Page 59 of Be More Lucy

‘Are you bothered by Josh flirting with Hannah?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Does that make me a bad person? Or batshit mental?’

Mark laughed. ‘An interesting choice of phrase.’

‘It is, isn’t it? I think Em shared that one.’

‘I’ll have to have words with Jack later.’ He didn’t seem too put out that his comments had got back to her.

‘You didn’t answer my first question.’ Lucy said.

‘No, I didn’t.’ He paused. ‘The answer is not as much as I should be.’

‘Why? Has she reached her fuck by date?’

He looked amused. ‘Do your boyfriends have those?’

‘Some of them. Others were already well past theirs when I met them - the discarded food bin around the back of the supermarket sort of boyfriends. I’m avoiding that type of man now. I didn’t think Josh had reached that point.’

‘But you’re thinking he might be passed his fuck by date now?’

‘After his behaviour this weekend, possibly.’

‘Did I have a fuck-by date?’

How should she answer that? She decided to be honest. ‘No, you didn’t. That’s why I was so upset when I thought you were two-timing me with Gabriella.’

They walked on to the next row of stalls. Lucy wasn’t paying much attention to what was on sale. And Mark didn’t seem to be either.

‘You didn’t answer my question about Hannah?’

‘I don’t think I should discuss that with an ex-girlfriend.’

Ex. He wasn’t thinking about getting back together, then.

‘No, probably not. I wouldn’t like you discussing me with Hannah.’

He looked uncomfortable. Had he been discussing her with Hannah? ‘Does Hannah know we went out for a while?’

‘No. I haven’t mentioned it.’

‘I did wonder if the flirting with Josh thing was some weird sort of revenge.’

‘I don’t think so. She has no idea about the two of us. I feel guilty about not telling her.’

‘Does she do it a lot? Flirting with other people?’

‘No. That’s what’s interesting. What about Josh?’

‘I don’t know. We’ve only been going out for a couple of months. This is the first time we’ve been anywhere with other people. It’s just been the two of us up until now.’

‘Why were you happy for him to spend the morning with Hannah?’

‘What was I supposed to do? He clearly wanted to. Have you ever been cheated on?’

‘Not that I know of. My exes tend to get fed up with me not paying them enough attention and walk away.’

‘I have been cheated on - several times. If someone’s going to cheat on you, they’ll go ahead and do it. You can’t spend your whole life keeping them away from temptation. It’s better to find out sooner rather than later when you’re saddled with a mortgage and kids. Why didn’t you go along with Hannah and Josh?”

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