Page 14 of One More Time
He was disgusted with himself, but he had to admit – it would.
CHAPTER SIX
LUCY
Lucy stepped out of her heels in the entryway, tiptoeing through the dappled wash of a nightlight until she spotted Chloe’s bedroom door open, and the lights off. She was still out with her bridesmaids. At least that was one less thing Lucy had to think about.
She didn’t know how she would explain her relationship with Nicky Broome to Chloe if it came to that. Truthfully, she had a difficult time explaining it to herself. Even after all the years that had passed.
It had been decades, plenty of time to come to terms with the hows and the whys. They’d only had one night. Less than twenty-four hours. It was no time at all, really, in the grand scheme of things. If Lucy added it all up, she’d probably spent more time picking out nail polish, or untangling charger cords in the span of her life. Their time together had been a flash, a blink of an eye.
But it was also forever.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUCY
1990-Something
‘What are you doing over there? Planning out yourSassyphotoshoot?’ Kim said as she waddled into the living room on her heels. Her toes were freshly painted, but Kim being Kim, she couldn’t just sit down and wait for them to dry.
Lucy looked up from the display of outfits and accessories draped over the living room chairs and rolled her eyes at her best friend. ‘Don’t pretend like you don’t have an outfit ready. Because I know you do.’
‘As a matter of fact, I have two,’ Kim said. ‘I’m trying to decide between so tight it’s almost dangerous, and so short it’s almost pornographic.’
‘Oh good, a classic.’
‘Well, it is our first weekend at the beach. I feel an impression should be made,’ Kim retorted with a dignified lilt.
‘An impression of Mike Pellegrini’s hand on your ass, you mean?’
‘Exactly.’
Kim Rusike and Lucy Rollins were almost exactly the same age. Separated by only two days in March. Thanks to the alphabet, they’d been seated next to each other in school for nearly their entire lives. They were a perfect match in personality, but somehow, Kim had managed to become infinitely more self-possessed and sophisticated in the same eighteen years it had taken Lucy to become, uh, not hideous.
Lucy accepted that she gave off fairly sharp tough-cookie vibes while, even at eighteen, Kim managed elegant and refined without really trying. Kim’s eyes were a shade of golden amber so arresting it could stop a man’s heart. Her skin was buttery smooth and absolutely blemish-free at all times (even during her period, which Lucy thought was completely unfair of the universe).
Thanks to Kim’s dad, a black former Eagles defensive end, and her mother, a white, extremely blond professional spender of football money, Kim had a combination of features that was utterly unique, especially in Delaware. She was complete supermodel material, from the top of her smooth black hair to the tip of her neon pink toenails. If Kim had any inclination whatsoever, she would already be walking a runway somewhere. Pity for fashion photographers the world over, she desperately wanted to be a lawyer instead.
Lucy looked over her choices one more time. The black-and-white-striped cropped tee and button-fly jeans was thewinner. Especially if she wore her leather motorcycle jacket and the Mary Jane Docs she’d gotten for graduation. She gathered up her stuff.
‘I vote tight, Kim. It’ll probably be windy. And it’s never really hot after dark down here.’
‘Good point. Okay, skintight, long Calvin Klein tube dress and cropped Benneton jacket.’
‘The one with the patches?’
‘Yeah. Heels?’
‘We’re going to the football house, not a club.’
Kim tilted her head in thought. ‘Platform flip-flops?’
‘Perfect.’
‘You sure? I’m going more forVoguethan Delia’s.’
‘Kim, if you wore a grocery bag it would look like it came fromVogue.’
