Kiss and Make Up (gxg)

Chapter 7

It was a gorgeous evening, and I was officially on my last margarita. For the third time. It was almost 11pm, and the kids and Reid had already gone to bed. We'd all been drinking since the early afternoon, though Reid had made sure to give us water between drinks, so we were hydrating with things other than tequila. The pool light was on, giving us a lovely bit of illumination, and the citronella torches were lit to keep the mosquitos away.

It was really a lovely night.

Harper, Shiloh, and I were all sitting back on lounge chairs just giggling at random stories. In some cases, one of us would just think of something funny, and laugh without verbalizing it, and then trigger everyone else into a spate of laughter over nothing at all. Yes, we might have been a bit tipsy. Nights like this were just what I needed to bring some joy back to my life.

I really hoped that once I was free of Blake that every day might have a little joy, and that I wouldn't require tequila to help.

"You're both spending the night," Harper told us. "I'm not letting either of you drive tonight!" I'd carefully made her sit in the middle chair because I didn't trust myself to sit next to Shiloh while I was tipsy.

"I was planning on that anyway," I pointed out.

"I didn't," slurred Shiloh. "I wasn't expecting you two to be getting me drunk!"

"I might never leave," I commented. "It's too nice here."

"You should just move in after the house sells," Harper replied. "The kids like you, Reid would be fine with it, and then after the divorce you can get a new place."

My muddled brain thought about that for a minute, and the only drawback was that it was going to be hard to date Shiloh if I moved. Shit. But I didn't know if I was moving yet, and even if I did it could still be close. I guess we'd have to cross that bridge when we got to it. But living here in the short term would allow me to avoid a lease that ran longer than I'd want and also let me see Harper every day. Those were two very good things.

"I might just do that. I can start selling furniture any time and then move in next weekend. It might make it easier to sell an empty house."

"The cellar is yours whenever you need it. You have plenty of room down there."

"I might use it right after I take another swim actually." I was getting tired, and sleep would do me a lot of good.

I got up and walked carefully to the pool. I was only a little unsteady and made it with no incident before diving in and letting the cool water wash over me. My body temperature dropped, and I felt alive. The water invigorated me, washing away the worries I had and letting me relax. I was going to make this work. I hadn't even started dating Shiloh, and it would either work or it wouldn't. But I would be no good to anyone if I wasn't taking care of myself, so that had to be my first priority.

I swam across the pool, then back the way I came. No hurry, just slow strokes before I got back to the ladder and climbed out, letting the water drip off me as I walked back to the lounge chair where my towel was. I could see Shiloh staring at me the entire time, and it wasn't hard to interpret her expression. If I was single, we'd be all over each other tonight. But I'm not. So, we would both have to suffer.

I picked the towel up and started drying myself off. No, I wasn't doing it in some sexy manner, just getting dry so I could go down to bed.

"Do you feel better?" Harper asked after drinking more water.

"I do. I think I'm going to go get some sleep though, I know the kids are probably going to be up early. Good night!"

Harper struggled to her feet, carefully balancing the margarita. "Hold up. We should probably all call it a night so nobody is stumbling around in the dark. I'll grab extra pillows for the guest bed."