her to the work zone. But their last two conversations had been more than work related. They’d full-on flirted with each other. Knowing about Rachel, both her name and how she fit into Jen’s life, made her a bit nauseous. It was too close to the way Erika had lived her life.
David handed Madison two plates. Still caught up in her thoughts, she stared at them for a moment before she realized what he wanted and started pulling chicken off the grill, then passed the full plate to David.
“Madison said Jen’s more her type,” Eamon said at bit too loud for Madison’s taste. Now she regretted saying anything at all.
David gave her a delighted look. “Oh, honey, she’s scrumptious.” His approval reassured her; he was a far better judge of character than Eamon.
Eamon made a face. “She’s a bit scary for me.”
David put his hand on his husband’s shoulder. “Honey, most lesbians are too scary for you. Jen’s a sweetheart. Come on. I need you in the kitchen.”
“What about the chicken?”
“Madi’s got that covered. There’s more in the bucket.” David winked at her and pulled him away.
Madison opened the lid, and sure enough, David had prepared an entire bucket of marinated chicken. She adjusted the burners and pulled out more. What else did Jen hide? Worry gnawed at her, but before she could go much deeper, someone came up behind her, slung an arm over her shoulder, and kissed her cheek. Startled, she almost burned her hand.
“Hey, girl. I thought that was you.” Ashley’s breath smelled like a brewery, and her cologne was too strong.
Breathing through her mouth, Madison shifted away, but she was trapped in front of the grill with nowhere to go. She scanned the deck, looking for someone or something to interrupt them, but there was nothing. She was going to have to deal with this herself.
“We need to reschedule our date. Eamon said you were swamped.”
“I still am.” She should just say she wasn’t interested and leave it at that.
Ashley moved to her. “Teacher, right?” Madison said no, but Ashley kept talking. “I could never do that. Babysitting all those kids every day.”
Annoyed at this common misconception, she defended her colleagues. “There’s a difference between babysitting and teaching.”
Ashley waved. “Of course, but you’ve got to admit that a lot of your time is spent managing poorly parented kids.”
Although she had a point, there was no way Madison was going to admit it. “No, I don’t. And I’m not a teacher. I’m a social worker.” Was this the second or third time she was telling her? The edges of the chicken were starting to burn. She needed to focus on the grill and not the woman next to her.
“Oh. Cool. What’s that like? Getting kids jobs and shit?”
“Not exactly.” Distracted by the meat, she didn’t bother to elaborate.
“Well, what do you do when you’re not doing that?”
“I have a gaming group.” She answered automatically. This conversation felt familiar.
“Neat. I play Cards against Humanity.”
“It’s less board games and more like Dungeons and Dragons.” Where was that plate David had given her?
Ashley leered and leaned in. “Do you dress up and shit? You’re not one of those costume players, are you?”
Madison plucked the last of the chicken off the grill and grabbed more from the bucket. “It’s called cosplay.”
Ashley laughed. “That’s what she said.”
That was it. They’d had this entire conversation on their one and only date. Time to put an end to it. Madison put a hand on Ashley’s shoulder. “Can you do me a favor? Watch the grill while I take this inside.”
Not bothering to wait for an answer, she hoisted the plate and walked away. She didn’t care if the rest of the chicken was burned or raw.
Once inside, she handed the chicken off to David and hid in the bathroom for a few minutes. She shouldn’t have run away. She should have said that she just wasn’t interested. But something held her back. Right now, Ashley was all she had. No one else was knocking down her door. Even Jen was only partially invested. The whole interaction with Ashley, especially on the heels of discussing Jen, brought the two up in full contrast. She could share a thousand details with Ashley, and she would never care about them in the same way that Jen had about the few details she knew. Her life, her intimacies, would always be a jumping off point to Ashley’s interests and opinions. Jen saw her more clearly than Ashley ever would.
Knowing that depth already existed between Jen and her made the fact that Jen still lived with her ex so much harder to accept. She wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. They’d never talked about where they lived or their past histories in detail. Still living with her ex felt kind of big, but she’d just have to trust her instincts, even if they’d been wrong before. And if not, she’d ignore this attraction and finish the project so she could quietly slip out of Jen’s life before she got hurt.
Chapter Nine
Jen sat at her kitchen island with her laptop open, browsing her donor list. She was on the cusp of securing a six hundred-thousand-dollar gift to Hutchinson’s endowment, the biggest one so far, but well under the million dollars range she worked with at Brown. The Hutchinson’s gift had been a fluke recommendation from a friend of a friend that had required relatively little work on her part. Which was good considering that with Rachel on tour, she’d had no time for anything other than her work and Carter. Once this endowment gift was squared away, she could focus on her project with Madison and whatever else was happening between them.
Two weeks ago, Carter had brought home an envelope addressed to Jen with fifty dollars in it and a simple note thanking her for the help. She didn’t know how to respond, so she’d deposited the money into Carter’s college fund and had sent a quick email letting Madison know she’d gotten it. She’d opened the door to talk, but so far, Madison hadn’t taken her up on it. She didn’t want to let her drift away, and she had work to do with her, so she kept emailing.
“Are we still on for the Iron Pour tonight?” Carter asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“Always. Is that tonight?” Jen glanced at her calendar, and there it was.
His face lit up as he pulled out his phone and sat next to her. “Great. I’ll tell Del that I’ll meet him there.”
She groaned on the inside. That meant one of Del’s parents was going to be there, too. Neither option seemed particularly inviting. Kim would be slightly aloof and socially awkward but not in an endearing way, and Shawn…who knew what Shawn would be. She did not want to face that alone.
The Iron Pour drew a wide range of people from the artist enclaves in Providence. People Jen knew at a distance but no one she could text beforehand. Her mind ran through her list of acquaintances, looking for someone to be her third wheel. Her closest friend there, Wilson Paige, was a master blacksmith and one of the event’s cofounders. He was often busy working the forge or the crowd. She could pull him away with work talk. His money came from one of the founders of the silver industry in Providence, and he often contributed to charitable causes, like the scholarship money he’d put aside for art apprenticeships at Brown.
Madison. Jen could introduce her to Wilson. Madison could also be a charming and attractive buffer for Del’s abrasive parents. This could be the perfect excuse to see her again.
She finished her breakfast and cleared her dishes. She kissed Carter’s head and went upstairs. She checked the time to make sure it wasn’t too early and grabbed her phone to text her only to realize she didn’t have her cell. How did that happen? She felt certain she should have Madison’s cell by now. She texted Kathleen instead. I need Madison’s cell.
She took a shower and came back to her phone and two new texts. The first from Kathleen. Can’t give you her number, but I’ll give her yours. The second from an unknown number. Hey, it’s Madison. Kathleen said you wanted to get in touch.
Do you have plans tonight?
No, what do you have in mind?
She smiled. That was easy. She wished she wasn’t asking her for work purposes. Iron Pour. Carter and I go every year. There are possible donors there I want you to meet. Jen texted her a link and felt her excitement grow at the possibility of her saying yes.
Sounds cool. All three of us?
Jen paused. Was Madison hoping to be alone with her? Fuck, texts were so difficult to interpret. Best to go with the truth. Yes. Hope you don’t mind.
Not at all.
Relieved, Jen texted back, Great. I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something warm. She facepalmed. “Could I sound any more like someone’s mother?”
Jen spent the morning doing bills and the afternoon in the yard hacking back the English ivy growing up the side of her garage, reliving her cringeworthy warm comment and increasing anticipation of a fun night.
Carter headed over to Isaac’s house across the street and came back close to dinner with Isaac and his father, Eli, in tow. Eli came bearing cookies, a product of his relaxation baking.
Jen stopped pulling ivy long enough to glance up and smile. “Are those what I think they are?”
He hefted the plate. “Chocolate chip.”
Jen tossed the ivy in her mulch bucket. Putting her hands behind her back, she straightened and felt her vertebrae crack. She stripped off her gloves and plucked one from his plate. He had a gift. She could never get hers to be so gooey and crisp without burning them or serving them raw. “Tough week?”
