Page 49 of Curvy Girl Summer

“Yeah, but everybody’s shit isn’t on display. Everybody here knows I went on a date with a married man, and so they either think I choose bad men or that I knowingly and willingly date married men—which I don’t.”

“Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. You know the truth.”

“And you know the truth.”

He made a clicking noise and screwed up his face. “I mean, I know what you told me. But I couldn’t vouch for you.”

I gasped. “Ahmad!”

He laughed. “I’m playing. I got you.”

“You said everyone has shit. Tell me something about you—something real.”

He lowered his voice. “I don’t drive.”

“What?” I scoffed.

What thirty-two-year-old man doesn’t know how to drive?

He was always trying to make jokes.

A look I couldn’t quite place crossed his face.

Is he… is he serious?

“You don’t have a car? You don’t know how to drive? Or…?” I asked carefully, trying to read him.

“I own a car. And I knowhowto drive. I just… don’t do it,” he explained.

“Why?”

“Long story.”

I eyed him quizzically. “If you want to share, I want to know.”

“Car accident fucked me up a couple years ago.”

The vulnerability in his words gripped me tight. “I’m so sorry.”

I was trying to get information about his dating life, his wife, his marriage. I didn’t expect for him to share about a trauma. And as I sat with it, I realized I felt closer to him because of it.

“Everybody goes through stuff, and then they just figure it out. You had another bad date. You’ll get through it.” He looked over at a man patiently waiting. “What did I tell you?” he asked.

My face scrunched, and I lifted my shoulders. “To give the app a chance?”

“What did I tell you earlier tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“I told you that cold front was coming.” Changing his voice to that stiff news anchor tone, he added, “And I was right! Brayden Storm, signing off!”

The laugh bubbled up before I could stop it. “You get on my damn nerves.”

Ahmad backed away to go take the man’s order. “Are you going to hang around for a while?”

I picked up my drink and took a sip. “Yeah, for a little bit.”

He smirked. “Good.”

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