Page 58 of Under the Lights
Jen froze, and then her mouth tightened in a show of stubbornness. “Just because you’re taking advantage of attractive men being in town temporarily to have random sex doesn’t mean everybody else is.”
“And bitchiness, too.” Kelly grinned and leaned forward. “You’re hiding something, Jen Cooper.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’ll feel better if you tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Kelly tapped her badge. “I’ve been professionally trained in this. Just confess already.”
“Fine. I had sex with Sam Leavitt.”
“Damn, I’m good at this job.” She leaned back in the chair again. “When?”
“After the street fair. I was driving home and he was walking. I don’t think he even knew where he was going. He was just walking along the side of the road.”
“Did he see his mom? At the street fair, I mean.” She thought she’d seen Sheila and had meant to say hi. And saying hi meant making sure she was still sober and was okay out in public. But it had been a busy night, and her time had ended up being split between watching Chase and trying not to die of hypothermia.
“Yeah. I told him to get in the car and we started talking, so I parked out by the dam. You know the spot.”
Kelly knew the spot. Kids had been going parking there for as long as Stewart Mills had cars, but it had never occurred to her to meet Chase there. “So, talking and comfort and touching and... you had sex in your car?”
“Onmy car.” Jen dropped her head into her hands. “I had sex with Sam Leavitt on the hood of my car.”
“Wow. That’sreallynot boring. So why do you look like you just dropped your ice cream on the floor?”
“Because why would I do that? With him, of all people. On my car.”
Kelly was tempted to laugh, but she realized Jen was honestly upset with herself. “You said yourself sex can be a stress release. Maybe that’s all it was. You both needed somebody, and you happened to be alone together.”
“I just don’t understand it, Kel. There’s literally nothing about that man I should find attractive.”
Shouldfind attractive. It was a telling word. “Was it bad?”
“That’s the worst part.” Jen grimaced. “It was... amazing.”
“Okay, I don’t care how upset you are. I’m not offering you condolences for having amazing sex with a hot guy on the hood of your car.”
That actually made Jen laugh. “I guess there are worse things.”
“Having bad sex with a guy on your car would be worse. Have you talked to him since?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t think he’s any more attracted to me than I am to him. It was just... one of those things, I guess.”
“There you go. Just one of those things.”
“Enough about me. Sam’s leaving after the parade, and I’ll never see him again. Let’s talk about you.”
Kelly wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. In contrast to Jen’s sexual escapade, what she and Chase had going on looked an awful lot like a relationship. They might not get to spend a lot of time together, but when they did, they enjoyed each other’s company. They ate meals together and made each other laugh. They texted when they could. There was no denying the sexual chemistry was there.
And, if she was totally honest with herself, she was probably going to miss him when he was gone.
“I actually stopped by to ask you about the parade, not just because I was bored,” Kelly said, diverting the conversation away from herself, since she knew Jen really wanted to know how things were with Chase. “Last I remember, we hadn’t figured out the transportation for the team.”
Jen gave her anI know what you’re up tolook, but leaned back in her chair. “The kids will ride in the back of three pickups like they usually do. The alumni team we’re going to put on a float, so they can have chairs and they’ll be waving the trophy around. Gretchen’s loaning us the trailer her grandfather used for haying, and the cheerleaders are supposed to be decorating it today.”
“Who’s driving that truck?” An alumni player’s chair tumbling off the float during a jerky start or stop would be a very bad way to close out Eagles Fest.
