“Spill it.” Jill bounded over to the couch.
Moment of truth.
“I’m here for a story.” And she proceeded to tell her the whole thing.
Jill slapped her beer down on the coffee table and grabbed Meredith by both arms. “That’s awesome, Mere! That’s like the best idea ever. Nora Roberts Land. I love it!” She jumped up, and flicked on the stereo. “Dancing Queen” blasted out. Jill had always had a flair for the dramatic.
“I’m glad you like it,” she shouted. “You’re the only one I’m telling.”
“Awesome! And Nora.” Jill sashayed over to a cluttered bookcase and pulled out a paperback. “Well, she’s like the Oprah of the written word.” Jill launched herself back onto the couch with Homeport in her hand. “It’s the coolest idea ever!”
“Well, the will to do it is there. I’m through with letting Rick-the-Dick screw up my life. But the thought of dating guys again turns my stomach into buttermilk.” She set her beer aside, wanting an antacid instead.
“You’ll do great!” Jill pulled Meredith up from the couch, her eyes shining. “I’ll help you. I know most of the single guys in town. Running the coffee shop keeps me plugged in.” She hugged her. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re doing this. I’ve hated seeing you so sad. You deserve a wonderful guy, Mere. You deserve a hero from Nora Roberts Land.”
Meredith pressed her face into Jill’s hair. She still wasn’t sure a good guy was out there for her or that she was even ready, but by God, she was going to try. Karen had loved her idea, and she thought their female readership would go crazy for it.
“You can’t tell anyone,” she whispered, breathing in the smell of Jill’s sugar cookie lotion.
Her sister pulled back. “Duh. We don’t want to scare anyone away.” She let out a whoop. “Oh, Mere, I’m so glad you’re back. Plus, if you find Mr. Right here, you might decide to stay forever.”
“It may not work out that way, Jill,” Meredith said, her insides jittering like the music. She turned it down. “I like New York. I have a good job there.”
Jill froze in mid-twirl. “Bullshit. You’ve been miserable lately. Why go back to a place where you’re too embarrassed to hold up your head? And now Rick-the-Dick is probably going to run for the Senate, putting your divorce in the spotlight again. You know what that jerk did to you.”
“Better than you.”
She’d never told a soul about catching him with a prostitute. She’d told her family he was a cheater, but the whole hooker thing made it much more sordid. Her husband had paid another woman for sex. When she’d asked him why, he’d told her he’d wanted a professional, letting the unspoken accusation hover in the air like a stink bomb.
Jill flew across the room. “You changed for him because you wanted him to love you. Don’t you see? The more he liked the fake you, the less you liked yourself. And then what happened?”
She looked away. “He stopped liking the fake me because I did.”
Her sister framed her face with her hands. “He was too self-absorbed and too much of an asshole to ever truly like anything or anyone but himself. You know it.”
The song changed to “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme A Man After Midnight.”
“I know it here.” Meredith pointed to her head. “But I can’t feel it here yet,” she added, putting the finger to her heart.
Jill wrapped her arms around her. “You will, Mere. Believe it.”
Thank God for sisters. She blinked back tears. She had a story to do. This was no time for self pity.
“So, do you want to see my new underwear?”
Jill laughed and let her go. “Okay, but I think I’m going to need more beer first.” She sailed into the small kitchen.
Meredith had been too embarrassed to tell Jill about it before, but now seemed like a good time. “The underwear goes with my post-divorce alter ego,” she called out. “It’s a superhero.”
Jill popped her beer open. “Do you have a cape?”
Meredith put her finger to her lips and smiled. “Not yet.”
***
Jill caressed Meredith’s La Perla like it was fine china, a sudden feeling of envy shooting through her. She wanted to be the kind of woman who could pull off wearing sexy lingerie.
“I’m going to embroider DW on some of these for you,” she informed her now wild-side sis. “Give them a real superhero feel. Divorcée Woman. I love it!”
She still couldn’t believe her always-cotton sister had ditched comfort for pure sex appeal. If Meredith couldn’t get her confidence back in this stuff…