Page 86 of Plus Size Player

“He’s not a drug dealer!” When our laughter died down, I continued. “And honestly, so far, so good. There are no cons with this man.”

“Is it fair to say that he is the whole package?” Aaliyah wondered. “Everything you want and need in a man?”

“He is the whole package,” I admitted slowly.

The way they started hooting and hollering was ridiculous.

“He’s the one,” Aaliyah declared.

“I hate to agree with Liyah on this, but yeah…”

Grinning, I rolled my eyes. “How about we focus on the fact that Aaliyah is turning thirty and the three of us will be reunited in a couple weeks.”

“It’ll be good to see you guys,” Jazz said with a sigh. “It’s been a long summer.”

We talked for the next twenty minutes. Aaliyah had to abruptly get off the phone because she was being summoned at work.

“Where are you now?” Jazmyn wondered. “It’s almost time for your meeting.”

“I’m in the parking deck across the street.” I checked the time. “I’m meeting with Sasha in HR at noon. I have ten minutes before I need to head over.”

“Okay, good.” She was quiet for a moment. “So… I have a question.”

I flipped the sun visor up with a snap and braced myself. Jazz being back in her hometown was already a lot for her. But given that her aunt had taken a turn for the worst and didn’t have long to live, I knew she was going through it. She was dealing with it privately and wasn’t ready to share much about how things were going. So even though I was glad she was finally ready to talk, the fact that she sounded so serious worried me.

“What’s going on?” I asked carefully.

“You broke things off with The Romantic One because you felt him catching feelings and you didn’t want to hurt him?”

“Oh!” A silent sigh of relief escaped me. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about, but I was bracing myself for the worst. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“How did you know it was time?”

“I could feel it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I could tell things were changing between us. When he looked at me, it didn’t feel like we were on the same page. Even before hesaid it to me, I could tell. He’s sweet and fine and honestly, a great guy, so I was hoping he’d chill out. But when we were at the RLF event, he asked me to be his girlfriend, so I had to end it.”

“You didn’t sleep with him though. How do you end it with someone you slept with?”

A smile tugged at my lips as I turned my car off. “Jazz…” I dragged her name out curiously. “Are you sleeping with someone?”

“I didn’t say that,” she replied quickly.

I climbed out of my car. “You didn’t have to say it.”

“Your meeting is at noon, right? Because you only have seven minutes to get in there.”

“I’m crossing the street now. But back to you—”

“Back to you,” she countered in a rush. “You stopped talking to The Romantic One because things were changing, but it sounds like things are changing with The Fun One, too. Are you planning on ending things with him?”

“No.” I lifted my hand in a wave toward the person who waited until I was on the sidewalk before proceeding through the light.

“Are you planning on making it official withRuss?”

“Oop! Not you using his real name to deflect from this mystery man you’ve been getting busy with in your hometown,” I said as I opened the door to the building.

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