Page 53 of Until I Have You

I swore for a second Abigail looked disappointed.Just a second.But then she said, “That’s nice.With whom?Where?”

Yes, it is, isn’t it?Miranda.The club.

That brings me back to reality again.I pull out my phone, holding it toward Miranda.“That’s her.”

Miranda peers down at my phone at the latest picture of Bonnie I have as my lockscreen.Her first day of school here in the States, in her prep school uniform.

“Adorable!”she says, again, rote.“Looks like you.”

I smile.“You think so?”I look down at the phone again.“I’ve always thought she favors her mother, but…anyway, I should put this away before I get on a subject I can’t get off of.”

Miranda laughs politely and sips at her cocktail.

We’ve commandeered a leather couch at Edwin’s club.An after-work drink on a Friday.

This is my fourth first date in the past two months.And I’m tired of the song and dance.

Do we get a drink?Do we get dinner?Do we do something after?How long do we pretend before we make a decision that it’s not working?

Because to be frank, I’ve known within fifteen minutes of each date I’ve had it’s not going to work.If Abigail forces her way to the front of my brain, there’s no way the woman before me can compare.

“All right, then what should we talk about?”Miranda shifts closer to me, laying her arm on top of mine on the back of the couch.

It’s nice to be touched.

Not as nice as when Abigail touches me.

“Ah, well, how long have you been in New York?”

Miranda sips from her martini glass, looking up at me with her lashy eyes the way women look when they see something they like.

Hate that I’m going to have to let her down gently at some point.

“Ten years.”

“Ah!A decade!”

“That is another way to say ten years.”

“Right.”I purse my lips into a line, looking down into my drink.“Forgive me, the small talk thing eludes me.”

Miranda leans closer, her eyes fall to my lips.“We don’t have to do the whole small talk thing.We can do big talk.”

I laugh out of sheer awkwardness.“Oh?Big talk?What’s that?”

She grins.“It’s…”

Her words turn to mush when a flash of red moves out of the corner of my eye.

I try not to let my attention divert too obviously, but blimey, it’s impossible when I know that exact shade of red.

Abigail has just waltzed in with Bridget.

Bridget’s a friend of the family, getting married in January down in the Keys.She invited me, spur of the moment last night, which is funny considering at Sonia and Edwin’s wedding, the two of us walked down the aisle together as part of the bridal party.

C’est la vie, I suppose.

Abigail is dressed in a long, simple black dress with a mock turtleneck and no sleeves.Her nipples press through the thin fabric, and I can make out the shape of her hip bones.

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