Page 75 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Hey, you win some, you lose some.”

“What does that mean?” Piper asked, understanding the saying but not sure how it applied to their current situation.

Shea laughed again. “It means, I definitely would have been up for it if I’d met her first, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. At least I win by getting to hang out with a hot woman.”

“You’re insatiable.”

“Literally my whole vibe, Pipes. You know this.”

Piper shook her head fondly. She did know that. She just didn’t need to know in quite so much detail that her friends thought August was hot. Even if they were objectively correct.

Shea nudged her again. “Can’t believe you and Eva both got to her first.”

“She’s not a snack.”

“Correct. Woman’s a whole meal.”

“Not what I meant.”

“I know.” She grinned. “And I know it would have gone as well for me as it did for Eva—which is to say, terribly. But, a woman can dream, can’t she?”

“Bit weird to be dreaming about the people your friends are dating.”

“Ah, so you admit you’re dating?”

Piper froze. “No.”

“You just said—”

“Slip of the tongue.”

“Oh, I know exactly where you want to slip that tongue.”

“For fuck’s sake, Shea.”

“Exactly why I do everything, Pipes.”

Piper sighed. “Do I need to stop bringing August around you?”

Shea laughed. “Not at all. You know I’m just messing with you.”

“Do I?” She did. They’d been friends more than long enough for Piper to know that, but she still wanted to check. The last thing in the world she wanted was to put August in an awkward situation.

Shea dropped the joking attitude and looked at Piper seriously. “I really am just joking. I mean, I still love sex—and that is the reason I do a lot of things, let’s be honest—but August is good here. And I’m happy for you. You seem… good when she’s around.”

Piper blinked, her chest a little tight with the sudden emotional shift. “How’d you mean?”

“You know, all that stuff you were saying the other night. You’ve been looking for something special for so long, and, even if I thought it was just how these things went, it’s been like watching you get more and more detached from love the longeryou waited. Like, the more dates you went on, the more you tried to wash each one away with the notion that they didn’t matter. I didn’t fully realize what had happened until our conversation the other night, but then, I thought about it and it was right there in front of me.”

“Well, they didn’t matter. They weren’t the right match.”

Shea smiled softly. “I know that. But, with them, went the spark you had when you first started dating. The one that believed in something romantic and magical.”

“I still believe in that.”

“I know. But for other people and not yourself.”

Piper stared at her. She hadn’t even realized how deep the whole thing had gone. She’d been so sure that nothing about her approach had changed—at least, not outwardly. But, now that Shea was saying it, she could see it herself. She could see it in the way she’d talked to August during their first meeting—how she’d categorized dates as fun stories to tell her dentist. Without realizing it, Piper had given up truly believing that she deserved to find something special. She kept going on dates because she wanted it to be true, but Shea was right. The more dates that failed, the less likely it seemed that one of them wouldn’t, and the more it felt like she deserved the bad ones.

---