CHAPTER 26
MACKENNA
It was Wednesday, which meant three things.
One, I was spending the morning at Beverly’s. I’d started hanging out with her and Sweet Pea a couple days a week while Jimmy was at work. I made the excuse that I didn’t want them to be lonely, but the truth was I found myself seeking out the company when I didn’t have work to do.
Two, I was supposed to get my car back tomorrow. I hadn’t seen it yet, but Jimmy’s texts assured me it would be as good as new. I reported the vandalism and property damage, but the police said there wasn’t much they could do when it came to finding the suspect because there were no witnesses. Despite my protests, Jimmy had gone to every neighbor on our block to ask if they’d noticed any suspicious activity in the area, but no one had seen the attack on my car.
And three, it had been exactly seventeen days since Jimmy and I had gone past first base—and, yes, I was counting. Sexually frustrated didn’t even scratch the surface of how I was feeling.
Learning that Jimmy was well-endowed along with the mention of the piercing piqued my curiosity. During our make-out sessions, I’d felt his hardness pressing against me, and I thought having an erection for hours on end was enough to make any guy break.
Just from the looks of Jimmy, you’d never know he had so much self-control, but the guy seemed to have it in spades.
I kept waiting for him to take things further, but then at night he’d just give me one last kiss and we’d go to sleep. He was a perfect gentleman.
It was sweet. It was romantic.
It was becoming a problem.
If I had to spend one more night next to him in bed without actually doing anything, I suspected I might die. Death by sexual frustration. That could be a real thing.
I didn’t know how to be sexually assertive, but I was willing to try. Maybe I needed to catch him off-guard in some way.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
I jumped guiltily at the sound of Beverly’s voice, wondering if I’d spoken my dirty thoughts about her grandson out loud.
Then I saw her chasing after Sweet Pea as he flew across the living room toward the cracked window. Waving her hands wildly, she cut him off just in time. Missing his intended target, he ended up tangled in her curtain. His tiny toes got caught in the wispy material and he flapped helplessly while letting out a pathetic-sounding “fuck.”
Beverly huffed as she helped the bird out of the predicament he’d gotten himself into. “He’s ruining all my curtains.”
“Have you thought about getting his wings clipped?” I asked before taking a sip of my lemonade.
She looked horrified. “Of course not. That’s like chopping a man’s dick off.”
Stunned by her statement, I inhaled some of the liquid and began coughing violently. I shouldn’t have been surprised by anything Beverly said—I was quickly learning that she didn’t have much of a filter.
“I don’t think that’s the same thing,” I said through a wheeze. “You don’t want him to escape again.”
“He was born with wings, he should have wings.” Beverly shrugged before giving him some peanuts to snack on. “Never thought I’d love a parrot, but he’s part of the family now.” She sat down on the couch next to me and picked up a Twinkie from the plate on the coffee table. “So anyway, do you want to go?”
My eyebrows pinched together in confusion. I hadn’t been listening to a word she’d been saying earlier. “Go where?”
“To the dress fitting tomorrow. We can make a girls’ day of it. Angel’s going to be such a beautiful bride.”
“Oh,” I said before an awkward pause ensued. “I really don’t feel like I should be going to that. I’ve never even met her.”
“I’m the matron of honor,” Beverly said, proudly straightening her shoulders. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I brought you along. Besides, Angel is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.” Her face lit up like she had the best idea ever. “You two should be friends. She only lives a few blocks from us.”
According to Beverly, her best friend was actually younger than me—younger than Jimmy, even. It was odd, but I guess there was no age limit on friendship. From the brief history she’d given me, I learned Angel showed up as a runaway in Tolson over a year ago, with no intentions of staying. But this town and its residents made an impression on her heart. Apparently, Travis Hawkins was one of those people.
I couldn’t blame her for falling for him. If my memory of him in high school was correct, he was a really nice guy. Not bad on the eyes either. With brown hair, hazel eyes, and dimples, he’d had more than one girl at Daywood High swooning over him.
Now that Travis and Jimmy were coworkers, I felt like my worlds were slowly colliding—which was typical in small towns—but I was surprised to find that I didn’t hate it.
In fact, I kind of liked the idea of being part of a circle of friends. Maybe it was time for my antisocial streak to come to an end.
“You know what?” I smiled at Beverly. “I think I’d like to come tomorrow.”
Clapping her hands, she beamed. “Wonderful.”
She went back to talking about the wedding, and I tried to pay attention as she went on about dresses, flowers, and cake.
But I couldn’t stop my mind from going back to fantasies about Jimmy.