Page 27 of Halloween Hottie
“Who’s a guy gotta screw to get a drink in here?”
I tap the bottom of my beer bottle on the table and Step’s head pops up. I show her two fingers and she brings over two beers.
Xander takes a long drink. “That’s better. Now, want to tell me what your problem is?”
“Who says I have a problem?”
He shrugs as he holds his beer between both hands. “It’s not often I see you on this side of the bar. Figured, something has to be bothering you. And since I saw you at that party with a girl, I’m just jumping to conclusions when I think it has something to do with her.”
I let out a long breath and run my hands through my hair.
“So, what’s the problem? She not calling you back or something?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. The opposite, actually. She called, but I didn’t answer.”
“Then what’s the problem? She won’tstopcalling? Just tell her you’re not interested.”
I shake my head again. “It’s not that, either.”
“What the fuck, dude? You going to make me drag every answer out of you? Spill it or perk up.”
“It’s just… Trish,” I breathe out her name.
“Trish?” He raises a questioning brow.
I nod. “Yeah.” I’m trying to get my thoughts in order, but every time I feel like I get everything in line to explain, four more things jump in.
“Care to elaborate?”
I take a deep breath. “I like Elizabeth. I really do. We got along great, we hit it off instantly, and then we hooked up and it was fucking mind-blowing.”
He smiles and nods. “Good. Good. So what’s the problem?”
“Trish is the problem. I haven’t been with anyone since her,” I confess. “And I mean, I know I need to move on. I know she wanted me to do that, to keep living my life, but it’s easier said than done.”
He nods and draws his brows together. “So… you feel like you’re cheating on your dead wife?”
I roll my eyes. “No, not exactly. I just feel like if I move on, Trish will really be gone. It’s like I’ve been keeping her memory alive, but if I start seeing Elizabeth, she’ll slip away completely.”
“Dude, youknowthat Trish is gone. You haven’t been doing anything since she died but living in the past. You need to move on. And if you like this Elizabeth girl, go after her. She’s here. Trish had her time with you. She’s gone, buddy. Accept that. You need to move on.”
“I know I need to, but am I ready to?”
He takes a drink of his beer and thinks on it a minute. “The fact that you’re stressing about this so hard leads me to think that you are. If you weren’t, you never would’ve spent so much time with her at the party. The two of you never would have hooked up. But you did, which tells me that, at least, that night, you were just living your life. Don’t feel guilty for that, Jake. That’s what you’resupposedto do.”
“But what if I start up this relationship with this girl and then discover that deep down I’m not ready?”
Xander shrugs. “Then at least you can say you tried. That’s the thing about relationships, man. They don’t always work out. But we have to try, right? Nobody would ever be happy if we just said,Meh, it’ll end badly anyway.Right?”
I laugh at his blasé way of putting it. “I guess you got me there.”
He nods. “Good. So, you going to give this girl a shot?”
“I’ll think about it.”
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Can we talk about my problem now?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. What’s your problem?”
