Page 73 of Love at First Ride
Mrs Huxley lowers her voice. ‘Maybe skip that part, then leave the book on my nightstand when you’re done. I’ll read it on my own.In secret.’
We laugh at that.
The wait wouldn’t be so bad if I could tell someone about it. But I don’t know anybody at Sunset Pines well enough to confess that I haven’t had sex since I moved back to Canyon.
‘Did you have a lot of boyfriends when you were young, Mrs Huxley?’ I ask, trying to stop the questions from firing around my brain.
‘I had a couple,’ she begins, then lowers her voice. ‘But my Robert, he was the only man I ever went to bed with. That’s the way things were in them days.’
‘I think it’s romantic,’ I say.
‘My wedding night, I tell you, I did not have the darndest clue what I was doin’. But we got better with practice. These days… y’all just go on TikTok or whatnot for tips.’
I laugh along with her, but another shiver of sweet anticipation travels through my inner thighs.
‘Was he your first love?’ I ask.
‘First and only,’ she says. ‘I knew from the moment he spoke to me at church that this was the man I wanted to give my heart to. Hollie, you shoulda seen him… the way he could strut around in them cowboy boots.’
‘You make him sound like Coyote Maverick.’
‘Hollie. Coyote ain’t got nothin’ on my Robert, may the Lord rest his soul. But right now, Coyote’s about the closest thing I’m gonna get.’
When I exit Mrs Huxley’s room, Tawny comes racing up to me down the corridor in her uniform.
‘Why did you not tell me?’ she says in a weird whisper that comes out through gritted teeth.
I frown. ‘Tell you what?’
‘That your stepmom was comin’here. Like, rightnow. With some kind of press junket.’
‘You mean here,now?’
‘I do! There’s even a goddamned cameraman!’
‘I swear to you I had no idea.’
I follow Tawny back to the reception area, my heart thudding inside my chest. Sure enough, Evelyn is in a power suit, being interviewed on camera about the quality of state-funded residential nursing homes, and how she plans on increasing city-wide funding. Behind the camera are her lackeys, one scrolling on his phone, the other two listening diligently.
Did she choose Sunset Pines deliberately, knowing I would be here?
I look around the reception area. It doesn’t seem like my dad has accompanied her.
I could just get on with my day. Pretend I haven’t seen her and go and readMoby Dickto Mr Josephson, which was my plan anyway.
‘Thank you for your time, Madam Mayor,’ the interviewer is saying, shaking her by the hand. ‘That was perfect. I think we got just about everything we needed.’
She’s shaking him by the hand, flashing him her white Invisaligned teeth. I shrink back down the corridor but I’m too late. Over the reporter’s shoulder, she’s noted my presence.
‘Allow me to introduce my stepdaughter, Hollie,’ she says to him. ‘She’s a candy striper here.’
‘Oh!’ the reporter exclaims in surprise as Evelyn beckons me over. ‘I had no idea. Can we get some pictures?’
To my horror, one of my stepmother’s lackeys comes to grab me by my arm. The next thing I know, I’m being herded next to my stepmother in front of a handheld camera and blinded by an industrial flash.
Afterward, she doesn’t ask to meet any of the Sunset Pines staff. Tawny looks on almost in amusement, like my stepmother is a caricature.
Once the interviewer and cameraman have left, Evelyn stalks over to me and squeezes my arm above my elbow, digging her nails into my flesh. It hurts. ‘A word,’ she hisses in my ear, ‘Somewhere private.’
