Chapter Thirty-Five
"Soâhow did the dinner run go last night?" asked Suzy.
She and Jane were unpacking and hanging a shipment of baby clothes at the back of the store while Mrs. Jorgenson minded the register. It was a rainy day, and there were no customers in the store.
"Oh, fine," replied Jane. "I just brought him some sandwiches and stuff. He works at The Word Worksâyou know, the bookstore?"
"Oh sure." Suzy concentrated for a moment on a tiny dress that wouldn't stay on its hanger. Then she asked, with a sly smile, "Did he show his appreciation?" and when Jane looked quizzically at her explained, "Did he, you know, kiss you or anything?"
Jane made a show of being shocked, then snorted in derision. "Oh,
sure
, Suzyâright in the middle of the store. They had to pull us apart."
Suzy guffawed. Well, I'm sorry I missed it." Then, irrepressibly, she went on, "Is he a good kisser?"
"
Su
-zy...!" Jane couldn't help but be amused by her frank curiosity.
"Well, is he?"
Jane smiled down at the dress she was holding as if she could see Peter's face there, then nodded and said, as if to herself, "Oh yes."
"Well thank goodness for that," Suzy exclaimed. "
My
last boyfriend thought that kisses had to be really wet so he was always slobbering all over my mouth. Ugh!"
She made a disgusted face and shook her head as if to rid herself of the memory. "Well, he seems very nice. Peter, I mean."
"He is."
"But not
too
nice, I hope," said Suzy, with a sideways glance.
Jane put her hands on her hips in a show of mock outrage. "Why, Suzy Jorgenson, what
ever
do you mean?" They looked at each other for a moment, then collapsed into giggles.
"You know very well what I mean," Suzy persisted, still smiling. "How long have you been going out with him?"
Going out
?
Just once, at your party...and we had to pretend we didn't know each other,
thought Jane, a little ruefully
.
"A couple of months," she replied, surprised, even as she said it, that it had only been that long.
Suzy raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Two months? And you kept it a secret that whole time? " Jane nodded, and Suzy said, "Wow," shaking her head. "If
I
had a boyfriend like that I'd tell everybody." Jane couldn't keep a proud smile from spreading across her face at this.
Then Suzy quirked her mouth impishly and went on, "So I guess if you've been together all that time...it's more than kissing, isn't it?" And when Jane hesitated instead of denying it outright, crowed, "Ah-ha! I knew it!"
She must have spoken a little too enthusiastically, because her exclamation drew an inquisitive look from Mrs. Jorgenson. "I
knew
they'd gotten the sizes all mixed up in here," Suzy said, pointing to the box of dresses. "Well, let's sort 'em out before we hang any more."
She knelt on the floor next to the box and Jane followed suit. They pretended to be sorting through the dressesâwhich were, of course, perfectly in orderâuntil Suzy's mother returned her attention to the catalog she was looking at by the register. Then Suzy looked up at Jane and whispered, "C'mon, spill. How far have you gone?"
Jane was sure that Suzy wouldn't be able to handle the entire truth.
Well
, she imagined herself saying,
last night after I brought Peter his dinner I unzipped his pants and put his cock in my mouth while he was running the register
.
No. Instead she whispered back, "Now wait a minute. How come I'm the only one telling secrets? How far have
you
gone?" She figured that Suzy's answer would give her a clue how much to reveal.
Suzy, taken aback, looked down. "Well..."
She glanced over at her mother to make sure she wasn't paying attention, then leaned forward conspiratorially and said, "I let Joe Haworthâyou know, from the football team?" Jane nodded and Suzy went on, "He's the sloppy kisser I told you about."
She took another anxious glance at her mother before continuing, "Well, one night when we were, you know, making out in his car I let him...touch me here," indicating her chest with a nervous flutter of her fingers. She looked down and added in an undertone, "Well, I...I let him take off my...my blouse too." She looked up from under her eyebrows at Jane as if gauging whether Jane had been shocked.