The doorbell rang again the insistent buzz sounding impatient this time. “Keep your pants on. I’m coming,” Victoria yelled at the door.
Jessica smiled inwardly. Isabelle had put her up for that first night, but her sister was soon to arrive for a visit, so Jessica had moved on. Victoria had offered her place up immediately before Jessica even got all the words out to ask.
Living with Victoria was definitely interesting. Her home in Enclave was a cozy three bedroom with two bathrooms. She had her own bathroom and a great alternative living space, even though she desperately missed Seth and Garrett.
There had been more than one morning where Victoria had soothed her endless weeping as she cried into her coffee cup, missing her men with a desperation she wasn’t certain she could endure for much longer.
By the end of the week, she’d started thinking along the lines of an alternative track. Try to win them back. Try to make them miss her. Try to make them fall back in love with her. She wasn’t giving up without a fight.
Victoria was totally on board with her plan to track them down and chase them until they acquiesced to her demands for a permanent relationship. She even vowed not to bring up marriage, but perhaps they could be engaged for several years. Now that she knew they were back and had apparently been surprised she was already gone from their house, according to Gray, Jessica felt a little better about life. Perhaps they’d missed her while they’d been gone.
And if they were dead set against getting back together, well she was prepared for that too. But she didn’t like that plan as well.
Jessica opened her bedroom door a crack. Victoria bounded to the door in her short silky robe, reaching out to fling it open. Jessica could see most of the living room and part of the front door from her current vantage point. Perfect.
Over morning coffee each day they had discussed in growing detail what Victoria would say if or rather when either Seth or Garrett or both of them showed up.
After Gray had called her this morning, she and Victoria had discarded every other previous discussion plan and come up with a new one. Gray told her Seth had been surprised that she’d moved out of their house. Also that she hadn’t given two weeks’ notice. So the new plan was in place. After some initial resistance, Victoria was to allow them to come to her room. She’d hear what they had to say and react accordingly.
Victoria told her she’d be foolish not to hook back up with them if they were at all repentant. Jessica agreed, but still wanted to tell them how devastated she’d been when they told her to take her old job back like it was the only option.
The door opened wide, Jessica clutched the door knob in one hand ready to close the door and make them knock once they were on the way to the guest room.
Victoria whipped the door open, exactly like she always did, and then stopped still. Her voice cracked when she said, “Duke?”
Duke? What is he doing here?
“What are you doing here?” Victoria asked the question as if she’d pulled it from Jessica’s brain, but she also grabbed Duke’s shirt front one-handed and pulled him inside her living room.
Jessica saw Duke clearly now. His hat was already off and spinning in his hands nervously. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier in the day.”
Over dinner an hour ago, Victoria had regaled Jessica with the story of what happened at lunchtime with the object of her affection. Victoria had packed a brown bag lunch and taken it to Duke’s office to share with him. He’d been reluctantly appreciative, but wary.
With her hands circling in the air also helping to tell the story, Victoria said, “There we were picnicking on his desk. I sat as close as I could manage, balancing one butt cheek on the edge of his blotter, while he hunched forward in his chair, not touching me.
“His hand was near my leg. I had my hand next to his, too, carefully inching ever closer until we’d maybe finally touch like I was back in middle school or something. I was about to make my move—which was to launch onto his legs and trap him in his desk chair until I’d had my wicked way with him—then all of a sudden I was thwarted when the damn phone on his desk rang suddenly.”
Victoria laughed, tilting her head back, letting the happy sound escape to the ceiling. “You would have thought a rocket blasted up his ass the way he stood up so quick.