Page 60 of Legal

I waved to my neighbor, Michelle. She was walking down the street with her little poodle mix, heading in my direction. I picked up the paper and the mail from the day before, then waited at the end of my driveway for her to arrive.

“Morning, Jillian.”

“Good morning. Perfect day for a walk.” I should be getting my butt out to do the same, but as always, the phone calls weren’t going to make themselves.

“Yep.” She took a drag off her cig. “Hey, I see you’ve landed yourself some fresh meat. Good for you.”

“Excuse me?”

“The pretty thing that’s been hanging around. Doesn’t stay too long, does he?” She winked, and I felt my face get warm.

“Oh, that’s no big deal. Just a friend of mine.”

Michelle nodded and smiled, and I knew she didn’t believe me worth a damn. She knew we weren’t having book club during those hours.

“Would you like to come in for a bit? I have that cream I need to return to you.”

“Sure.” We went up toward the house, Sasha trailing behind. “How’d that work out for you?” I gave her a look. Was she talking about Chase again? “The DermaIce.”

“Oh! Unfortunately, not very well. It must have dried up on me weird; it made my face white and flaky.”

“You used too much; that’s all. Gotta get that right balance. Why don’t you keep it, try it again?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks anyway.”

We entered the house, going into the kitchen. I filled a bowl of water for the dog and a couple glasses of iced tea for us. Michelle plopped down on the chair, and Sasha lay by her feet. She dug around in her purse and pulled out a small canister.

“Here.” She handed it to me. Pills? “These might come in handy for you, especially now.”

I popped open the top and saw some small pink capsules inside. “What are they?”

Michelle waved her hand. “Don’t worry; they’re all natural. Just a little energizer to make you feel years younger. Wanna do what you can to keep up with the new boy trinket, right?”

I handed them back to her and sighed. “I’ll pass.” There was no way in hell I was taking something that was floating around in her bag. Between the miracle cream and the tape I’d discontinued using because it ripped off part of my eyebrow, I wasn’t eager to get in line for the next product in Michelle’s Pharmacy. It was liable to give me the side effect of sealing up my vagina. What good is more pep when you can’t even have sex?

She shrugged, tossing them back in her purse as I excused myself to get the DermaIce. Along the way, I heard theding,and I grabbed my phone.

Does tonight work for you?

I was truly bipolar or something. The flip in my mood when I saw Chase’s text scared me. Was I becoming a sex addict?

Yes. 8:00?

How long do we have?

2 hours.

I waited for him to respond as I got her cream out of the bathroom cabinet. I started second-guessing things. Was that time okay? Was it too much time? I usually didn’t schedule that long a period at once.Ding. I looked at the screen and smiled wide, my insides feeling gooey.

See you then, Wild Horses.

Oh, shit, what is the matter with me? Did I actually just skip back to the kitchen?

I gave Michelle her stuff back, then patted Sasha on the head before sitting down at the other side of the table, wondering if I looked as giddy as I felt. I swear it was like I was preparing to get laid for the first time ever.

“It’s fun, eh?” she said. “Ride that horse as long as you can, honey.”

My head did a quick jerk. “What—”

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