Page 29 of Talk Birdie to Me

“And yet, here we are.”

He looked at the partially eaten pizzas, then turned back to Geena, his face scrunched in confusion. “Is this date number two?”

She laughed at the thought of them accidentally having a second date. One that was somehow less doomed than the first.

No. That wasn’t true.

If she’d been having any second thoughts about writing off their potential future, he’d already clarified the fate of this experiment.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “You gave me the ‘not into commitment’ speech, so we’re clear on that.”

“Let’s fucking eat!” Gary repeated.

Geena looked at the bird and felt bad for it having to watch them eat. Even though he still had lots of pellets in his bowl. It just seemed rude that they had such better food.

“There’s plenty,” she said.

“Yeah, well, he can’t have any.”

“Aw, come on. Not even a little bite? He’s been a pretty good boy since he’s here.” She wiped her hands with a napkin and tossed it on the empty plate. “Surprisingly, still quieter than my ex was.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“You’d believe it if you met him.” Her phone dinged. When she looked down at it, she couldn’t believe who the sender was. “Speak of the literal devil.”

“Does he have a radar for all of your dates?” He winked at her and put his hands up. “Just joking about the date part. I know I’m only here because I left you a bird.”

Geena barely registered what he was saying. She was too busy fuming at the contents of Ricky’s message. She muttered a curse under her breath, which was immediately copied at an ear-piercing decibel by Gary.

“That. Exactly,” Geena said.

“If you need to take care of something, I can start cleaning and setting stuff up to give you the rundown when you’re ready.”

She didn’t want to take care of this message and inevitable call. Not now. Not ever, really. But she might as well get it over with.

“I’m just gonna make a quick call in the other room. I’ll be right back. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Cody said, as he opened the bucket and began removing items.

“Rat bastard.”

Geena barely registered Gary’s very appropriate remark as she hurried down the hallway. The phone rang on the other end as she slipped into her bedroom and closed the door for privacy.

“What in the hell were you thinking, Geena?”

“First of all, do not speak to me like that.” Her hackles rose, and her tone grew more commanding with each word. “Second, Lisa and I are friendly acquaintances. You would have known that if you’d paid any attention to my life at all when we were together.”

“I’m not talking about you two getting your nails done or whatever the hell you do together.”

His voice was nasally like it always was whenever he didn’t use his nose strips to sleep with. She guessed he was too busy with his new live-in girlfriend to remember those.

“Who I speak with and what we discuss is none of your business.”

“You do not want to take this to court, Geena.”

His insistence on using her name repeatedly was a power move she immediately recognized. It never worked on her before, and it certainly didn’t now.

“How do you even know I spoke with her?”

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