Home > Here (Here in Lillyvale #1)(9)

Here (Here in Lillyvale #1)(9)
Author: Jenny Bunting

That’s when he saw Zoey in a strapless bra and underwear and her sandals, trying to pull a fully clothed Addison into the tub.

“Oh my God, sorry,” Jonathan said, shielding his eyes.

“You’ve seen it all before.”

“Yeah, but…” Jonathan trailed off and turned around. Not this version of it. She had lost her soft teenage figure and had developed into a strong, fit woman. Pressure built up in his groin, and he couldn’t calm it down with her right there in her underwear. This was the not the purpose of this weekend. He had developed a hard-on after she was vomited on. What kind of sick pervert was he?

“Just leave the clothes. I’ll need your help once she’s done. I’ll dress her and I’ll yell for you when I need you.”

Jonathan left immediately and headed back to his room. He pulled out a new shirt from his luggage and pulled it over his head. He took a stain remover pen to the small smudge of translucent pink vomit on his old shirt, and it came out easily. He could say a lot of things about his ex-wife, but she packed him a mean travel toiletries kit that he still used to that day.

Jonathan leaned against the wall, listening to Zoey negotiate with a drunk Addison through the door. He rubbed his face a few times, trying to pull the memory of Zoey in her underwear out of his head. He came here for closure, not to lust after an ex-girlfriend who was clearly done with him.

He wanted to be able to be in a group setting with her when he visited Lillyvale and not have Caroline and Brady sneak around like criminals. To be able to grab coffee with her when he was in town. To be able to wish her a happy birthday. To show he got what he did was a horrible, shitty thing and he knew how she felt.

Still, he would be lying if he said he felt nothing when he saw her.

Enough time had passed that he rapped his knuckle on the door. Even being around her was preferable to being alone with his own thoughts. If he thought too long, he could wish for something that he couldn’t have.

 

 

“Just a minute!” Zoey said, standing over Addison when she heard a soft knock at the door.

Addison had stopped vomiting, thankfully, and was talking in coherent sentences. It was a huge sigh of relief that there wouldn’t be any ER visits. Yet.

“I just want to sleep right here,” Addison said, curling up on the bathmat, cradling the toilet like a teddy bear.

“You can sleep as soon as you have clothes on.” Zoey tried to prop Addison up, but she slumped down.

“I’m so tired, Zoey,” Addison said.

Sweat collected on Zoey’s hairline after she finally wrestled a shirt and shorts onto Addison. Since Addison was a size or two bigger than Zoey, the shorts hugged her tightly, but all her bits were covered, and that was all that mattered.

Zoey pulled on one of the shirts and the shorts Jonathan brought, although they did not match. Caroline would love it since it was red and pink, the colors Caroline chose for her wedding. Zoey wasn’t completely sold on the combo. She looked like Sporty Cupid.

Zoey cracked the door an inch. “Jonathan!”

Jonathan appeared.

“Hi,” Zoey said. “Can you pick up Addison and bring her to the couch?”

“Sure thing,” Jonathan said, as he picked up Addison again and rounded the wall to the couches. He placed Addison down, and she immediately rolled to one side, putting her hands underneath her face. Zoey found a tiny trash can in one of the bedrooms and placed it directly under Addison’s mouth.

Zoey charged outside to find that motherfucker who didn’t check on his fiancée once.

“How is she?” Derek asked, a fresh beer in his hand.

“Thanks for the help, dipshit,” Zoey said, poking Derek in the chest.

“You both had it handled,” Derek whined. “I figured it would give you time for you and your ex to bond.”

Zoey saw the next level up from red. She opened her mouth to say something, but Caroline walked to her side and put her arm around Zoey, then placed her other hand on Zoey’s arm, locking her into place. Caroline and Zoey had developed a code over the years when it came to Derek. Their system had prevented Derek’s murder at least twice.

“Maybe it’s best for you to take Addison back to the hotel, Derek,” Caroline said.

Dan stood up and shook his keys. “I’ll take you back. We’ll wrap Addison in plastic wrap.”

Derek nodded once and slowly set the beer down on the table. “I love her, you know. Although none of you believe it.”

Zoey watched as Derek picked up Addison and grabbed her purse, exiting the house. Brady had already cleared the table and was hard at work cleaning Addison’s chair.

“Thank you for your help with her. You are my favorite person right now,” Caroline said.

“Why did you invite that douchebag?” Zoey asked.

“We love the same person. But still, there is a reason they’re staying at a hotel and not here.”

“Good call.”

“Sorry you got vomited on.” Caroline rubbed Zoey’s still-damp hair.

“It’s not the first time.”

Caroline paused for a moment. “Addison usually doesn’t get that out of control.”

“It was weird,” Zoey agreed as Brady walked over and offered a hand as a high five. Zoey obliged him.

“If one of you murdered him, I would help you hide the body,” Brady said. He pointed in the general location inside the house. “Are you fine now? With him?”

Zoey shrugged. Jonathan opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch with his hands in his pockets, avoiding her eyes. For some reason, her heart caught in her throat.

When they dated, things didn’t dawn on Jonathan. She would have to ask him for help, ask him to do nice things or romantic things. Here he just helped without being asked. He did whatever she told him to do without making a comment or scoffing.

Hot damn, had he matured?

She looked up to find Jonathan’s eyes locked on her. Her life was such a mess, but maybe she could close the door on one thing. Wrap up their romantic past with a pretty bow and try to be friends. Maybe if she resolved this one thing, everything else in her life would get figured out as well.

 

 

The night rolled into darkness, the only light outside coming from the twinkle strands on the fence. At one point, Jonathan sat down on the same outdoor couch Zoey was sitting and she did not run away or turn her back on him. Progress.

Still, all the eyes watching them hopefully and with expectation felt daunting. When they moved inside when it got too dark to see, Caroline whispered to him, “Just keep doing what you’re doing. She’ll thaw.”

Once Addison and Derek left, the conversation with her flowed more easily and naturally. But he wasn’t going to say what he needed to say with all the eyes on him and her. He had to get her out of this house. Show her how he had changed, so they could be good again.

He had no idea how the hell he was going to convince her to go with him, though.

The front door opened, and Dan heaved out a long sigh. Dan made a heavy drop onto the couch everyone had started calling “El Comfy.”

“What happened?” Caroline asked.

Dan shook his head and then stood up again to walk over to the fridge. “I’m going to need another beer before I can talk about it. Long story short: Addison threw up in my car, thankfully getting it all into my emergency airplane bag, and then Derek made fun of her the whole ride home.”

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