Dan jumped in. ‘We’re not asking you to sell the house, or anything like that... We just want you to know that we are cool with whatever you want to do with it: sell it, rent it out, start up a commune...’
Lu sat down on the steps leading to the front door and rested her forearms on her thighs. Nate sat down next to her and draped a muscular arm around her shoulder. ‘Just please don’t become a crazy lady who rattles around here talking to herself and rescuing cats. That was the first thing we wanted to mention...’
There was more? Really? Good grief!
Daniel dropped to his haunches in front of her and pinned her with a look that went far beyond his eighteen years. ‘Lu, you are going to be on your own for the first time since you were roughly our age.’
Well, yeah. That was why empty nest syndrome was wiping the floor with her face.
‘We want you to have some fun—to live your life.’ Daniel raked an agitated hand through his hair, which desperately needed a cut. ‘You need to stop being so responsible, to take a breath. To do the things you should’ve been doing while you were raising us.’
Lu cocked her head. ‘Like...?’
‘Like clubbing and—’ Daniel looked at a point beyond her shoulder and blushed ‘—hooking up.’
Hooking up? Heavens, if she couldn’t remember when last she’d had a date, she’d had absolutely no idea when she last had sex. She suspected she might need a high-pressure cleaner to remove the cobwebs.
‘So, here’s your “to do” list. We want you to try new things like...skydiving or learning to surf. Pottery classes or dance lessons,’ Nate suggested.
Daniel, her brand and fashion-conscious brother, winced at her faded purple T-shirt and battered jeans. ‘Some decent clothes would also be a good idea.’
‘I have decent clothes!’ Lu objected.
‘Then wear them!’ Daniel shot back. ‘And your hair needs a cut and you could do with a facial. You need a lifestyle makeover.’
Since their words plucked a chord somewhere deep inside her, she suspected that they might be right. But she certainly didn’t have to like it.
Lu growled. ‘I hate you.’ She glared at Daniel. ‘And you.’
‘No, you don’t. You love us.’
Nate grinned and her heart flipped over. God, she did. So much. How was she supposed to let them go?
‘You should go clubbing. Somewhere hip and fun. You’ll have to dress up and make an effort.’ Nate said. ‘Makhosi will take you, Lu.’
Of course he would. Clubbing was her oldest and best friend’s favourite way to blow off steam.
‘But she has to have a makeover first. I wouldn’t be seen with her with that hair!’ Daniel added.
‘Hey!’ Lu protested.
‘Haircut, highlights and a makeover,’ Daniel stated, and Lu glared at him. ‘As Mak has said, more than once, that hair of yours is a disgrace: much better suited to a prissy librarian who doesn’t curse, drink wine and who has never had a Big O in her life.’
Well, that sounded like her. Not the wine and the cursing part, but the Big O was definitely true. Could she be so damn emotional because she was sexually frustrated? It would be easy to shift the blame, but the truth was that sex had been scarce—OK, practically non-existent—for most of this past decade, so she couldn’t blame her weeping on that.
Empty Nest Syndrome: two. Lu: nil.
And when had her brothers become old enough to mention her orgasms—or lack of them—anyway?
Nate leaned back and put his ankle on his knee. ‘But, Lu, more important than anything else...you should get a job.’
Dan shook his head. ‘Not that she uses any of it, but there is enough money coming in from the trust. She doesn’t have to work if she doesn’t want to.’
No, she didn’t... If she could bring herself to use the money for anything other than the essentials that kept body and soul together. She had never felt comfortable using her parents’ money for anything other than food, shelter and transport.
His brother sent him a you’re-a-moron look. ‘Not for the money, dude. Because it’s something to...to get her teeth into.’
‘Oh, right. Good point.’
Lu lifted her fingers and started to tick their demands off. ‘So, you two think that if I find a job, go clubbing, have a makeover, learn how to surf—’
‘And skydive,’ Nate interjected.
‘Dream on.’ Lu glared at him and continued. ‘Go to pottery and dance lessons then I won’t have time to mope?’
Two blond heads nodded to some internal twin beat.
Lu stared past their car down the driveway. The thing was they could be right. The distraction of getting out and about might keep her from going off her head worrying about them. It wasn’t a bad idea.
Lu nodded slowly. ‘I’ll think about it.’
‘Promise you’ll do it.’ Nate insisted.
‘I promise to think about it.’
‘If you do it, we promise to come home in three months’ time,’ Nate said slyly.
‘You’re blackmailing me with a promise to come home?’ Lu’s mouth dropped open. ‘You little snot!’
Nate just grinned and looked at his watch. ‘We need to get going, Lu.’
She couldn’t bear it. She really couldn’t. She struggled to find the words and when she did they were muffled with emotion. ‘Call me when you get there. Drive carefully.’
Nate pulled her up, cuddled her, and easily lifted her off her feet before placing a kiss on her cheek. ‘Love ya, sis.’
When Nate released her, Daniel held her close. ‘Take care of yourself. Have fun. Please, please have some fun,’ he told her. Daniel let her go and hopped into the passenger seat. ‘We’ll call you when we get there.’
Lu nodded, touched Daniel’s arm resting on the windowsill of the car and blew Nate a kiss.
Her boys...driving off to start their new life...
Lu watched their car turn into the road and sat down on the stairs, holding her face in her hands as she watched her two chicks fly from her very large and now very empty nest.
They would be fine, she assured herself. As for herself...she wasn’t quite sure.
* * *
Two weeks later, in the VIP area of Go! on a very busy Friday night, Will Scott placed his elbows on the railing and looked down at the gyrating masses below him. It was nearly midnight and he’d been thinking about leaving the club for the past half-hour. He could walk down the block to the boutique hotel he’d booked into two days ago and in fifteen minutes could be face-down on the monstrous double bed.
That sounded like heaven.
Will felt someone lean on the railing next to him and looked into the battered face of his best friend Kelby, CEO of the Stingrays rugby franchise, who was also his boss for the next three months. Panic swirled in his gut at the thought.
‘How is Carter?’ Will asked.
The iconic and surly head coach of the Rays had suffered a heart attack a month back, and as the rugby season was fast approaching the team had been left rudderless without a coach.
‘Still in hospital. Still doing tests. They’re talking about a bypass,’ Kelby replied. ‘He said to tell you not