“I just thought now that you’re married, having a family would bethe next step.”
“I have a lot of things to do before that ever happens. I’m not donehaving fun yet.” Grace was more like her mother than she liked to admit. Onlyher parents had created their family and then continued to do what they wantedwhile they left them in the care of relatives or babysitters while they went ontheir adventures.
Dex tossed the necklace back to Grace. “Then you’d better not wearthat. Rhea is the goddess of fertility and motherhood.”
The necklace slapped against Grace’s chest as she moved her handsand let it fall to the ground. “Oh my God. No wonder they told me to always wearit.” She picked it up between her thumb and index finger as though it were adirty diaper and carried it to the trash.
Dex chuckled. “Since when are you so superstitious?” Dex swiped itfrom her fingers and hung it on the corner of a picture frame on the dresser.
“Since I don’t want babies right now. Do you think it’s easykeeping this figure? I can’t imagine getting back into shape after pushing alittle human out.” She closed her eyes and shivered. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Hang on to it. You may change your mind someday.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She shook her head. “But not right now.”
Her expression made Dex think all wasn’t perfect in the world ofGrace and Brent. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I just didn’t know I was going to be forced intosuch domestic bliss so quickly.” She stared at the pile of dirty clothes on thefloor from their honeymoon. Grace had always gotten an allowance from herparents and sent her clothes to the cleaners weekly.
“Do you need help with laundry?”
“Would you mind? I have no idea what to do with it. Brent says weneed to rely on his salary now and put whatever money my parents give us intosavings.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.” Dex picked up the pile of laundryand started sorting through it. “You need four piles. Whites, lights, darks,and delicates.” She pointed to a pair of Brent’s boxers. “You’re in charge ofthose.”
* * *
When Grace got back home, Brent was in his usual position slouchedhalf-mast, relaxing on the couch in front of the TV with his feet on the table.She took a breath and calmed herself before proceeding into the house.
“Hey, babe. Where you been?” Brent said as he quickly removed hisfeet from the coffee table and replaced them with the bowl of salsa that hadbeen sitting on his chest.
“I went to the grocery store. And I saw that.” She hated it whenhe put his dirty shoes on the table.
He gave her a big grin. “I thought Dex was coming over today.”
Grace melted. She loved it when he smiled at her that way. “Shedid, but then she had to get back to work.” She forced herself not to run intothe kitchen to grab a towel and cleaning spray to wipe down the table. It stillirritated the fuck out of her when Brent put his feet on the table. He knew shehated it, yet he kept on doing it.
“I bet she’s glad you’re back?”
“I really don’t know if she is.” She tossed her purse onto thecouch. “She acted totally uninterested when I was telling her about ourhoneymoon.”
“She probably had enough of it from all the pictures you sent her.Looking at someone else’s trip is kind of boring.” He held up a bag of tortillachips. “Want some?”
“It is not.” She plucked a chip out of the bag and dipped it inthe bowl of salsa. “And I didn’t send her that many.”
“You sent her a bunch.” He glanced up from the TV for a minute.“Maybe she needs to go out and have some fun once in a while. She never reallygoes out with anyone, does she?”
“No. Not really.” She went into the kitchen and set the bag ofgroceries on the counter. “I thought she was going to fall asleep halfwaythrough the slideshow.”
“You made a slideshow?” He popped up off the couch and followedher. “Like on the laptop?”
She pulled her eyebrows together. “Yeah.” She took a couple ofbeers out of the six-pack before she put it in the refrigerator. Brent tookthem from her hand and screwed the tops off.
“That’s awesome, babe. I want to see it.” He handed her one of thebottles and sprinted to the office.
“Really?” She didn’t think he’d be this excited. She put the milkand vegetables into the refrigerator and the rest of the groceries in thepantry. She wasn’t in the mood for shopping today and had only picked up a fewessentials. She’d go again later in the week.
“Of course.” He came back out with the laptop. “I’ll hook it up tothe TV.”
“You can do that?” Dex hadn’t done that earlier. Another sign shewasn’t interested.
“Yep. Where is it?” He plugged the cord into the laptop before hegrabbed her by the waist, pulled her to him, and kissed her. “I can’t wait tosee my beautiful bride in our tropical paradise.”
“Stop.” Grace laughed and felt all warm inside. “She put it on thedesktop.”
“We need to go back next year,” he said as he clicked the file andexpanded the slideshow to full-screen. Grace sat on the couch, and Brentflopped down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. “Showtime.”
Chapter Four
Dex had finished her last bid for the day and had ended upat a bar that she frequented from time to time with her work crew. It was alocals’ place that didn’t have a lot of flair. Warm, medium-colored walls anddim accent lighting in the ceiling accompanied by flattering pendant lightsgave the place a comfortable dusky atmosphere at all times. A couple of pooltables were in the back, a jukebox lined the wall, and close to a dozen woodentables and chairs sat in the center of the bar.
The visit earlier with Grace had been a little too much for her totake. She sat down and ordered a beer and a shot of whiskey. Nothing was goingto scrub all the
