Page 37 of Truly, Madly, Deeply

Lulu kicked her under the table. “Well, ask.”

Truly (10:21 p.m.): How’d you even get my number?

Colin (10:22 p.m.): My sister.

Of course.

Colin (10:22 p.m.): Don’t blame her. I asked her for it.

Colin (10:23 p.m.): She told me not to be weird. Whatever that means.

Lulu snatched the phone from her.

“Hey! Boundaries, much?”

“You were literally in the delivery room when I had Mai. You have seen my vagina at its absolute worst. We have no boundaries.” Lulu swiped at the screen. “Damn. Please, for me, tell him he’s been a very good boy and put him out of his misery?”

She buried her head in her hands and groaned. “Lulu.”

Lulu kicked her under the table. “The guy’s gagging for it. He’s humping your leg. Virtually. Textually. Throw him a bone, I beg you. Do it for me. Pretty please with a cherry on—”

“Fine. I’ll throw him a bone.”

Truly (10:26 p.m.): If you wanted to impress me, you should’ve started with my backlist, McCrory.

She showed Lulu the screen. “How’s that?”

“Damn.” Lulu whistled. “Making him work for it. You’re a sadist, St. James.”

A sadist? Oh, as if. “I am not.”

“Tell me you’re not deriving pleasure from making this boy jump through hoops for you and then get back to me.”

No one was making anyone jump through any hoops. “I don’t—”

“So help me God if the next words out of your mouth are I don’t want him.”

Truly shut her mouth and stared at the sticky table. Someone had gouged a set of initials into the wood inside an ugly lopsided heart, which she traced with a finger.

For the first time in years, Truly didn’t have a clue what she wanted.

It had always been simple.

Work hard doing something she loved, meet someone, fall madly in love, get married. Have a home, a life, as full of love and laughter as her parents had.

Everything she’d ever wanted had hinged on her belief in happily ever afters, but now she had doubts she’d never had before. She wanted to believe, did she ever, but...

She just didn’t know anymore.

“I just got out of a six-year relationship, Lulu.”

“Exactly. You just got out of a six-year relationship with a man-child you gave a lot of yourself to and got next to nothing from in return. You deserve to be happy.”

Truly shifted uneasily on her barstool. “I don’t even—he’s not—okay, Colin’s... nice to look at.”

Fun to—to tease. Flirt with. She hadn’t flirted with anyone in too long and it was novel. That was it. It was new. Of course she was enjoying it. It didn’t mean anything.

Lulu looked thoughtful. “Not my usual type, a little too pretty, but he does have a very sittable-looking face and a slutty little waist working in his favor.”

---