Tate watched as Polly tucked a wayward curl behind Beth’s ear as they sat around the table at the Chases’ for Sunday dinner. The two women laughed together and while it gave her great joy that they’d all been pulled into the Chase family with such ease, it also made her ache just a bit.
Polly Chase had become something more than the slightly scary mother of her boyfriend. More than the town matriarch and a client. She called Tate to check in on her day, sent over recipes and asked for Tate’s. She picked up scarves and little knickknacks she told Tate reminded Polly of her. Polly knew her favorite flowers and what kind of tea she liked.
More than that, she extended that maternal care to all the Murphys great and small. Her nieces and nephew were totally at home in the Chase backyard.
It was a revelation to Tate, that mothers like Polly existed. At the same time, it made her resent that she never had that. It wasn’t like Tate to wallow but sometimes, at night in a small corner of her heart, she allowed it just a tiny bit.
As Liv’s due date approached, Tate and her sisters were invited to the shower. It wasn’t so much that Tate disliked Liv, in fact, Tate had always appreciated Liv’s humor when she came into the shop. But now that Tate was with Matt, it was a reminder that Liv was everything Tate wasn’t. And she’d been with Matt. Matt had seen them both naked and it made Tate cringe just thinking about it.
Being around Liv now made her distinctly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to go to the shower but it was unavoidable. She was Matt’s girlfriend and a pseudo member of the Chase family and it was expected. And more than that, she didn’t want to hurt Liv’s feelings.
So she let Beth drag her out shopping. They found the place Liv was registered at and picked her up a few things. Money had been tight, her father had come by the week before and demanded five hundred dollars. His price rose each damned time she saw him. Still she didn’t want to skimp. Liv was important to Matt and so she was important to Tate too. Even if she hadn’t liked Liv herself, Tate would have gone out of her way for her.
At least the shower was at Cassie and Shane’s. Tate liked Cassie Chase a lot and had come to consider her a friend independent of her relationship with Matt. She loved the way Cassie handled her dominating, burly husband. She even liked Shane, despite the fact that his size took some getting used to. And Cassie understood her in a way most other people she wasn’t related to couldn’t.
They stumbled in, trying not to gawp like hillbillies at the beauty of the house as they put presents on a table with the others.
“Hi, Tate!” Maggie came over and gave her a hug. Cassie, carrying a tray of food, grinned in their direction and called a hello.
“Can we help?”
Polly chuckled as she click-clacked over and pulled Tate into a tight hug and smooched her cheeks. “Come on out onto the deck. Liv’s got her feet up and a slice of cake and she’s not moving. Everything’s done already so just enjoy yourself.”
Tate smiled at Liv, waving. As they came out onto the deck she saw it was more than just Chases, there were several women she didn’t know and a few she only knew by sight from school and town.
She felt fifty pounds overweight, three income levels too low and distinctly unattractive as the women sized her up.
“Hey all, this is Matt’s sweetie, Tate Murphy,” Polly called out to the crowd. She introduced Tate’s sisters and she heard a lot of names and would remember a tenth of them.
Liv smiled up at her. “Hiya, Tate. I’m glad you’re here. Come sit over here and let’s visit.”
Damn. “Sure.” Tate sat and Polly shoved a glass of something pink into her hand and toddled off chattering and towing Beth in her wake.
“Why don’t you like me, Tate Murphy?” Liv pushed her sunglasses up and looked Tate over.
Tate, startled, blinked quickly. “I... I do like you.”
“I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to Matt. You’re smart, funny, pretty, you care about him and his family. You’re too good to be true but you don’t like me much and it drives me nuts because I want you to like me. Is it that Matt and I used to be involved?” Liv motioned to her stomach. “Because as you can see, that’s totally over.”
Tate snickered. “Honestly, Liv, I do like you.”
“Then what is it? You seem to get along with Cassie. Maggie, well, she’s like a bumblebee in a jar, she takes getting used to but she’s all right. Me? You sort of skirt around. Have I done or said something to hurt your feelings? I’m sorry, pregnancy is making me even more mouthy.” Liv’s grin told Tate she wasn’t sorry at all but it only made her like Liv more.
Tate sighed and thought honesty deserved honesty. “Look, you’re, well, jeez, look at you. Here you are, tall and gorgeous, you dress well, have a lovely house, your body, even when you’re pregnant, is way nicer than mine. I can’t compete with that. It’s not that I don’t like you. I do like you, it’s impossible not to, which is intimidating in and of itself. It’s that I’m not you.”
Liv was quiet a moment as she nodded. “Well, the thing is, Matt doesn’t want me. He didn’t want me when he had me. Tate, he wants you. You. Thank you for the compliments, really. But maybe you don’t see yourself clearly.”
“You know what I like about people? When they don’t bullshit me. I’m not all low-self-esteem girl, but I can look in a mirror okay? I’m good for what I am, but I’m not you. And I don’t see any point in pretending anything else. I don’t have the time to pretend anything else. So pretty is as pretty does, and being smart and funny and having a nice face—all those things are fine. I’m good with who I am, but damn it, every time I get near you that seems to fly away and I feel fat, short and totally out of my element.”
Liv cocked her head. “Fair enough. Every time I see the way Matt looks at you—even though I adore Marc with every fiber of my being and I love him more than anything but this tadpole in my belly—part of me twists because he’s never looked at anyone like that. And then I’m so totally happy because other than Marc, he’s the male I’m closest to in the world and he’s found the one. He’s one of my best friends and I want you to be part of that too. He loves you, you’re the center of his everything and since he’s my friend and my brother-in-law and since I think you’re pretty damned cool, I want us to be friends. Plus, damn it, I want you to like me as much as you like Cassie. I’m shallow that way.”
Tate laughed. “A lot of things come to mind when I think of you, shallow isn’t one of them.”
“Oh, tell me more!”
Tate relaxed, even as she continued to catch a blonde woman about their age staring at her throughout the party.
“Who is that?” Tate asked Liv after the presents had been opened. She could hear cars pulling up and knew the guys had arrived.
Liv looked up. “Ah. Yeah. That’s Sal. Don’t sweat it. I wouldn’t even have invited her but she works for Marc, takes on some of his clients who need nutritional consulting.”
“And she’s looking at me that way because she used to play naked with Matt.”
Liv burst out laughing and the blonde looked at them again. “You know that’s something you’ll have to deal with, right? The ex-girlfriends buzzing around? All of us do. Maggie still has to and she’s been with Kyle for four years now and they have a kid.”
Tate nodded. “I know. At first it really sucked, but now I’m just sort of used to it. He never flirts back. He may be friendly but he never looks at them like he looks at me. I figure if I got upset every time I ran across someone he’d had naughty playdates with I’d be permanently pissed off.”
Liv snorted. “Very true. And that’s a great attitude to have. Because, and I’ve seen this happen three, no, four times now, when a Chase falls, he falls. There’s no in between. They like a woman or they love her. Once they love her, that’s it. Matt straying is not something you’ll ever have to fear.”
Some moments later, Matt came out onto the deck and as Tate’s gaze was drawn to him, she noticed the blonde across the deck stared at him too.
“Still, I’m gonna be honest with you, Tate, ’cause I like you and all. I’m gonna look at him. Because he’s mighty fine to look at.” Liv took a look at Matt and then winked at Tate.
“Remind me to tell you about visual donuts,” Tate murmured as she looked her man over. He didn’t notice the other woman at all. His gaze scanned the deck until he found her and he moved straight to her. The fear edged away a bit as his eyes held nothing else but her. He sat, giving her a kiss as he circled her shoulders with his arm.
“Hey there, Venus. Man, I needed that.” Winking at her, he leaned around Tate to blow a kiss at Liv. “How you feeling, gorgeous?”
“About a thousand months pregnant. Swollen. Sweaty. But I’ve convinced your lovely girlfriend here to like me. I feel much better.”
Matt flicked his worried gaze back to Tate, who’d come to realize Liv Chase just said whatever the hell came to her mind. What wasn’t to like about that?
“I told her I already did like her but that it sucked that she was all gorgeous and stuff and I was like a little blonde dumpling and you’d seen us both naked.”
Matt paused, trying to figure out what the heck he could say and both Tate and Liv laughed.
Matt cupped her chin and brushed his lips over hers softly. Just enough to make her nipples hard and her pussy sensitize and ready for him. “Tate, I love you. You’re beautiful. Liv is my friend but you’re my woman. Do you understand the difference?”
She nodded enthusiastically and he grinned.
“Hi, Matt! Fancy seeing you here.” The other woman had made her way over and sat, no, bounced her way into a chair across from Matt, her knees touching his.
“Well, Liv’s my sister-in-law so I don’t think it’s that unusual I’d be here. I just came to get cake and steal Tate away. Do you know Tate Murphy?” He moved back a bit so their legs no longer touched.
“Yes, she used to clean our house.” The blonde’s voice went flat, snotty. “I think she does a better job cutting hair, or I hope she does. I go to Atlanta to do mine.”
Matt blinked several times and sick humiliation seeped through Tate, replaced quickly by rage. Who did this woman think she was? But before she could speak, Matt did.
“What is it with people? You owe Tate an apology. You’ve just been really rude and I don’t like it. Tate doesn’t deserve that sort of thing and frankly, I’d have thought it was beneath you.”
“Don’t you care about what people are saying, Matt? She’s beneath you. Look at her. Have some self-respect.”
“Sometimes. And sometimes I’m on top. And you’re not. That’s what bugs you isn’t it?” Tate kept her voice low so Sal had to lean in to hear it. The other woman sat back and gasped but Liv laughed before getting serious again.
“You need to shuffle your ass on out of here right now, Sal. This is my party and Tate is my friend. I won’t have her insulted by the likes of you and if you make me get out of this chair I’m gonna be even more upset.” Liv sat forward. Seeing that, Marc hurried over and Tate wanted to crawl away. Every damned time she was with them, something dramatic happened. She should have just kept her mouth shut.
“I’m just saying what everyone is thinking, Liv.”
“Everyone? I’m not thinking that. Are you, Matt?” Liv asked him and he glared at Sal and shook his head.
“What about you?” Liv looked up into Marc’s face before looking back to Sal. “Because see, you might need a dictionary so you can look up everyone to see what it means. You might be thinking that. Melanie might be thinking that, but I’m not and I’d wager most people don’t, especially those of us who actually know Tate so everyone isn’t thinking it, Sal.”
“Hey, beautiful, what’s going on?” Marc put a hand on Liv’s shoulder, caressing it. “Everything all right?”
“Fine. God, it’s fine.” Tate stood. “Liv, thank you for inviting me. If you ever need a sitter and Polly will let the baby out of her hands for five minutes, give me a call.” She bent and kissed Liv’s cheek but Liv grabbed one arm and Matt the other and they both hauled her back to sitting.
“You’re not going anywhere, Sal is. She’s insulted a friend and she’s leaving, now.” Liv turned her gaze back to Sal but kept her hand on Tate’s arm. Tate felt the warmth of friendship in the gesture and relaxed a little bit.
Marc looked to Sal and back to Liv a moment. “Okay, Sal, you’ve upset my wife and my brother’s girlfriend. I’m going to ask you to go.”
Sal hurried out, mumbling under her breath and within three minutes more, her sisters and Polly arrived and the story was told over and over until Tate stood and made the cut motion with her hands.
“Enough! If one more person asks me if I’m all right like I’m a hunchback who lives in a cave I’m gonna lose it. It’s over. I want it to stay over. Please. Now I really do need to get home. Thank you, Liv. It was a lovely shower and I’m glad we were able to chat.”
“I’ll drive you home. We can talk.” Matt moved to the door with her.
“No. I drove here with my sisters. I’ll get them home. Visit with your family. I’ll talk to you later.”
Nothing made him angrier than when she tried to pull herself away from him like that. As if he were associated with those stupid people, or like he believed it. Well, as he’d done every other time, he simply ignored her attempts as he pulled her to him.
“You go and take your sisters home. I’ll see you at the house in an hour. I haven’t eaten. Won’t you take pity on me and feed me?”
He loved the way she got flustered when he didn’t let her win her silly attempts to hold him away. And when she knew he’d be licking her from head to toe when he saw her next.
“Fine.”
He laughed, kissing her quickly, and walked her and her sisters to the car, seeing them off.
When he’d come back inside Liv had moved to the couch, her feet in Marc’s lap. Maggie looked pissed off and Cassie was in a heated discussion with Polly on the deck.
“What the hell happened here?” Matt sat down across from Liv and Marc.
“It was fine until Sal came over. I can’t believe that. I feel so bad.” Liv’s color had returned to normal but Matt didn’t want her getting upset again.
“It’s not your fault, honey. Tate doesn’t blame you, I know she doesn’t. I just can’t understand all this stuff. Just a few days ago, Ron Moore cornered me in the hardware store about it. Some bunch of bull about Tate’s mom and how I should watch my pockets. I’ve known this guy since third grade! He’s met Tate one time and when I asked him for specifics he said he’d heard it around. Apparently Melanie has been saying stuff all over town.” Matt exhaled sharply. “I didn’t mention it to Tate so I’d appreciate it if none of you did either. Now what’s all this about Tate not liking you?”
Cassie and Polly came inside.
“Tate and I had a very long talk, cleared the air. I’ve been dying that she likes Cassie better than me.”
Cassie laughed.
“I still think she does, hmpf. But she’s been feeling insecure about any comparisons between us and I’ve been feeling a bit, oh I don’t know jealous maybe? Not like that.” She looked quickly at Marc who rolled his eyes, apparently unconcerned. “But you know, you look at her in a way you never looked at me or anyone. It’s hard at first. But she and I got past it and were visiting and laughing but Sal kept on staring. Lots of people stared. They’re curious, Matt. Most of it wasn’t hostile. You came in right after she’d asked about Sal.”
“And you told her?”
“Look, Matt, it’s no damned secret you tasted the nectar of many a flower here in Petal and the tri-state area. Tate’s not stupid. But she wasn’t upset about it either. She didn’t like the attention but she laughed about it and it wasn’t her covering up for being uncomfortable. She and I talked about the big issue for all Chase wives.”
“Ugh, the constant female attention,” Maggie spoke from the chair near the doors.
“Yes. But she’s okay. She gets that Matt isn’t interested in any flower in the garden but her.” Liv shook her head. “But the thing with Sal wasn’t just about her jealousy that Matt had settled down with one woman. This whole oh there’s an outsider in town, quick hide the silver! thing is just weird. I don’t know exactly what to do about this. But I do know we have to make a stand.”
“Yes, we do.” Polly sat down. “Cassie and I have been talking and we thought it would be good to make Homecoming our big exclamation point about Tate being part of our family. That is if Liv hasn’t gone into labor by then.”
“You’ll have to excuse me if I most fervently hope to have given birth by next Tuesday much less two weeks from now.”
They all began to plan.
* * *
“I can’t believe that bitch!” Anne exclaimed as they drove away. “Sal has some nerve.”
“Every fucking time I’m with the Chases some kind of drama ensues. It’s downright embarrassing. I hate it.” The fuck habit was back.
“It’s not your fault, Tate. Sal was way, way out of line.” Beth turned to her. “Don’t let it get to you. That’s what she wants. That’s what they want.”
“I’ve been thinking on this a lot. Matt was the last single Chase brother, they all wanted him. But you landed him. They can’t stand it. In truth, they’d find fault with anyone who snatched the last Chase standing,” Anne mused. “So screw them all. They can suck it. Who cares about them, Tate? You’re the important one. You’re the one he loves. You’re better than the Sals of the world.”
“Every time I’m with him in larger social settings I feel totally out of my depth. Beautiful ex-girlfriends every three feet. All his friends don’t trust me and they talk about stuff I don’t know a damned thing about. I’m not one of them and they know it.”
They pulled into Anne’s driveway. “Tate, Matt loves you.” She shrugged. “He wants to be with you. You love him. I’ve never seen you so happy. Who cares about them? His family adores you. We adore him. It’s all good.” She hugged her before getting out. “I’ll see you later. Call me if you need me. Love you.”
Beth scrambled into the front seat and gave her basically the same speech when they arrived at her apartment complex.
She loved her family and she loved Matt but she hated the anxiety and didn’t know what to do about it.
Some half an hour later, Matt walked through her front door, looking very intent. Without taking his eyes from her, he threw the locks and pulled the cord to the front blinds, casting the room into pale light.
“Bend over the couch arm, Tate.”
Frozen, she stood and looked at his face, his features sexy, aggressive. Shivers worked over her at his manner, far more dominant than his normal laid-back sexual playfulness.
Eyes still locked on hers, he pulled his belt loose, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, freeing his cock. One of his eyebrows slowly rose. “Tate?”
Stifling a nervous giggle, she shrugged and walked around the edge of the couch, bending forward over the arm. She closed her eyes when she heard the condom wrapper and felt the cool air on her bare thighs as he drew her skirt up to her waist and her panties down. She stepped out of them and let him widen her stance.
His fingertips drew a path up her inner thighs, brushing through the folds of her pussy, finding her wet.
“Just what I thought. I’ve been so damned hard since I saw you sitting there on Shane’s deck, your hair gleaming in the sunshine.”
The head of his cock found her gate and nudged into her body slowly. He made love to her, his hands stroking over her back and thighs, his body pressing deep and withdrawing. Gently at first until the heat between them built and built to scorching and his speed increased along with the intensity of his thrusts.
One hand reached around and he found her clit, ready and slippery. She pushed herself back against his body, rolled her hips, wanting more and he gave it to her.
The fingers on her clit were slow, teasing and he brought her up, built her orgasm like a masterpiece and when it crashed around her, she had to yell into the couch cushion. The sensation was too much to bear, it drove her mindless, pleasure blind as the hand at her hip tightened and she felt the muscles in his abdomen grow taut and his cock harden impossibly.
“Matt, please. I need you to need me.” She didn’t know where the words came from but they came and brought a gasp from him followed very quickly by his orgasm.
Still breathing heavy, he kissed the back of her neck and withdrew, returning in moments, his pants still unzipped.
He looked pleasure wild, slightly feral and holy shit, he was hers.
Dazed, she managed to land herself on the couch and he sprawled alongside her, his head in her lap. Immediately, her fingers sought the softness of his hair as they enjoyed the silence for several minutes.
“What brought that on?”
He heard the amusement in her voice and was relieved he hadn’t pushed too far.
Lazy, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the way she massaged his scalp, he smiled. “Dunno. I’d planned to waltz you into your bedroom and take you nice and slow but when I walked in the door and saw you, I had to have you right then.”
“It was very inspired.”
He laughed. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was concerned you’d be upset after the shower.”
She sighed but didn’t tighten up. “It’s a cross I have to bear, Matt. She’s not the first, she won’t be the last.”
“To talk to you like that?” He sat up and faced her, his arm along the back of the couch resting on her shoulders.
“Yes. And I did clean her parents’ house. I did a good job, even though my own house is messy. I work hard.” Her chin jutted out and he kissed it.
“Who cares now? It’s what? Fifteen years ago? Venus, some people live in the past. And I wish you’d tell me when people said things to you.”
“Why, Matt? What could you possibly do except feel bad?”
“Why? So you’re not alone in this. Do you think I like it that people treat you this way?”
“Do you think it makes a difference whether you like it or not?”
“Damn it, Tate. Why are you so hard sometimes?”
“Because people I don’t even know stop me on the street to accuse me of trying to steal your money. Because your friend Ron cornered me at the public library to warn me that you’d see past a piece of ass soon enough so not to get comfortable with my newfound position.”
Anger, hot and nearly unmanageable, rose in him like bile. “He said what? Ron Moore said that to you?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Doesn’t matter. None of this matters. He’ll only deny it.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he says. He’s lucky if I don’t knock him into next week for talking to you that way. Tate, I’m sorry this is so ridiculous. I’d say it doesn’t matter but being treated that way does matter. What doesn’t matter is anyone’s opinion but yours, mine and our families’.”
“I know.”
He smiled. “You do?”
“Yes, I do. I know it’s not easy, but I love you, Matt. I love being with you. If people don’t like that, there’s not much I can do about it but I’m not letting what we have go because people who don’t know me don’t like me.”
“Yeah? Because Tate, let’s move in together.” He’d almost asked her to marry him but he knew it’d be too much for her right then. “I want to be with you every day. I want to wake up with you every morning.”
“I don’t want to leave this house. I love it here. And I’m not giving up Martini Friday with my sisters.”
She was full of surprises, he’d thought they’d have to argue over moving in together. “Like I’m going to complain about a house full of tipsy, beautiful women. Although if we could plan it so you hung out at The Pumphouse first and invited Cassie, Liv and Maggie back here too, I’d like that a lot.”
“I hate The Pumphouse, you know. The last time you invited me everyone stared at me. Still, okay. For you. I suppose if we just came and sat with Liv, Cassie and Maggie, people will get used to it eventually.” If Petal was meant to be the place they were to be together, she had to work harder to make it more of a positive place in her head. Let go of the past and build a future.
He kissed her. “Thank you. I love knowing you’re there as I play pool. It’s sort of sucked since we’ve been going out that you’ve been here when I was there. Speaking of that, I love it here too. Thing is, it’s small for two people although my place is even smaller. But I have a suggestion. This is a huge lot. It wouldn’t be hard to add on at all.”
“I’ve been thinking about that for the last year or so. I’d be open to that.”
“Who are you, ma’am, and where did you put my girlfriend?” He leaned in to kiss her again and then once more, licking his lips afterward like she tasted good.
“I had this long talk with Liv and then with my sisters. I fucking hate how people react to this relationship and to me. But to give in and let them chase me off isn’t who I am. I’ve been letting it get to me when there’s nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is live for me. And for you. You say you want something with me. I want that too.” She shrugged.
“Well, to start, this dining room needs to be about three times the size it is now so we can have all the Murphys and Chases over no matter the weather. We need another two or three bedrooms and a den I think.” He winked and they planned.