Page 51 of Friends With Benefits

“Where are you?” Hailey asked.

“Mitch’s place.”

“Still?”

“Mmm. I was just going home to shower and change. Mitch left for work a while ago.” She wandered over to the dresser in his room and ran her eyes over the assortment of personal items…some change, sticky notes with cryptic scribbles from work, a dry cleaning tag.

“I want to take you for lunch,” Hailey said.

“Aren’t you kind of busy? You’re getting married tomorrow.”

She drifted into Mitch’s living room to find her shoes. She’d always liked Mitch’s house. Maybe that was because she’d helped him pick it out. They’d gone around looking at houses together, and it had been a big joke when the realtor thought they were married. Mitch had wanted her opinion before he made the offer on this one and she totally agreed this Craftsman bungalow was the one for him.

“I have time for lunch. I need to talk to you.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you at Darby’s.”

“Excellent.”

They sat on the small wooden deck shaded by a big fig tree outside Darby’s, and Hailey ordered a bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich. Kerri ordered a salad.

They made conversation until their meals arrived and Kerri asked, “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Hailey pressed her lips together. “I want to talk about you and Mitch.”

Kerri raised a brow as she pushed her fork into a piece of avocado.

“This friends with benefits thing,” Hailey continued.

“What about it?”

Hailey looked down at her sandwich. “It’s such a bad idea,” she blurted out.

Kerri stared at her. “Why do you say that?”

“Look, I’m a high school teacher. I see kids doing this all the time. It’s an easy way for them to not have to deal with serious relationship issues at their age. But it always ends up bad, and it’s almost always bad for the girl.”

Kerri just looked at her. “We’re not teenagers, Hailey.”

“I know, but the problems are the same. In this friends with benefits thing, the guys are the only ones who get the ‘benefits’.” She made air quotes with her fingers.

Kerri grinned. “I wouldn’t say that. The benefits are pretty good for me.”

A smile tugged at Hailey’s lips, but she went on. “Right now, maybe. But women aren’t made like that.You’renot made like that. You go on having sex with Mitch, and your emotions are going to get involved whether you want it or not. It just happens. Then you want more than just friends with benefits and he doesn’t. And someone ends up getting hurt.”

Kerri wanted to squirm in her seat listening to Hailey.

“You’re both my friends.” Hailey leaned forward. “I don’t want either of you to get hurt. And ifyou’rejust using Mitch for sex, maybehe’sthe one who’s going to get hurt.”

Kerri pursed her lips. “I’m not using him for sex.”

“Really? Then what was last night?”

Kerri didn’t want to answer that. Shehadused Mitch for sex. But it wasn’t like he didn’t get anything out of it. He’d been only too willing. She put down her fork and gazed down at her plate. Her throat tightened like she might cry and she swallowed painfully.

She pushed her half-eaten salad away.

“The kids at school talk to me, I guess because I’m not that much older than they are,” Hailey said. “Especially the girls. I’ve heard this Jack and Jill story so many times.”

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