Chapter Twenty-Two
Presley hadn’t completely unpacked from Las Vegas yet so it only took a moment to find the little black dress she’d packed but hadn’t had a chance to wear on vacation. She’d purchased it for the trip to Florida last year at the urging of Marion during a shopping trip in Billings.
“Every woman should have a cute black dress,” Seth’s mother had said when Presley had tried it on. “And that one is perfect. Dressy but not over the top. Perfect for almost any occasion.”
It was fantastic and Presley felt like a million bucks in it. She loved the way the skirt swirled around her thighs and the neckline was low enough to show some cleavage but not so risqué as to give the waiter an eyeful. It was sexy and tasteful all at the same time.
She took extra time with her hair and makeup tonight, wearing a little more eyeshadow and mascara than she normally would. Her hair she styled half up and half down, letting some of the waves touch her shoulders but pulling the front back and away from her face with a gold barrette.
Slipping into her black high heels, she heard a whistle from the doorway. Seth. He looked dangerously yummy in his charcoal gray suit and blue tie. Maybe they should just stay in tonight. No…that’s why she hadn’t worn the dress in Vegas.
“Damn, you look good. I love your legs in those shoes. Keep them on later when we get home.”
“Kinky bastard,” she teased as she applied her lipstick. “It’s a good thing Ben and Lulu can’t hear you talk like that.”
“They wouldn’t know what it meant.”
“I just don’t want to be the reason they seek therapy as an adult.”
Presley tucked her lipstick tube into her tiny black purse and smoothed down her hair one last time.
Harper didn’t have much in the way of fine dining so they ended up in Valley Station, Dare and Rayne’s town. There was a pretty decent steakhouse there, and if there was one thing the men were always enthusiastic for it was an oversized grilled piece of meat and a baked potato. Maybe a cold beer to wash it all down too.
Not only was Dare and Rayne meeting them for dinner, so was Reed and his author wife Kaylee. Presley rarely found opportunities to spend time with the girls so tonight was going to be fun. Rayne especially was pretty wild when she wanted to be, although most of the time she was quite sedate. She looked badass with her tattoos, piercings, and pink streak in her short black hair but she was actually one of the sweetest people Presley had ever met. But wow, she could put away some tequila. They’d stayed out all night at her bachelorette party and then nursed their hangovers all the next day.
Holding the door open for Presley, Seth ushered his wife into the dimly lit restaurant. Reed, Kaylee, Dare, and Rayne were already seated.
Presley opened her mouth to apologize but Rayne held up her hand in a stop motion. “You aren’t late. You are right on time. We just got here and these two…” She pointed to Reed and Kaylee. “Were a little early.”
Kaylee, a cute brunette with an infectious smile just shrugged. “What can I say? I was anxious to get here. I’ve been working on a book and I don’t think I’ve left the house in days, plus the cupboards were bare. We’re starving, too.”
Reed, a handsome dark-haired man with a quiet way about him, nodded in agreement. “We’ve been living on canned soup and frozen pizza for days. I can’t wait to cut into a juicy steak.”
Settling into her chair, Presley wanted to thank him for what he’d done for her and Seth.
“Reed, I want to say thank you again for traveling with my parents and the kids. You dropped everything to do that and I’m so grateful.” She turned to Kaylee. “And I want to thank you too because you had to do without him for a few days while he was gone. So thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much better it made me feel that he was watching over them.”
Kayla waved away her thanks as her husband flushed, his cheeks pink. “Don’t even worry about it. I kind of like the quiet every now and then so I can work.”
“I was happy to help,” Reed said with a smile. “I’m just glad that nothing happened.”
“You must have been going crazy not being able to be with Ben and Lulu,” Kaylee said. “I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been. You were so strong and brave.”
Presley hadn’t felt that way but she didn’t want to wallow in what had been a nightmare of a few days. She still missed her children but now she could be happy that they were having an adventure with their grandparents. She talked to them every day on Skype or the phone and they were having the time of their lives. And learning lots of new Elvis songs. She was sure there would be a concert when Ben and Lulu returned home.
“Tell me about the book you’re writing,” Presley invited, anxious to change the subject. “When will it be out?”
The conversation was as good as the meal, although Rayne seemed rather quiet and subdued, not laughing as much as everyone else. Dare did his usual scowling so it was hard to tell his emotional state on any given day and tonight was no exception. By the time their dessert order was taken Presley had a feeling that Rayne and Dare might be in a tad of a domestic tiff. It had happened to Presley and Seth, of course, as it did most couples at one time or another. They’d made plans to have dinner with Marion and George and then ended up snarling at each other over fried chicken. The fight had been stupid because she couldn’t even remember what it was about but at the time it had seemed damned important.
Pushing back her chair, Presley excused herself. “I’ll be right back.”
Rayne jumped up immediately. “I’ll go with you. I need to powder my nose.”
All eyes turned to Kaylee who also stood, clutching her purse to her chest. “I guess I might as well…um…I’ll go, too.”
Three women and six legs hurried to the ladies’ room. Presley had never been one for a group trip to the bathroom but she was beginning to see the reasons behind them. Clearly Rayne wanted to talk.
“I’m going to kill him,” the tiny woman growled when the door closed behind them. “Slowly and painfully. I can do it, too. He’s a heavy sleeper.”
A smile playing around Kaylee’s lips, she propped her purse on one of the sinks and pulled out her lipstick. “We can call Ava and get some ideas of how to do it from her. She’s a mystery writer and knows about fifty ways to kill someone and make it look like the family cat did it.”
“Let me guess,” Presley said, checking her hair in the mirror. “You and Dare had an argument right before coming to dinner.”
Rayne smacked her handbag down on the side of the sink. “He actually had the nerve to say that we had more sex before Cherish was born. Can you believe that? I let him know just why we weren’t having as much sex. Asshole.”
Kaylee’s brows shot up. “Was he complaining or just sort of making a casual observation?”
“A little of both, I think. I said how nice it was that we were getting a night out on the town while my sister watches the baby. That’s it. That’s all I said. Then he says that a lot has changed since Cherish was born. I don’t cook as much, we don’t go out as much, and we don’t have sex as much. I just stood there for the longest time not really believing that those words came out of my husband’s mouth. I mean…he was the one that pushed to have a baby right away. He couldn’t wait, he was so excited.”
“Is he not excited and happy now?” Presley asked carefully.
Sighing heavily, Rayne shoulders slumped. “He loves Cherish so much. I know he does. But I’m not sure he still loves me.”
Presley had a few painful memories of those days after Ben was born. How she didn’t feel sexy and it was hard to communicate that to Seth. He thought it was about him and it had made things awkward.
Presley and Kaylee’s eyes met over Rayne’s head.
“I’m sure he still loves you,” Kaylee replied. “Have you talked to him about it?”
“All we do is argue.” Rayne wiped a tear from her cheek. “I need more of Dare’s help but I don’t know how to ask him. I’m exhausted every single hour of every single day. Some days I’m so tired I’m almost numb. I could smack myself in the head with a hammer and I don’t think I’d feel it. I’m trying to take care of my daughter, run the tattoo shop, and be a wife too. Honestly, I don’t think I’m doing any of those things very well. I know motherhood isn’t supposed to be easy but is it supposed to be this hard? I’m failing here and I don’t know how to stop the spiral down.”
The crippling doubt that she was a decent mother was also a familiar refrain. Presley had had her share and even now she often wondered if she was doing the right things for her children. As she’d said earlier to Seth, she didn’t want to be the reason they sought counseling when they grew up.
“You’re a wonderful mother,” Presley said. “Babies aren’t complicated. They need food, love, and clean diapers. I know you give her everything she needs because I’ve seen you with Cherish. You’re doing a great job.”
There ought to be cheerleader services for new parents because they needed all the positive reinforcement they could get. If she hadn’t been so busy with her new business she would have realized that Rayne would be going through this.
More tears. “I’m a terrible mother. I don’t spend enough time with her. I work too much. She’s going to hate me.”
“She is not going to hate you,” Kaylee said, wrapping an arm around Rayne. “You’re her mother and she’s going to love you. I know that. But if you need help you have to ask Dare for it somehow. As much as we’d like it to happen, these men can’t read our minds.”
Rayne threw her hands up in the air. “Can’t he see it? Jesus, the house is a mess, I barely shower, there’s no dinner being cooked, and I’m falling asleep on my feet. Can’t he see that I’m overwhelmed? Before we came here tonight he literally tripped over the piles of dirty laundry.”
“So when he said what he did about the sex, what did you say?” Presley asked.
“I just–I just lost it. Everything that I’d been keeping locked up inside of me bubbled over and I let him have it with both barrels. I told him he was a selfish dick who never helped me around the house and that’s why he wasn’t getting laid as much. Because he’s a jerk. I can’t believe I married such a dumbass.”
That must have gone over well. Not that Presley and Seth hadn’t had the very same argument. They had. But luckily, she’d exploded much earlier. Clearly Rayne had been holding on to this way too long. Her shoulders were now shaking with the force of her sobs.
What Rayne truly needed was a long hot bath, a glass of wine, and a good night’s sleep. In fact, she needed several of them. In a row. Sleep deprivation was making this situation look far worse than it actually was. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t kind of awful. Rayne and Dare were a great couple together and they might just need a little nudge in the right direction to make up. The first thing Rayne needed to do was get everything off of her chest. All of her complaints – big and small. She’d feel better afterward. Then they could work on figuring out a way to tell Dare he needed to step up and help more.
Digging a tissue out of her purse, Presley dabbed Rayne’s wet cheeks. “Men are jerks but they’re our jerks. You can fix this. Seth and I have had this argument many times.”
Rayne’s eyes widened in horror and her mouth fell open. “Oh my God, you mean I’m going to have to tell him more than once?”
Well…yes.