Magnetic (16 page)

“I wanted to dance with Layne,” Jenny was saying as they came back to the table.

“Let them dance, so we can talk.” Ronnie fixed her gaze on Molly as she sat down. “Everyone’s been acting funny since we left New Orleans. I want to know why and I want to know now.”

“What do you mean?” Jenny said with a forced laugh.

Ronnie stared into Molly’s eyes. “You know exactly what I mean, don’t you?”

Jenny tried a different tack. “What’s going on, Ronnie?”

“I just asked y’all the same question.
Mol
, you’ve never lied to me. Don’t start now.”

Molly’s gaze swept over the dance floor. Layne was walking out the door, and Stacy was making her way to the table. “You should ask Stacy. Good night.” Molly jumped to her feet and hoped Jenny was behind her. If she couldn’t get through the crowd to the door, she intended to make a hole in the wall, and it would be shaped just like her.

*******

Layne walked as fast as her legs would move. When the slow music started, Ronnie grabbed her firmly and whispered in her ear. “I know it wasn’t Jenny you were staring at,” then Ronnie whirled her into Stacy’s arms. Layne wasn’t sure what had happened until she saw Ronnie and Jenny moving back to the table.

“Did you tell her?” Layne asked, horrified of the answer.

“No, I didn’t,” Stacy said, looking bewildered.

“What did you say to her?”

“Nothing, but I think she’s figured us out.”

“There is no
us
.”

Layne ran both hands through her hair as she half ran to her cabin. “I should’ve gotten right back on a plane!”

“Layne!” Jenny yelled as she came running up behind her. Molly was lagging and still some distance away. She grabbed Layne by the arm and faced her. “Did Stacy tell her?”

“She said she didn’t,” Layne said breathlessly.

“Sweetie, she knows something’s up between you and Stacy.”

Layne shook her head. “There is nothing up!”

“But it looks like it,” Molly said as she joined them. “I know you’ve tried, but it’s so obvious that there’s something between you two. You have feelings for her, admit it, at least to us.”

“I don’t know,” Layne said miserably, though she wasn’t being honest. “I was attracted to her or I would never have slept with her. I keep telling myself that’s the pull. Honestly, that may be all it is. I just don’t know.” She scrubbed at her face. “What did Ronnie say to y’all?”

“She demanded to know what was going on. She wanted to know why everyone was acting so strange, but by the look on her face, she already knew or thinks she knows the answer. Molly told her to ask Stacy, then we hightailed it out of there.”

“Come stay with us at our cabin,” Molly said.

“No, I can’t hide. If Ronnie wants to talk to me, I’m just going to have to face the music.”

*******

But that didn’t happen. Layne waited most of the night for the confrontation that never came. She’d paced back and forth rehearsing her explanation and preparing to make promises that she hoped she could keep. She was awakened early the next morning by Jenny.

“They’re gone,” Jenny said, looking tired, and held up a note. “They had someone take them to Tallahassee, and I imagine they took the earliest flight out this morning.”

Layne met the news with mixed emotions. She had not had to face Ronnie. And she and Stacy left together. Perhaps they’d worked things out.

Chapter 17

“Have you heard from her?”

“It’s only been fifteen minutes since we last spoke, Mol.” Layne cradled the phone on her shoulder as she unpacked her suitcase.

“Have you considered calling her?”

“I have, but I went to voice mail. I just told her to call me when she was ready.”

“Should I call her?”

“No,” Jenny said in the background.

“Let me try to talk to her first, then you can if you don’t mind.”

Molly sighed. “I’m on pins and needles.”

“So am I, sweetie. I promise to let you know when we do talk, okay?”

“I love you and I love Ronnie. Please try to work this out even if she’s mean. She’s just hurting.”

Layne smiled. “I know, and I love you, too.”

*******

Days passed and Ronnie hadn’t returned what Layne had felt like were a million messages on her voice mail. Her last week of vacation was almost up, and she could not return to a busy work schedule without clearing the air with Ronnie. Layne knew what the next step was, but she dreaded taking it. She drove to Ronnie’s pool supply store only to be told that Ronnie wasn’t in. Next she went to Ronnie’s apartment and banged on the door until it finally opened.

Ronnie looked at her stoically. “You should know better than anyone else that when I’m pissed I want to be left the fuck alone.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Layne said as the door began to close in her face. That wasn’t entirely true, but the statement got the desired effect as Ronnie met her toe to toe.

“What you did was as good as lying!” Layne pushed past Ronnie into her apartment with Ronnie on her heels. “You—all of you—let me make a complete fool out of myself.”

“No one looked at you that way, Ronnie. We all regret that we didn’t tell you sooner. None of us wanted to hurt you.”

“When you say ‘all,’ do you mean the four of you are still discussing this?”

Caught off guard, Layne blinked for a second or two until she realized what Ronnie was asking. “I haven’t seen or spoken to Stacy since the night y’all left, and neither has Jen and Molly.”

Ronnie plopped down on the couch and threw her feet up on the coffee table. “Regardless, I feel like the butt of a joke.”

“I can empathize with how you must feel,” Layne said as she sat on a chair. “When I first saw Stacy in the airport, I thought the Fates were playing a joke on me.” She sighed as she leaned back and tried to relax. “I hated every minute of that trip because I couldn’t enjoy it, and I kept debating whether I was doing the right thing by not telling you what happened. I made the wrong choice.”

Ronnie sighed long and loud. “I knew something was up. At first, I thought you were just grappling with the breakup, but when you barely looked at me, I thought…well, you know what I thought. I said it to you that day at the stables.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“I wanted to,” Layne said as she looked away. “But you told me what you were feeling, and I just couldn’t bring myself to crush that.”

“But it happened anyway and would’ve eventually had things progressed with Stacy.”

Layne nodded with resignation. “I am so very sorry. If I could go back and change it all, beginning with the night I met Stacy, I would.”

Ronnie was quiet as she toyed with the TV remote, then finally said, “She’s crazy about you.”

“It was one night. She doesn’t even know me.”

“Unfortunately, she does.” Ronnie met Layne’s gaze. “I talked about you incessantly. Of course, at the time, she didn’t know it was you that I was raving about, Chloe.”

Layne made a face and looked away.

“Had I made the effort to talk to you when you got back from Detroit, I would’ve probably put the pieces together.” Ronnie pursed her lips, then said, “Maybe you should give her a shot. I know you like her, too.”

Layne smiled ruefully. “We’re not talking about a piece of furniture. She’s a human being with her own feelings. And what about ours, yours especially?”

Ronnie folded her arms. “Whatever interest I felt died the minute she told me the truth. She was extremely apologetic but also very frank and honest. I screwed myself by telling her I wasn’t interested in being serious.”

“But you were. Why didn’t you tell her the
truth
?”

“Because I wasn’t sure it was. It’s true, she’s the first woman I considered having more than an affair with, but I wasn’t certain I could go through with it. That’s why I played it cool. I got hurt,” Ronnie said with remorse.

“You’ll drop a hundred bucks into a slot machine just on the chance you might win, but you won’t gamble when it comes to your feelings.” Layne leaned forward and caught Ronnie’s eye. “In the pursuit of love, you have to make an investment, a gamble, and it sucks. Sometimes we don’t win, but you have to play the game.”

“You do the same thing.” Ronnie pointed a finger at Layne when she began to protest. “Before Olivia, it was Tonya, and honestly, I don’t think you really loved either of them. You go for the gals with status, money because that’s what makes you feel safe. You invested your feelings in things not the woman.” Ronnie patted her chest. “There’s no difference between you and me. That’s why I asked if you thought different of Stacy because she was a bartender.”

Layne wanted to dispute the claim, but as Ronnie’s words pelted her, she knew she couldn’t. She held her hands up and let them drop into her lap. “You’re right. I have no business throwing that in your face.”

“You want to know what really gave it all away?” Ronnie asked as she nailed Layne down with her stare. “It was you. If I showed Stacy affection, you couldn’t stand it. That last night at dinner, I kissed her neck to see what your reaction would be, and I saw pain. The first few times, I thought it was because you felt awkward being there alone, but I know every one of your expressions, and it hurt you.”

“I did feel awkward,” she argued when Ronnie stated the truth. “I was there alone, and I—” Layne shook her head as she looked away.

“There’s a reason you can’t finish that sentence. It’s because I’m right. You never flinched when Jen and Molly kissed or were affectionate. If you felt nothing for Stacy at all, you wouldn’t have minded.”

“What do you want me to say?” Layne shot back as she got up and began to pace.

“Tell me the whole truth this fucking time.”

“You weren’t honest with Stacy,” Layne retorted, “or we might not be having this conversation right now, either.”

Ronnie twirled a finger. “How long do you want to dance in a circle around this? You forced your way in here because you wanted to talk, even though I didn’t. So damn it, we’re going to. Sit down, Layne!” Ronnie was breathing heavily as Layne sank into a chair. “You have feelings for her. How deep do they go?”

“I don’t know, and that’s an honest answer. I haven’t examined it because I didn’t want to be interested in her.”

“But you are, and you can’t control it,” Ronnie surmised succinctly and sighed. “I guess we all wish we could backtrack and do things differently, but that’s not possible. As it stands, Stacy is totally taken with you, and I’d venture to say that feeling is mutual. We’ve both been playing it safe in our own ways. I took a step forward by considering a relationship, maybe you should, too.”

“I can’t do that. What if things took off with Stacy? How would you feel seeing us together? I know it would make me uncomfortable.”

Ronnie grimaced as she looked away. “If that happened, I’d have to learn to deal with it. We’re family, and certainly not the first two sisters that have been interested in the same person. We’ll survive.”

“Easier said than done.”

Chapter 18

“Who is she?” Alana asked as she spooned fried rice from a carton and set it in front of Stacy’s plate. “The woman you’ve been painting. And why doesn’t she have a face?”