Gone Country (Rough Riders #14)(41)

Not the first time Joely had mentioned that. After a minute, Rielle said, “You know I was raised by hippie parents with the live-off-the-land, make-our-own-way, screw-the-man attitude.”


“That sounds familiar. Wouldn’t it be hysterical if your hippie parents knew my hippie parents? Or had spent time in the same peace, free-love and no nukes commune?”


“That’d be a total trip, man.”


Joely laughed. “Keep going. We’ll compare notes later.”


“Our doors were open for anyone who would work for food and shelter—very much a commune-like vibe.” She allowed a small smirk. “Rumors flew that my folks grew pot on their funky little piece of land in McKay country. Untrue. They’d grown it in California, and surprisingly, they had a profitable business. My mother, the smarter of my parents because she hadn’t smoked all the profits and the product, sold their operation. We moved here when I was eight. They didn’t believe in formal education so I was home schooled. None of the transients who crashed with us had kids, so I grew up isolated, from kids my own age and society in general.” Feeling like a freak, she looked at Joely. “Was it like that for you?”


“No. I lived in a commune where all kids were raised by the community. We called everyone mother and father. I had thirty siblings. We were dressed the same. We didn’t even sleep in the same bed every night, lest we get attached to material objects. I had nothing of my own; everything was shared. But they did at least educate us, which allowed me to get the hell out.” Sadness passed through her eyes. “But enough about that. This is about you. Keep talking.”


Rielle hoped someday Joely would fill in the blanks of her life before she became Doctor Monroe. “Given that history you can imagine how a sixteen-year-old-girl, starved for attention, and just discovering sexuality, would react when an older guy started paying attention to me. Talking to me. Listening to me. Touching me. I craved that touch because my parents were unaffectionate.”


“With each other too?”


“Yes. They had an open relationship. I remember seeing Mom sleeping on the couch when Dad was in their bedroom with someone else. Same with my dad sleeping on the couch when Mom was having a meeting with some dude in their bedroom.”


“At least it was equal opportunity ‘meetings’ for them.”


“True.” She smiled. “You’d think I’d have picked up the basics on sex, but I was so damn na?ve. When ‘John’—” she made air quotes, “—kissed me and touched me and told me it was okay, it was natural, I believed him. But the night he came into my room and took my virginity? There wasn’t sweet words or kisses or anything but the smell of pot smoke clinging to his clothes as he crawled on top of me.” Rielle felt Joely’s piercing stare, but she needed to get through this part to get to the heart of the matter. “I ended up pregnant. I had no idea I was pregnant until about the fifth month and I kept feeling all this stuff going on inside me and I’d put on weight. My mother figured it out. Four months later I gave birth to Rory, at home, with some whacked-out midwife and my mother in attendance.”


“Oh sugar,” Joely said. “You were just a baby yourself.”


“I know. But I loved my baby so much. She was perfect and all mine. I didn’t have sex again until the night of my twenty-first birthday. I ended up doing it with some sweet-talkin’ cowboy in his pickup. I went home with him afterward and we had sex again. I tried oral. Received oral. But it wasn’t great. I thought there was something wrong with me and decided sex wasn’t worth the hassle. Plus I had that whole ‘young, single mother’ stigma and I didn’t want to have a reputation that Rory would have to deal with. The two other times I’ve been attracted to a guy and we ended up having sex, it’s always been a disappointment. So, like I said. I’ve always figured it was me.”


“Was it a disappointment with Gavin?”


“Only in how I reacted. I was shocked because I’ve never had an orgasm with a man during sex. During oral? Yes. I can get off by my own hand, so I know I’m not incapable. I’m just…”


“Inexperienced,” Joely finished.


“At age forty. Gee, wouldn’t you wanna get all up in this?”


“I totally would, if I didn’t have a serious love of cock.”


Rielle choked on her drink.


Joely grinned. “I love shocking you.”


“No shit. So, tell me, Doctor Love, what should I do?”


“First off, do you want a sexual relationship with Gavin?”


“Yes.”


“Then I’m writing you a script for birth control pills.” She pulled a pad out of her purse, filled it out and passed it over. “Get that filled tomorrow, you hear me? Use alternative birth control methods for a month.”


“Yes, Doctor Monroe.”


“Do you think your inexperience will scare him off?”


“Maybe it already has. How do I convince him to give me another try?”


“Besides getting on your knees?”


“Joely!”