Giving her a bottle of water, Maya looked at LuAnn’s eyes and asked, “Do you feel dizzy or nauseous? Lightheaded?”
“No,” LuAnn groaned. “Just really embarrassed.”
Rosemary giggled and said, “Wow, Grace. This is the most excitement we’ve ever had at a sleepover.” The girls all laughed, and even LuAnn smiled.
Grace stood and said, “You all can get back in the pool if you want to. I’m going to check in with Ethan’s mom and make sure all the kids are okay. There’s no point in ending the evening since it’s still early and I doubt that we’ll see any more of Maynard this weekend. Poor guy. LuAnn, come in with me and let’s get you some Tylenol.”
As they all turned back to the pool, Margot asked in a joking tone, “So tell us, Grace. Is Maynard single? Good-looking?”
Summer elbowed her sister. “Oh, shut up. You’re spoken for and you know it!”
“Am not! I never agreed—”
“Your big mouth may not agree but your actions say otherwise.”
Margot groused as they walked away. “Bullshit.”
Summer responded, “Oh, yeah, Miss Jealous. What about this afternoon, when that sales clerk at the Gulf-Mart flirted with him when he paid for his gas? Huh? Seemed like it pissed you off when she flirted with Gil as well.”
“Bitch,” Margot grumbled and then pushed her sister into the pool.
Lily followed Grace and LuAnn into the house, along with Maya, who was a registered nurse in Emma Guthrie’s medical practice.
Kathleen Grant came down the staircase and at Grace’s whispered inquiry, assured her that Grace’s baby, Rose Marie, and Will, Juliana’s baby, were sound asleep in the mistress suite, and Teresa’s children, nearly six-year-old Michael and two-year-old Eleazar, were crashed in the nursery on sleeping bags.
“Do you know why clowns trigger this response, LuAnn?” Maya asked as she handed LuAnn two Tylenol.
LuAnn nodded. “My mom told me years ago that they took me to a large circus. There was a clown moving through the seating area during intermission making balloon animals for the kids. Mom said she thought the clown’s makeup was a little scary looking, instead of funny, and it might have been that, or when he was making my balloon animal it popped and scared me. Because I was so little they thought it was just a combination of my age, his scary appearance, and the sudden noise. They didn’t think any more of it until I encountered a clown at a birthday party. We had to leave it was so bad. The third time, at a rodeo, when the clown was at a distance confirmed it. I’ve avoided venues where clowns might be ever since. I’m so sorry for putting a damper on the evening.”
Grace shrugged. “Don’t be. The kids are still sleeping, and that was the most excitement we’ve ever had. But it shoots my plans all to hell.”
LuAnn tilted her head and asked, “What plans?”
Grace laughed ruefully. “I was planning on introducing you to Maynard. He’s right about your age and well…”
“What?”
“It doesn’t really matter, I guess.”
“I’m starting to feel really bad about this.”
“He has a really kind heart. The rodeo he was at was a charity event for kids with cancer. He was volunteering at it but he’s a professional rodeo clown.” Lily had seen evidence of his warm nature when he’d apologized so sincerely and he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of LuAnn.
LuAnn looked as though she felt even worse. “That’s just my luck. You find a nice guy to set me up with and I’m phobically terrified of him. I’m never going to find a decent man.”
Grace patted her shoulder and grinned. “You will. I haven’t given up.”
LuAnn laughed and rolled her eyes, and they returned to the pool.
The topics of discussion were as wild and varied as Lily had hoped for. The topic of ménage sex came up and the discussion was so frank and open that Lily couldn’t wait to hear from Clay and Del. Later that evening, after a relaxing hot shower, Lily was just turning in with Maya, her roommate, when her phone rang.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Clay settled back against the headboard as he listened for the sound of Lily’s sexy voice. She sounded breathy when she responded, “Hello?”
She brought out the horny, teenage boy in him as his cock reacted to him hearing her voice. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself. What are you up to?” He heard the sound of a phone ring in the background and another muted, feminine voice besides hers and she giggled and replied quietly to whoever it was.
“We’re settling down for bed. We got here just a little while ago.”