9 #Priorities

June 20, 2017

Tuesday

Pool water whooshed rhythmically past Teddi’s ears, blocking out the rest of the world in a way that she normally considered soothing.  In the early morning hours after a long, restless night, she couldn’t find the peace in it, even after a hundred laps.  She was now just physically exhausted in addition to being mentally exhausted. 

 

Too bad neither kept her brain from reliving yesterday’s office fiasco over and over.

 

What kind of fool looked Jon Bon Jovi in the face and admitted being physically attracted to him?  As justification for turning down a once-in-a-lifetime job offer?  Never in her life had she been so foolish.

 

Well, there was that one time, but it was ancient history that no longer counted.

 

Oh, it counts, Teddi.  It counts just the same as looking Jon Bon Jovi in the eye and hoping he’d take you up on the implied offer of an afternoon tryst.

 

She gulped another breath and pressed her weary body harder.  The end of the pool was only a few strokes away, and she got there before the silly notion of drowning herself began to appear logical. 

 

Both hands curled over the lip of the pool, and she propped herself there while reintroducing waterlogged legs to the idea of standing upright. Her head was bowed while heaving lungs sought the oxygen that would slow her racing heart.  Mortifying thoughts were pushed away.  Teddi focused on nothing but the ebb and flow of crystal blue water until her breathing turned easy again.  

Only then did she lift her face – to discover a pair of male legs not three feet away. 

 

Teddi’s scream still echoed inside the natatorium when the owner of those legs growled, “What the hell, Ted?”

 

Thank God she recognized that voice. 

 

“Damnation Stef!  How did you get in my house?”

 

Her cousin dropped unenthusiastically onto chaise with a glower.   “I’m a locksmith.  There’s literally no house I can’t get in.”

 

“Forgive me for impugning your professional skills,” she scorned coolly, once again clinging to the side of the pool.  “Why are you in my house?  At seven in the damn morning and without warning?”

 

His glower intensified and amber eyes darkened to gold. “Because you didn’t answer your fucking phone all afternoon and evening.  When Tori couldn’t get hold of you, she called Maggie, who called Cat and Kizzy, who then called me.  You’re just lucky I refused to break in at midnight and made ‘em wait ‘til morning.”

 

A twinge of guilt shifted Teddi’s fading scowl from Stef to the adjacent chaise, where her towel awaited. 

 

She shouldn’t have turned the phone off.  Grandmother Peabody had drummed the importance of family obligation into her at every turn.  Teddi learned the lesson well and appreciated it.  She certainly wouldn’t be where she was without Grandmother’s sense of responsibility. 

 

Still… there were times when one was entitled to nurse one’s foolishness in solitude.

 

“I appreciate your consideration,” she said quietly.  “I’m also sorry you got badgered into coming out here.”

 

“No big deal, but I’m gonna have to report back whether you’re okay or not.  Are you?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

“Because Tori left you here with Jon Bon Jovi yesterday, and nobody’s been able to reach you since?”  When she became enamored with the texture of the pool deck rather than answering, he prodded, “What happened, Ted?”

 

“I’d really rather not talk about it.”  

 

“Okay, I guess I’m gonna have to drag it out of you.  No surprise there,” he sighed with a look of mild disgust.  “Did you have a melt down?”

 

“No melt down.  Not in the classic sense.”  The weight of his gaze was too heavy at this distance, and she retreated by gliding through the water. 

 

“Then how?”

 

Water sucked at her waist, thighs, calves and ankles as she ascended the pool steps.  It should feel sensual since last night wasn’t only sleepless but pleasureless.  Jon’s scent still lingered in her office, yet Teddi had been too overcome by embarrassment to indulge in the fantasy of being sprawled across the big desk.  Even now, the thought made her cringe.

 

Perhaps I should see if Pierce is available tonight…

 

“I don’t wish to discuss it.”

 

“Your choice,” Stef conceded.  “But if you aren’t gonna tell me, you better figure out what to do with your band of girl cousins.  They’ll be knocking on your door within the hour if I don’t give ‘em the answers they want.”

 

Damnation.

 

Teddi swore once again for good measure when sweeping up her towel and snapping it open.  “I thought Kizzy and Magdalene returned home over the weekend.”

 

“Nope.  They spent a couple days touring vineyards, and then had a slumber party at Cat’s last night.  All of ‘em could be here before you get dressed.”

 

No.  Absolutely not.  She could not cope with a gypsy coven in her current addle-brained state of exhaustion.  They would manipulate her into… something absurd before she gathered enough wits to defend herself.  There wasn't enough Xanax in New Jersey to calm her nerves if they chose to descend upon her, and as much as Teddi hated the thought of telling anyone about yesterday's debacle, Stef was the safer choice.   

 

“You’re being made to suffer because you’re the only sane one in the bunch,” Teddi muttered while wrapping the towel around her torso. 

 

His plaid shirt lifted under his indifferent shrug.  “Once in a while, everybody needs a little crazy in their lives.”

 

“But they embrace it.”

 

“Better than being afraid of it, I guess.”

 

Teddi tossed her swim cap onto one end of the lounge chair and sat down on the other, finger-fluffing her hair as she did.  “Are you insinuating that I’m afraid to go a little crazy?”

 

“I didn’t say that.”

 

“It’s what you meant, though.”

 

“Stop putting words in my mouth.  There’s nothing wrong with being… proper.  You’re just the only person I know who is.”

 

Proper.   It was Stef’s kind way of saying she was uptight.

 

She couldn’t take offense, because it was true.  Grandmother Peabody had raised to her to be prim, proper and hyper-conscious of public perception – and Teddi hadn’t rebelled against it in any noticeable fashion.  Etiquette and social decorum were deeply ingrained in her being, even at the age of fifty.

 

“Well, I wasn’t proper yesterday,” she announced with a defiant jut of her chin.  “Please don't repeat this to the others, but I told Jon Bon Jovi I was attracted to him.”   

 

Stef was properly shocked, his eyes flaring wide before rapidly blinking back to normal.  “Okayyy…. What kinda context are we talking here?  You didn’t sexually harass him or something, did you?”

 

Her actions didn’t constitute sexual harassment, did they?  Jon had continued to pursue hiring her, so she assumed not, but he was a rock star.  He may have far more liberal standards than the average man. 

 

You’re allowing lack of sleep to make you dramatic.  Stop it.

 

“No harassment,” she stated firmly.  “I was trying to explain why I couldn’t accept him as a client.  That the attraction would impair my ability to focus on the job.”

 

“And the job is… what exactly?”

 

“Creating a social media presence for him to…”  Fatigue wasn’t enough to excuse to mention the Hall of Fame.  “…achieve some personal goals.  Goals he’s been trying to attain for a very long time.”

 

 “Bet he’s not used to being denied something he wants,” Stef chuckled.  “What’d he say about your confession?”

 

“He didn’t consider it a problem.”

 

Her cousin’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise.  “Does that mean you…?”

 

“Had sex?  No.  He sidestepped very gracefully and suggested it would fuel my efforts in helping him meet the goals.” 

 

Stef’s wince of pain relayed his newfound understanding for last night’s desire for solitude.  “Ouch, Ted.  I’m sorry.  I know you’ve been crushing on him a long time, and to get blown off must suck.”

 

It did, indeed, suck.  Not so much that Jon had rebuffed her with his diplomatic, “Look.  I’m not completely unaffected myself, but we're both adults here and one doesn't have anything to do with the other."

 

Teddi’s humiliation stemmed from voicing her attraction in the first place.  From having a foolish hope that he might reciprocate sincerely, instead of the polite deflection that she got.

 

Her only excuse was that Jon’s presence flustered her.  It was at total odds with her reaction to him at the restaurant, which she found a bit disappointing.  The weight and warmth of his casual contact had given her comfort that evening.  Yesterday… 

 

Yesterday he didn’t touch you at all.

 

Was that the difference?  They hadn’t so much as shaken hands, because she’d been distracted with shooing Tori away from the door.  Was physical contact what put her at ease with him?

 

It was an interesting theory, albeit not one she would have the chance to explore.

 

“It wasn’t the greatest moment of my life.”

 

“You could always try again,” Stef suggested.  “That is, if you took the job?”

 

“I did accept the job offer, but there will be no opportunity for a second chance at embarrassment.”

 

“I don’t get it.  If you’re going to be working with him, sounds like there’ll be plenty of chances.”

 

“There was a stipulation to my acceptance,” Teddi qualified.  “We aren’t to be in the same room again.”

 

Stef’s golden eyes blinked at her.  Then they blinked again.  “You’re fucking crazy.  Maybe crazier than Maggie and Cat put together.”

 

Teddi wasn’t crazy.  Even with the sting of Jon’s quasi-rejection, she’d seen how important the Hall of Fame bid was to him.  Sex was just another exchange of bodily fluids that he wouldn’t remember the next day.  Being inducted would stick with him forever.

 

That’s why she’d shifted her priorities to align with his. 

 

She would take his dream and do everything she could to make it reality.  “Everything” included staying away from him. 

 

“This means the world to him, Stef.  If I can help him get it, then I will happily give the project my undivided attention.  Breathing the same air would undoubtedly divide my attention.”

 

“I still say you’re crazy,” her cousin sighed.  “But nobody ever said you were dumb."  

 

"I'm assuredly not dumb, which is why I'm asking you not to share this story with the others.  They'll enjoy the thought of me being flustered and descend like a flock of vultures, picking at my humiliated carcass until I do go mad.  Please just tell them I needed solitude to recuperate from the meeting and that I can't discuss clients."

 

Fear for his own carcass flashed across Stef's face.  He didn't want to be eaten alive either, either.

 

She empathized but was counting on his protective streak.  He'd always done his best to shield Teddi and her anxiety from the others.  Surely, he wouldn't let her down now

 

"Please, Stef?"

 

The deep sigh was weary, but he still pushed out a resigned, "Yeah, okay.  Can I at least tell them you took a job?"

 

"Yes, of course."

 

Teddi just didn't want him sharing that she'd indirectly offered Jon Bon Jovi a moment of pleasure.  That she was instead playing a tiny part in history.  That she would forever be connected to possibly the greatest pleasure of his life.   

 

One he wouldn’t forget.