“Okay,” Everett said, popping up out of bed. She blinked heavy eyelids and smiled.
“Do you have to be quite so energetic?” she asked, moving much more slowly.
He hesitated at the side of the bed. “You really are tired. Let’s skip it.”
“No,” she said resolutely, willing her fatigue to fade. She stood, letting the sheet slip off her nude body. “I want to go.”
Fifteen
Katie and Rill outdid themselves for dinner. Katie prepared several salads from fresh ingredients she’d purchased at the Vulture’s Canyon communal farm and co-op, and Rill made juicy, flavorful ribs on the grill. Everett could hardly keep his eyes off Joy for the entire meal, so much so that Katie, who was sitting on his right, kept having to bump the dishes she was passing against his arm to get his attention.
He’d sensed the shift earlier in Joy, felt her rigid defenses soften and bend during their tumultuous, challenging lovemaking, and later, during their quiet, soulful communion. Her face had always struck him as sublime—peaceful, mysterious, achingly lovely. Tonight, however, she looked even more compelling to him. Her lips and cheeks were flushed. A soft sort of luminosity seemed to cling to her.
As dinner and energetic conversation drew to a close, however, and Everett noticed how little she’d actually eaten off her plate, he started to wonder if her enigmatic glow wasn’t more from her being unwell versus being the result of any blossoming attachment to him.
Daisy started to get fussy, so Rill took her for a little stroll. Seth stood to help Katie clear. Everett and Joy were the only ones left at the table.
“Are you all right?” he asked her quietly.
“Yes,” she said, giving him a brilliant smile. Her striking, large eyes looked glassy, even though she’d barely drunk half a glass of wine with dinner. Everett’s gaze dropped to her mostly filled plate. She noticed. “I just don’t have an appetite, for some reason.”
“I think we should go,” he said, wiping his mouth off with his napkin. “You might be coming down with something.”
“Everett.” He met her stare. She gave him a warm, amused look that felt somehow personal to him, familiar and fond. “I’m fine,” she said succinctly.
“If you say so,” he replied doubtfully.
“I do.”
They all went onto the front porch after the dishes were in the dishwasher, each of them sipping lemonade and observing night’s silent creep into the forest. The tree frogs’ cacophony slowly muted to a low, lulling buzz.
“It’s nice, seeing all those stars,” Seth said quietly as he rocked back and forth contentedly in a chaise lounge. “Reminds me of where I grew up.”
“Where was that?” Rill asked in a mellow tone. Daisy had fallen asleep in his arms, and so everyone’s voice had grown hushed.
“Albuquerque. The Isleta Indian reservation.”
“How many brothers and sisters do you have, Seth?” Katie asked.
“Just Joy’s dad, Jake,” Seth said shortly.
“He must be older than you. You and Joy aren’t that far apart in age, are you?” Everett asked.
“Jake’s older, by quite a bit. Not that you’d ever guess it.” Everett tightened his hand around Joy’s when he heard the subtle hint of bitterness in Seth’s voice.
“Where does your father live?” Katie asked Joy.
“He has a mailbox in Italy, but he travels all over Europe. He manages the European Formula 1 racing team,” Joy replied.
“Oh my gosh, did you tell Errol that?” Katie asked, wide-eyed.
Joy shook her head.
“If you do, you will have an adoring friend for life,” Katie assured her.
Joy laughed. “He’s a very sweet man, Errol,” Joy said.
“He’s so comfortable in his own skin,” Katie mused, staring out into the dark night. “More so than anyone I know. Besides Everett.”