Page 27 of Fit for Love

As I’m trying to untangle that puzzle, Ashton looks from Emma to Marcus.“How about you two lovebirds?How’s everything?Is the wedding date already set?”

Emma bursts out laughing.“Oh, yes.It’s tomorrow night at Disney World.Six o’clock.Be there or meet Mickey’s wrath.”

She’s referring to a gossip rag article about the two of them with the clickbait headline of “Is One of New York’s Most Eligible Getting Hitched at Disney World?”

Yes, that’s right.My best friend now shows up in gossip rags.Like a freaking celebrity.

Marcus doesn’t look amused.Instead, he eyes Ashton like he’d help me punch his friend in the balls… for starters.

Ashton must feel our joint wrath because he clears his throat and motions to the waiter, who comes over with the same record-setting speed.

“What have you got on tap?”Ashton asks, and the waiter rattles off a list of beer names.

Ashton orders one, and Marcus gets one too—which means that the pitcher of sangria is going to just be for me, after all.Which is fine.

I’m pretty sure I’ll need it.

“So, everyone,” Marcus says.“What are your Christmas plans?”

I do my best to pull myself together and tell them I’ll be seeing my family.My nemesis says he has the same plans, though he doesn’t sound terribly excited.I wonder if it’s because his parents disapprove of his chosen profession.

If so, I don’t blame them.

Picking up on the continuing tension, Marcus steers the conversation back to Emma’s cats and their shenanigans—which, annoyingly, makes me remember Ashton’s dog, Sir Ems.Still, I laugh at the cat stories, if only halfheartedly, and avoid looking at Ashton because that way lies causing a worse scene.

When the appetizers arrive, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom.Emma is waiting for me when I emerge from the stall, but I avoid her gaze, not ready to answer her inevitable questions.

I don’t know why I haven’t told her what happened three years ago, but I’m even less inclined to do so now.

When I get back to the table, Marcus and Emma do their best to make the meal less awkward, but what it actually takes is three glasses of sangria, after which the buzz takes some of the edge off and allows me to tell them about the crazy errands Tierre sends me on.

“Why?”Emma asks when I describe the time Mr.Boss tasked me with locating him a female virgin with his exact blood type.

I shrug.“He read that giving an older person a blood transfusion from a younger person can make the former feel more youthful.”

“I think the ‘why’ Emma meant was, ‘Why a virgin?’”Marcus chimes in.

“My boss’s mind works in mysterious ways?”

To prove this point, I tell them a few more anecdotes in the same vein, but then the conversation veers toward crazy dating stories, so I share about the guy who was dead set on showing me his ex-girlfriend’s picture, no matter what I said.As I go on, I notice Ashton squeezing his fork and glaring at me through a clenched-teeth smile.

Huh.

Is he afraid I’ll tell them the story of how we met?

Serves him right, but no.That isn’t what I want either, so we end up talking about our favorite shows and movies instead—because that’s safe… unless someone here is an avid fan ofDeuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

The conversation flows, and I manage not to cause a scene until the check comes, which is when Marcus and Ashton start fighting over who’ll pay it—and decide to split it in half.As if I were Ashton’s date.

Oh, no.Fuck that.

Normally, I don’t mind letting a guy pay for me, but not Ashton.

Never Ashton.

Unable to stop myself from shooting Ashton another glare, I whip out my credit card and plunk it into the waiter’s hand, telling him to put my portion of the bill on it.

“This isn’t a double date,” I say to Emma when she raises her freshly groomed eyebrows.

---