Chapter 27      

Moira waited until Tuesday morning to call Caroline. Her sister had texted about her trip, sure, but she wanted first-hand material. She was on her way home from Chase’s to get ready for work, and she figured Caroline would be getting ready too.

“Okay, spill it,” she immediately said when her sister picked up the phone.

“What can I say?” Caroline responded. “It was a whirlwind. Incredible. Life changing. The paintings were…are…some of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen, and the way J.T. wants to group them is pure brilliance. He’s got such vision. Dare Valley is so lucky to have this museum coming. I can’t wait to visit it myself. Oh, Moira, it’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen. J.T. is going to tell stories with the paintings and use famous quotes and historical facts on the walls alongside them to do it.  The whole concept is so artistic.”

Caroline sounded like she was walking on Monet-inspired clouds. “I’m glad you’re so happy. Working with J.T. agrees with you.” Hoping her sister would continue without prodding, she paused. She darn well knew there was something going on with Caroline and J.T., and she intended to hear about it.

“He’s amazing, Moira,” Caroline said, a sigh wrapped around her voice. “Like no one I’ve ever met. I’m…sometimes at a loss for how much I like him.”

“Like him, like him, or like him, like him?” she asked, turning onto the main highway to drive into town.

“You sound like Natalie,” Caroline said, a frown in her voice. “She prodded me about J.T. too. Yes, I like him, like him and he feels the same way, it seems. But we’re going to focus on the paintings, which is practical. He lives in Rome, and I live here. It’s not like we’re thinking about getting together or anything…”

Moira could hear the but coming from a mile away. “And yet it’s all you can think about.”

“I’m trying not to, but it’s hard,” Caroline said. “It’s like I got hit by a runaway train and was swept along on a magical ride.”

“If a train hit you, you’d be splatted all over the place,” Moira said, chuckling. “No magic in that. But I see what you mean. When are you going to see the next stash of paintings? The one in California?”

Her sister’s sigh was audible. “I don’t know right now. Soon, I expect. Of course, Kendra is going to suspect something if I ask for another long weekend off too soon.”

“Who cares? It’s your vacation time.” Sometimes the work ethic their parents had raised them with sucked. “It’s not like you’re lollygagging around.”

“You sound like Uncle Arthur,” she said, laughing. “Who says ‘lollygagging’ anymore?”

“I do, apparently,” Moira said, joining in her sister’s laughter. “It’s a great word. More people should use it.”

“How are you and Chase?” Caroline asked.

She’d been ready for this question. “We’re in love, actually. I’m still a little in shock. We spent the whole weekend together—”

“I heard you missed dinner at Matt’s,” Caroline said, and she could hear the smile in her sister’s voice.

“I did,” Moira said, smiling herself as she drove down Main Street. The sidewalks were still sparse except for the early morning traffic at Don’t Soy With Me. People were grabbing coffees to start the day. She’d get one at the office.

“And…” her sister drawled.

“I had the best time possible.” Spending the whole day in bed with Chase had been a hell of a lot of fun. “It’s a little scary how easy things are between us.”

“Easy is scary?” Caroline asked. “But I know what you mean. I felt that way with J.T. It’s like I’ve known him forever. I want to listen to every one of his stories, see every masterpiece he loves.”

“You want to share yourselves,” Moira finished, understanding perfectly. She and Chase seemed to be breaking open all sorts of barriers between them, emotionally and physically, and it was the most transformative experience of her life.

“Yes,” Caroline said. “Moira…”

“What?” she answered, hearing the vulnerability in her sister’s voice.

“I wanted to make love with him so much,” she confessed. “I’ve never felt that way about anyone. Or so fast. He…the first night after I flew in…he called it out there and said he felt it too, but the project is really important to him and… Oh, heck, he didn’t want to lose sight of that or change gears on me when he’d asked me to come to Rome for professional reasons.”

“So you need to make the move,” Moira said, nodding to herself. “What do you want to do?”

“Go out with him,” Caroline said. “Slather him in pesto sauce and eat him up.”

“Dude,” Moira said as she turned onto her street, “did you have to bring in a visual?”

“Yes! When I tell you I wanted to be with J.T., I’m serious. You and I aren’t the type to jump right in and do the horizontal mambo, as Jill would say, but Moira…”

Their cousin certainly had a way of talking about sex. Always had. “I know. As someone who’s dancing a lot of mambo right now, I can testify that it’s pretty spectacular with a man you feel that way about.”

“Oh…I wondered. Good for you! When do I finally get to meet him?”

She’d been thinking about that after this weekend. Her family was important to her, and Chase was important to her. “I don’t know exactly. He’s got a lot of pride about being laid up and getting around in a scooter.”

“And yet, it seems like you don’t think it detracts from his appeal whatsoever,” Caroline said.

She pulled into her driveway and opened the garage. “Hang on. I need to take you off hands-free. I just got home.”

“I wondered at the echo,” she said.

Moira grabbed her bag from the passenger seat. “It doesn’t matter to me, but then again, I can’t smell him without wanting to rip his clothes off. The casts aren’t ideal, but they haven’t stopped us.”

“Plus, you have a doctor brother you can call if you’re too rough with him.” Caroline started laughing.

“Funny. Like I’d call Andy if that happened.”

“Mo, I need to get going,” Caroline said. “I want to hit an early morning butt blaster class after all the food I devoured this weekend.”

“You’re not going to get rid of me so easily. We didn’t talk about the food. Was it good?”

“Does God exist?” her sister quipped. “I already made Natalie salivate.”

“When did you talk to her? I waited until this morning to call you out of respect.”

“Ha! Natalie has always been more tenacious. She called last night. I was super jet lagged, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“It’s the Hale way. How did you leave things with J.T.?” Moira asked, heading into her bedroom. She needed a shower before work.

“I’m supposed to give him a date for our trip to his parents’ place in Napa Valley.”

Moira started stripping off her clothes in her bathroom. “Sounds like that’ll be an interesting trip. Book it fast. Tell Kendra you have a man in your life. It’s kinda true.”

“You know Kendra,” Caroline answered as Moira turned the shower on. “She thinks the sky is going to fall if I’m not around.”

“That’s only because she doesn’t like to work,” Moira said.

“Which is why she’s the gallery owner. I really need to run, or I’m not going to make my class.”

“I’m naked outside my shower stall,” Moira said with a laugh. “Run.”

“Glad we didn’t Facetime,” her sister said. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” 

Moira set the phone aside after they hung up and then looked in the mirror. She was sexy, dammit. Sure, she’d joked about her flat-as-flapjacks chest and how short she was, but right now, all she could see was her own beauty. Her skin was dewy, likely from all the orgasms she’d been having. Her curls seemed more perfect somehow, and her eyes… The green was rich and deep and clear.

It was because she was happy, she decided. She had a fabulous job, doing something she believed in, and they were about to launch their first event. Then there was this other part of her life, still so new—she had a wonderful man to spend time with. He liked to snuggle, she’d discovered. When she’d teased him about it, he’d confessed it was a first for him. They were experiencing so many firsts together. 

She never wanted it to end.