Page 45 of I Won't Be In On Monday

“Because nothing. You didn’t see him looking at me. You didn’t see him giving me any eyes. I bet he asks for your number before the evening is out.” She takes a long sip of her drink. "Lois..."

“He is not going to ask for my number,” I say, not knowing why the very attractive waiter would want to ask me out. “He is not interested in me.”

“Yeah, let’s wait and see,” she says. “Would you date him over Remington? Which one do you want more?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have Remington, and I don’t have him. Neither one of them wants to date me.”

“But just saying, what if both of them came to you and said, I would like to take you on an exclusive date. Which one would you say yes to?”

“I can’t say yes to both?” I say, laughing, taking a sip of my margarita. “Oh, my gosh, this is so good. I think I’m going to have to drink about ten of them tonight.” I watch as Skye lifts her glass and takes another sip, as well.

“I think I just went to heaven,” she says as she holds up her glass, and we clink. “Cheers.” She beams happily, the tequila going to her head already.

“Cheers.” I lean back in the booth and look around. I’m so happy that Skye and I are friends. I’m lucky to have ladies in my life who, even though they are in relationships, take time to be with me, to hang out, and take time to just enjoy life. “This is a really cool place. How did you hear about it?”

“Oh, I literally just Yelped for a bar in the area, and this came up with a 4.4 average. I’m not going to lie, the pizzas looked amazing and really big. And when you said you wanted pizza, I was like, we’ve got to go there.”

“I have been craving pizza, so I'm glad you found this place."

"Why have you been craving pizza?"

"It’s kind of funny, the reason why.”

“What’s the reason why?” she asks.

“Because Canyon kept asking her dad if they could get pizza tonight. And the more she talked about it, the more I wanted it.” I giggle. “I have a feeling she was not as lucky as me.”

“Oh, poor Canyon,” Skye says with a small smile. “I wish I had seen her this morning. I wonder if Remington will bring her into the office again. I'd love to meet her.”

“I sure hope so. She is such a sweet kid,” I say and take another sip of the delicious drink. “Like the sweetest kid I'veever met. I know this must be a really weird transition period for her. But she is doing really well. I feel like I see a connection and a bond between her and Remington already, which warms my heart because my dad is my everything.” I pause, suddenly feeling guilty about the fact that I hadn’t called my dad back in a couple of days. “I’m going to have to see if I can see him next weekend. He doesn’t really have anyone but me. And I know our weekends together are the highlight of his month,” I say, blinking rapidly. I feel like tears are going to come.

“Are you okay?” Skye looks nervous. “What happened? What did I say? What did I do? Is it because I asked you if you had a crush on Remington? I was just joking. I mean?—”

“No, it’s nothing to do with that,” I say quickly. “I guess I was just thinking about Canyon and Remington and the special relationship they have. And then I just started thinking about my dad and how he has dedicated his whole life to me. And it just means so much, you know? And I feel really bad that I dropped him and didn’t go for his lasagna when he was probably looking forward to it all day. I just feel like a bad daughter.”

“Remington needed your help,” she says. “That’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, but let’s be real, Skye,” I say, giving her a wry smile. “If it was just my boss asking, I likely would have said no. But because it was Remington?—”

“But Remingtonisyour boss.”

"Yeah, he is my boss. Yes, I do think he’s cute. And maybe I’ve just been embarrassed to admit that out loud because I know I’m not his type. And I know you think I’m just being hard on myself or that I have low self-esteem. But I know what I’m working with. And I know what he normally goes for. And it’s not people or women that look like me.” It all comes out in a quick rush, and I hate that alcohol always makes me spill my guts.

“I truly don't think you see yourself for who you are, Juniper.” Skye shakes her head slowly. “And my goal in life is for you to look into the mirror and know that you are absolutely gorgeous on the inside and the outside. Every man in the world should want to be with someone like you. They would be lucky and happy to be with someone so sweet, so compassionate, so kind, and so absolutely wonderful.”

“You're going to make me cry. You didn't have to say that to me to make me feel better.”

“I am not saying anything to make you feel better.” She cuts me off, reaches over, and grabs my hands. “I'm saying it because it's true.”

“What am I missing here?” Lila says as she approaches the table and looks down at us. She looks gorgeous with her blonde hair in curls. She's wearing a red sweater and black leather pants, and I can understand why Max fell for her, hook, line, and sinker. She's absolutely gorgeous and one of the funniest women I've ever met in my life. “Are you guys going to run off and get married or something?”

“No.” We laugh in unison and drop our hands.

“Skye was just being an amazing friend and telling me I was wonderful because I was feeling a little down on myself.”

“Oh, no. What happened?” Lila frowns as she sits next to me. "You okay, girl?"

“I was just telling her that I have a little crush on Remington.” I pause and wrinkle my nose. “But I know he would never be interested in someone like me.”

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