Page 12 of For Now

“Correct.”

“So you’resingle.”

It sounded more like a statement than a question. “Well, yes,” Isaid.

“And you have the right to have wine and food with whomever youchoose?”

“Isuppose.”

“But not me?” heasked.

“Well, technically we’ve already had dinner together,” Isaid.

“So we wouldn’t be doing anything we haven’t already done. It’s settled then,” he said with a broad smile on hisface.

Wait, what?! How the hell did he do that? Fuck, what do I say?At this point he had a smug look on his face. He was quite pleased with himself, I could tell. Lacking no other answer, I let my shouldersfall.

“Um, okay. But just friends. Just two friends eating,” Ipushed.

“It’s a start,” he said, nodding his head, smiling. “I’ll pick you up on Saturday at 6.” And with that he walked right down the aisle, paused at the check-out counter to make his purchases, and was out the door, all in one smoothmotion.

Shock. Yes. I was in shock. I stood in the wine aisle for a full five minutes after he left, holding the bottle he suggested.Just friends. It’s just as friends. I’ll remind him of that when he picks meup.

I checked my phone. It was Wednesday.Three days.Three days to think about what I’d agreed to and how I would get out of it.What have you done, Delilah? Friends. Justfriends.

Chapter Eight

The three daysseemed to simultaneously creep by with a pace similar to a snail and fly by as if powered by rocket fuel. Unsurprisingly, Emma was excited and here just an hour before Samuel was scheduled to come by and pick me up, helping me decide what towear.

“How about this?” she asked, holding up a black lacetop.

“It screams ‘I want to be more than friends’. Noway.”

“How about this then?” She held up a thick greenturtleneck.

“That says ‘I’m trying too hard to cover every inch of my skin and I’m scared of you’. It’sperfect!”

“Absolutely not. My best friend is not going out with a guy for the first time in forever dressed like a nun.” She stomped her foot. She was going to get her way no matterwhat.

“We aren’t going out! We are going to be friends. Just friends! This is hopeless.” I buried my face into my mattress as she rifled through mycloset.

“Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Here we go! Now this isperfect!”

I could hear the excitement in her voice as I lifted myself up. She held out the long sleeve, short number I’d purchased upon her insistence shortly after I arrived here.Oh, god.“Oh, I don’t know, Emma,” I said, hesitating. I knew purchasing that thing was going to come back to bite me in the ass. And now here we were, the perfect opportunity to wear it and there it was, hanging in Emma’s outstretchedhands.

“Why not? It’s cute. Not too formal, not too casual. It’s stylish. Perfect for the weather and we can dress it up! We’ll add a belt, leggings, and boots. You’ll look gorgeous!” she said. She looked like a kid waiting in line for Santa at the mall. Her eyes beamed with way more excitement than Ihad.

“Fine,” I said, with about as much enthusiasm as a tree stump. She won. She always won.I have to figure out how she doesit.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later,Emma had really done a number on me. From head to toe, I could have been modeling for a fashion blog. The beige scoop neck dress was accented with maroon leggings, a brown belt, and brown boots. She opted to put a simple silver necklace on me rather than a scarf. I wore a matching petite bracelet and earrings. She did my makeup perfectly. Not too much, but certainly not too little. My hair, for once, didn’t look like I just came out of a wind tunnel. It was getting long. The ends brushed the bottom of my shoulder blades. I was wearing it down, and she’d taken a curling iron to it, and created a gentlewave.

There was a knock at the door.Fuck.It was too late to call it off now. Emma bounced over to the front door and pulled it open withouthesitation.

“Hello! You must be Samuel! Come in, come in. She just finished gettingready.”

I could tell Emma was being polite but also sizing him up. She looked him over like a hawk looked at food. She could certainly be protective when it came to me, which is why I hadn’t really told her about everything that happened in mymarriage.

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