Page 28 of Homebody
“That’s fine. We are the experts. Me in fashion. You in beauty. We’ll figure it out. Besides, there’s not all that many places around here he could be taking her. It’s got to be somewhere close, right?”
Red was correct. Tessa hadn’t lived here long but she knew the choices for a date night in Mudville were pretty much the diner, the drive-in movie theater, Mudville House if you wanted to be fancy or the Muddy River Inn for casual.
Ruby shook her head. “Not true. He could be taking her kayaking on the river for all we know.”
Red cringed and nodded. “That is true. I remember he was quite the jock back in high school.”
Kayaking on the river?Now it was Tessa’s turn to be shocked. “Would he really do that? Do people even do that?”
“Yes, people do that. A lot of people. Did you not notice the huge crowd in town for the Canoe Regatta over Memorial Day weekend?” Ruby asked.
“The General Clinton Canoe Regatta is pretty famous. Like worldwide,” Red added.
Tessa wrinkled her nose and admitted, “Um, no. Sorry. I guess I missed this regatta.” An outdoorsy type of girl she was not. She could only hope she wasn’t going to have to risk drowning while pretending to be sporty tonight to please Dean.
Pretending to be bad was hard enough. But playing a jock might be too far beyond her capabilities.
She didn’t even like going in a swimming pool, forget about the Muddy River that ran through Mudville. The brown-tinged water that lived up to its name could harbor any number of aquatic horrors. A shiver ran through her at the thought.
She couldn’t do this…
A dark cloud of despair shadowed with a tinge of self-loathing began to descend upon her psyche.
She’d gone to a dark place for a bit during the isolation of the pandemic. A depression so deep it had her grateful there was no possibility of anyone dropping by to visit. She could wallow un-showered in sweatpants. Or, more likely, in the same pajamas she’d worn day and night for the past week straight.
Thinking back to that time, compared to now, she had to admit and appreciate how far she’d come since that pitiful twenty-first birthday during lockdown.
She was close to getting her master’s degree. So close to finishing this thesis. Yes, she had a loan debt from hell, but she was dealing with it. She was living on her own. Supportingherself. She had a job and an apartment and none of it was on her parents’ dime.
Not everyone in her situation would be able to say that.
Feeling lighter, even powerful, she decided she could do this. Heck, she was even somehow successfully pulling off playing a bad girl. She could navigate whatever this date tonight brought. Even if it did mean she ended up in a boat on the river.
Tessa let out a breath. She wished she were the kind of girl she was pretending to be… Since she was not, pretending was the best she could do.
Tonight she would lean into being the bad girl. Really bad. Then it wouldn’t matter to Dean if she couldn’t paddle a canoe or not. He’d be so distracted by her badness.
The two women who could pull off that kind of distraction were right here with her. All she had to do was use all the resources at her disposal.
Turning to Red and Ruby she said, “It doesn’t matter what he has planned. I want you to make me look sexy.Reallysexy.”
Ruby’s lips quirked up into a satisfied smile. “That I can do.”
Red clapped her hands. “Yay! Finally. We’ll have you looking so hot, he won’t know what hit him.”
That was exactly Tessa’s plan.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m leaving,” Dean called in the general direction of the kitchen and reached for the doorknob, hoping for an easy egress.
“Wait! Where are you going?” his mother asked as she appeared in the hallway.
He dropped his hold on the knob and turned to fully face her. He could hope for a quick conversation but he wasn’t going to count on it. “I told you. I have a date.”
“I know that. But where are you taking her?” she asked, looking more excited than she should at the prospect of his date.
No doubt she wanted to know where he’d be so she could have her network of spies report back to her all the details.
