Page 100 of The Gin Lover's Guide to Dating

‘Huh?’ She simply looks at me as if I’m irrelevant, takes the order from Dylan and stalks off again.

‘Right, you two.’ I turn my attention to Dylan and Reyes. ‘What the hellisthis?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Dylan chuckles. ‘Or do you need a lesson on the birds and the bees?’

‘Don’t be a smart-arse, Dylan.’ I eyeball him. ‘It doesn’t suit you.’

‘Chica, do not worry.’ Reyes puts her hand on my arm reassuringly. ‘This.It is real. I am liking Dylan, and he is liking me.’

‘Well, that I worked out for myself.’ My tone is flat. ‘But, Reyes, you’re married. What about your husband? It doesn’t matter if you and Dylan like each other, someone’s going to get hurt here.’

Dylan looks at Reyes. I sense an unspoken message pass between them, then Reyes nods agreement.

‘Chica, I am sorry. Yes, Iammarried, but I am also… separate.’

‘What?’ I look at the two of them, perplexed. ‘Like an open marriage – you see other people?’

‘No, not this.’ Reyes shakes her head. ‘My husband, he returns to Spain.’

There’s a momentary pause as my drink is practically thrown in front of me by the waitress, her disgust at Dylan and Reyes’s behaviour now also directed at me.

‘Thanks,’ I absently acknowledge her, my attention still firmly fixed on my two friends. ‘Wait. Are you telling me you’ve separated from your husband, Reyes?’

‘This is correct.’ Reyes nods.

‘For him?’ I fail to hide my astonishment.

‘Hey! That’s below the belt,’ Dylan complains.

‘No. Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.’ I take a sip of my cocktail and shake my head, trying to sort out my jumbled thoughts. ‘It’s just that Reyes’s husband is loaded. Look at the bloody rock on her finger. Reyes, why would you risk your marriage for an affair that you don’t know will go anywhere? You told me that love is so important. I just don’t understand.’

‘Chica, are you ever meeting my husband?’ Reyes asks me.

‘Well, no, but you told me—’

‘Why you think you are not meeting my husband?’ She searches my face. ‘We are spending this time together and you are not meeting him.’

‘I just assumed there was never an opportunity. Though, I suppose, other than when we first met, you’ve never really talked about him. What happened?’

‘He is not liking this life.’ Reyes shrugs. ‘His family is rich. He does not need to work like this. He does not want to. I am finding too late that we are too different. So, he go home.’

‘And you split up?’ I ask.

‘Yes, but this is before we meet – you and me – by one month. I just am not wanting to talk about it. And the luck for me is that you are not asking. One day, when we play Snog, Marry, Avoid, I nearly tell you, but a customer interrupt us. Then I think it better you believe in our love, so you find your own.’

‘Right.’ I let out a huge sigh.

I’m relieved this isn’t some sordid affair after all. But I am sad for Reyes that her marriage didn’t work out.

As I take all this in, my eyes land on Reyes’s humongous diamond ring, glinting alluringly in the artificial lighting. She follows my gaze, answering my question before I can even ask it.

‘My husband is not wanting this – he tell me to keep it. What chica would not do this?’

‘Oh, I’m with you on that.’ We both gaze at it adoringly for a moment.

‘Chica, when I meet you…’ Reyes turns to me, her face serious. ‘I know that you need more in your life. You need fun and love. But you do not believe me. If I tell you that my husband is leaving, you will not think that love is important.’

‘That would probably have been true.’ I smile at her knowingly.

---