Love Like This, page 13
“I guess it’s good night for now,” Spencer said.
“For now,” Hadley repeated. She brushed her lips over Spencer’s softly, sending every nerve ending Spencer had into high alert. Hadley stood on the curb and watched as Spencer drove away. She glanced one last time in her rearview mirror, awestruck at Hadley and her windblown blond hair, what she made Spencer feel, and the concession she was able to pull from her, a concession Spencer never thought she’d make.
When it came to Hadley, she wanted to push her own boundaries. Well, she was at least willing to try. Time would tell if she was truly capable, and she did have her concerns. She didn’t want to angle her way through it, or play any kind of games, because Hadley deserved much more. Now all she had to do was figure out how to undo years of intellectual conditioning. Shouldn’t be too hard. She flipped on the radio to drown out the murmurings of self-doubt that whispered loudly in her ear.
Chapter Eight
When Hadley pushed open the door to the Cat’s Pajamas the next day, she saw three large pairs of eyes staring back at her in eager expectation. Autumn rocked Will in her arms and Gia gently pushed Carrie back and forth in her stroller. Isabel stirred her coffee in time. They were primed and ready, a chorus demanding their pound of gossip.
“So, I take it you heard,” Hadley said, approaching their table and making eye contact with Isabel, who was no doubt the town crier in this case.
“Did we ever,” Autumn said, shifting a sleeping Will. “We’ve gathered, we’ve waited, and now we’re ready for the hot and heavy details, and don’t you dare balk, because you’d demand them of any one of us.”
“Every step of the way,” Gia said, pointedly. “Sit and talk.”
Isabel slid Hadley’s waiting caffè mocha her way and pulled her hands away slowly as if to not disturb the force. “And go.”
Her three friends relaxed into matching smiles and Hadley knew better than to protest, because Autumn was right. She would have never let the others off with anything less than a full debriefing. When it came to romantic stories, or sexy stories, or kissing stories, she was a maniac for details, and the juicer the better. It just felt different when they were her details. “Spencer and I had a nice night last night,” she said conservatively, and took a dainty sip of her mocha.
Isabel made a loud buzzer sound. “Wrong. That was so much more than a nice night.” She turned to the others full of energy, gesturing wildly. “When I pulled up, they didn’t see me. They were climbing each other like animals.”
“Oh,” Gia said, nodding along, entranced.
“It was hot and bothered and like nothing I’ve ever fucking witnessed. I’m getting heated just thinking about it.”
“Well, well, well,” Autumn said, entirely scandalized. “Little Miss Hadley, I do declare.”
Hadley shrugged. “I’m a human being, you know. Not all daisies and cupcakes like you guys seem to think.”
Isabel fanned herself. “Not anymore. Not after what I saw last night.”
“I knew there was a tiger in there,” Gia said. “She just needed the right woman to bring it out in her.”
“I have needs, too,” Hadley said. “I just don’t express them all the time. I actually enjoy sex a lot.”
Gia touched her coffee mug to Hadley’s, who nodded back at her in appreciation, because she wasn’t a shrinking violet. It was true that she’d never been a go-getter and hadn’t exactly taken the dating scene by the horns in the past, but that was because she was a romantic and it was important to wait for someone she truly connected with. She felt that connection with Spencer, ideal or not.
“So, you enjoy sex. You’re an unleashed tiger, but you still whisper swear words. How does that work?”
Hadley shrugged, because that answer was easy. “Swear words are entirely different from sex. They’re forbidden and crass. At least when I say them. Sex is natural and amazing and sensual.”
Isabel pointed at her. “You are the most foreign creature.”
“Tell us more,” Autumn said.
“Well, she’s a really good kisser. The best, actually. Not at all shy or timid about it.”
“She wasn’t,” Isabel said seriously. “I love it when they just grab you and go for it, and you walk away wondering what the hell just happened to you, ya know?”
Autumn and Gia nodded in hearty agreement.
“That was last night.”
Isabel grinned. “Trust me. I know.”
“What else?” Autumn asked. “Give us more. We need it. This is lifeblood for a cooped-up mom.”
“Well, Hadley had Spencer up against the car in one of those moves.” Isabel stood to demonstrate.
“Oh, that’s lovely,” Autumn said, sighing.
“But Spencer had a hold of Had’s waist and then her neck and then face.” Isabel swapped out positions to demonstrate Spencer’s portion, like the cover of a torrid romance. “I have to say that they were a very evenly matched pair.”
“Wow,” Gia said, blinking hard. “Then what?”
Isabel straightened out of her pose. “They talked for a minute and then more kissing.”
Hadley smiled and nodded at her friends. “That’s true. There was definitely more.”
“More passion this time,” Isabel said dramatically, leaning across the table like a leopard. “Lips were parted. Tongues clashed. The sidewalk was on fire.”
Autumn and Gia smoldered, and for the first time, Hadley could nod along with them, because she got it now. The romance novels had not invented moments like last night. They weren’t unicorns in the mist. Unbridled passion existed! And there could quite possibly be more of those moments in her future. But then she remembered the rest.
“It’s not all great, though,” Hadley said, deflating their very full balloons. Three crushed faces turned to her in accusation. She was killing their fantasies of romantic grandeur, and as much as she hated to do that, she needed advice.
“No. Really?” Isabel asked, in disbelief. “What’s gone wrong already? This was mere hours ago.”
“Spencer doesn’t believe in marriage or forever.”
Her friends stared at her. “Okay,” Autumn said, holding up a cautionary hand. “That doesn’t have to be awful. What does she believe in?”
“That people find each other for a reason and drift in and eventually out of each other’s lives, making way for a new chapter. That’s how she put it. Life is about chapters.”
“Chapters,” Gia said. “Nope. I don’t get it.”
“I’m as cynical as they come, and even I’m not that dark,” added Isabel.
Hadley shrugged, not sure she could explain something she didn’t fully understand herself but gave it a try. “She’s an artist, so she has her own take on the world. I also think her parents’ divorce might be an influencing factor.”
Autumn handed Will to Gia and picked up Carrie, who was beginning to fuss. “Uh-uh. That doesn’t work for me. My mother was a walking bad example as far as relationships went, and I still believed the one was out there for me somewhere. Spoiler alert, she was!”
Hadley smiled at the memory of Autumn and Kate’s story. “Trust me. I get it. I want that for myself.”
“What are you going to do?” Gia asked. “Do you think you’re up for changing her mind?”
Hadley shrugged. “Maybe?”
“It’s definitely possible,” Gia continued. “I used to think that surfing mattered to me more than anything, more than the person I was in love with. I don’t believe that for a second anymore. People can change.”
“Good point,” Isabel said. “I vote for hanging in there for a bit. See what happens.”
“And if I fall for her, and she breaks my heart into millions of tiny pieces, which could fully happen, what then?”
“Then we break her kneecaps,” Gia said, smoothly as if it were the simplest solution in the world. They looked at her in horror. “It’s an expression. I’m joking.” A pause, and then quieter, “But only kind of.”
“Here’s what I think,” Autumn said, seeming to settle on something important. “Love is love. It can be temporary or it can be long lasting, but it’s never a bad thing. If you think there’s a chance at love here, Had, you have to follow your heart and sort the rest out as you go.”
Hadley knew that underneath it all, but hearing the words out loud made her face the facts. Spencer was placed in her path for a reason, and she needed to see this thing through, wherever it took her. Big bang candidates didn’t show up every day. “I think you’re right.”
Isabel squinted. “The bonus is there will likely be more up-against-the-car kissing.”
Hadley sighed dreamily. “It would be hard to turn that down.”
“Just look out for yourself as you go,” Gia said. “And if there’s trouble, kneecaps.”
“Kneecaps,” Autumn and Isabel echoed. “Now drink that mocha,” Autumn said, “and think up some new details from last night. I have fifteen minutes before I have to take these two back for a nap and I need to bask in decadent details.”
Hadley launched into the remaining tidbits from the night prior as her friends leaned in. “Well, to start with, she smells like strawberries…”
* * *
“I need you to tell me how to make Cornish Game hens, and fast,” Spencer said, from the floor of her living room. This was serious. She wasn’t messing around. She hadn’t seen Hadley in four days, and she was coming over to Spencer’s place that night for dinner, and she needed everything to be perfect.
Kendra set down the latest issue of Cosmo and regarded her from where she lay on Spencer’s couch. “Girl, you don’t cook.”
“Not usually, no. Tonight, I need to.”
“Nope. Not enough information.”
“Fine,” Spencer said, dropping the shipping box in her hand. “I have a date, and I need dinner to be good.”
“Then you should order in.”
“No! Not with this woman. She’s better than just ordering in. She deserves home cooked.”
“Not from you. No one deserves that.”
“Are you going to help me or not?”
Kendra sighed, dropping the magazine entirely. “Is this the woman from the fancy store?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re still really into her?”
“Yes.”
“Lord. We’re going to need some paper and a lot of patience.”
Two hours later, once she was on her own, Spencer couldn’t decide whether to go with a tablecloth on her small dining room table or not. She rarely ate there herself, preferring either the counter or the couch for meals, but for the two of them? They should definitely eat at the table.
She’d hit the grocery store earlier with the list Kendra had provided her, and with a quick call to her mom for her vinaigrette salad dressing recipe, she felt like she was making real progress. She placed her hands on her head and made the decision. Tablecloth was the way to go!
She dashed back to the kitchen. The hens were in the oven. She’d peeled the potatoes, and now she just needed something to wear. Not too dressy, but not too casual. Tonight was important. Tonight was date three, and who knew what date three would bring? She didn’t want to be presumptuous, but she couldn’t help but wonder and hope. It was still summer, so she settled on white capris and a maroon tunic. Should be fine.
“Oh, you’re getting some tonight,” Kendra said, after returning to the apartment to check in on Spencer’s progress. “Everyone knows what date three means.”
“It doesn’t have to mean sex,” Spencer scoffed. “That’s a myth and way too assumptive for my taste.”
“It doesn’t have to mean sex, but it does and every adult is aware. Plus, it’s not like you’re off to a night at the movies. She’s coming to your apartment, Spence.”
“I get it.”
“But if you want to help matters along, change that top.”
She glanced down at the tunic, the one she had designed and sold thousands of. “Why? This is one of my best sellers.” She turned to the side. “Are you missing the detail over here? Look at this stitching. It’s badass.”
“Who cares about stitching on a date?” Kendra pointed at Spencer’s chest. “No cleavage at all. What are you trying to do? Teach a yoga class or entice a female to want you so badly she can barely concentrate on dinner? You’ve got choices to make.”
She paused. “That second part sounds nice.” Kendra stalked to Spencer’s bedroom, and Spencer followed.
“This one,” Kendra said, selecting a blue tight-fitting top. “It hugs and it dips in the front. You need the dip.”
“Really?”
Kendra squinted in disbelief. “You’re better at this than you seem, right? I mean, you’ve never had trouble getting women that I’ve noticed. How do you not know this stuff?”
“The question is, how do you know this stuff?” Spencer asked, as she shrugged out of her tunic and replaced it with Kendra’s suggestion. “You’re straight. How would you know what a woman wants in another woman?”
She shrugged. “I watch television. Plus, I’ve been to enough of the gay clubs with you to see who gets the most action, and it’s not the girl in the flowy shirt. You feel me?”
“Yeah.”
“I think your hens are burning.”
“What?” Spencer raced to the kitchen and threw open the oven door. “They look okay.” She turned to Kendra with her please-help-me face. “Do they look okay to you?”
“Ladle some more butter over the top and turn the oven down. I gotta head out. Got plans of my own on this fine evening.”
“Please tell me it’s not with that loser Tucker.”
“I can’t. Bye, Spence. Date three! You got this.”
“I don’t. I feel weird and vulnerable and I think I need you to stay and help me with the prep.”
“Nah. You just need to enjoy this little ride you’re on, because I am. Can’t say I’ve seen you this rattled before.” She took out her phone and snapped a photo of Spencer. “Now I can always remember it. Ta ta.”
“But how do I keep the hens from drying out?” Spencer called to the closing door. In defeat, she raced back to the kitchen and read over the instructions Kendra had left, reiterating them to herself one more time. She surveyed the living room, now clear of shipping supplies, fabric, and mannequins. But the throw pillows on the couch looked lopsided. She fluffed them, wondering who the hell she was to care so much about couch pillows impressing a date. She shuffled back to the kitchen to make sure the potatoes were soft enough, only to run into a sticky note on her refrigerator that said, “Light candles before she arrives.” She snatched the note, crumpled it, and shoved it into her back pocket. But light the damn candles, she did. She really did owe Kendra. She put on some mellow background music and waited. And waited some more. Her hands tingled in anticipation. Hadley was due in ten minutes. The time ticked by ever so slowly until, at last, a knock at the door.
“Hey,” Spencer said, stepping aside so that Hadley could enter. “You look amazing.”
“So do you. What smells so fantastic?” Hadley asked, turning in a circle. “Wow. What is that?”
“Cornish game hens. Is that okay? I also have red-skinned potatoes and a green salad with homemade dressing.”
Hadley truly did look impressed, which was a victory for Spencer. “I had no idea you were a chef as well as a soon-to-be-famous designer.”
Spencer’s cheeks heated, which prompted her to turn away, leading them into the kitchen. “I’m not a chef. I had to have help from a friend. I did do the cooking, but she offered some instruction.”
“I don’t care,” Hadley said.
“You don’t?”
She smiled lazily. “Not in the slightest. You went to a lot of effort. For me.” She placed a hand over her heart. “That means a lot.” Hadley’s gaze dropped from Spencer’s eyes to her neckline. “Oh,” she said. “You look really sexy.” Hadley covered her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said sexy. It just flew right out of my mouth. You look…lovely. Pretty.”
“Let’s stick with sexy,” Spencer said, holding eye contact. And hello to the heat she felt once their gazes settled. She owed Kendra big-time for the top suggestion. Big-time. She would send her on an all-expense paid vacation if this evening worked out.
“Sexy it is.” Hadley glanced around, moving them out of the charged exchange. “I love your apartment. The framed sketches on the wall. Very you. Are those yours?”
Spencer glanced behind her. “No. I wish. Gerard DeVoux, one of my favorite French designers and someone who’s inspired me a great deal over the years.” She studied the sketches. “He takes risks and they always pay off. But not the kind of risks that make you attend one of his shows and think ‘that was cool, but I’d never wear that.’ His stuff is risky but practical, which I want for my own brand.”
She felt Hadley’s hand on the small of her back as she stared at the closest sketch. “I think you’re more than on your way to that very combination. Also, I have good news for you.”
Spencer turned. “And what’s that?”
“I showed Trudy the final sketches, and even without the samples in hand, she’s in. She’s putting together a round one order now. Get ready for paperwork in a matter of days.”
Spencer covered her mouth as the information sank in. “I’m going to be on Rodeo Drive?”
“And not just any part of it. One of the most highly acclaimed stores you could land. You should be really proud of yourself, Spencer.” Hadley beamed at her, which made the celebration that much sweeter.
“This is all because of you,” Spencer said, meaning every word. She kissed Hadley, because she needed to. She was not only beautiful and kind, but she’d gone out of her way for Spencer at every turn.
Hadley laughed. “Was that a thank you?” she asked, softly touching her lips.
“It’s many things.” They smiled at each other. Spencer felt ridiculous, but there was just one thing she had to do. “Do you mind if I call my mom? Just a real quick call.”
Hadley softened. “Please do.”
