Page 22 of Almost True
“I hired him to design my yard.”
Dahlia beamed. “Oh, he’s so good at it! I’m glad you did.”
I inspected her for… anything. Any hint that she had feelings for the man who felt like he should be mine even thoughwhat?Why did I feel that way? I had no right to him, no claim on him. Still, I didn’t like the idea of getting attached to this group of women just to find out one of them had a thing for the same man I did.
My stomach twisted a bit at the thought. One thing that had become odiously clear over time? Women did compete with women, and sometimes it got nasty. As much as I wished we’d all support each other in a world that tried particularly hard to oppress us, we so often failed at lifting each other up. These women seemed like the best sort from what I could tell, and yet…
“Oh, but youlikehim, don’t you. I see that little blush. He is super handsome,” Quinn said, a wry smile on her lips.
“Oh, it’s, uh—”
“You were having coffee with him earlier, right? You seemed friendly enough. Did the weirdo guy who invited himself mess something up?” Sarah’s innocent question saved me from directly answering Quinn’s, bless her.
But how to respond? I sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly and deciding I might as well surrender. “Okay, so the full story?”
“Yes, obviously,” Calla said, shaking her head like this was obvious.
“Of course,” Sadie said, her words more encouragement than demand.
Sarah, Dahlia, and Quinn all nodded, and Quinn added a little “out with it” gesture to egg me on.
“So when I came eighteen months ago, I met him the last night of my trip. And it was… I mean, not to sound like a total idiot, but it was borderlinemagical.”
Calla’s mouth dropped open. Quinn grinned. Sarah and Sadie looked at each other, and Dahlia made a sound that was something between a squeal and a laugh.
“So you’ve kept in touch all this time? You’ve been dating long distance? What? More! Keep going!” Quinn’s impatience had everyone chuckling.
“No. We didn’t share last names. I was in this totally burnt-out place, where I just wanted a break. I’d been on the book tour and all over the press—largely good, except for the inconvenient reality of people hating a woman for being wildly financially successfulandhaving a uterus.”
More than one of them burst out laughing, and I reveled in that, too. It’d been too long since I’d just kind of ranted. The small buzz coming on from the margarita didn’t hurt my honesty quotient.
“So I didn’t tell him my last name because he didn’t seem to recognize me. And he didn’t tell me his, though that wouldn’t have meant anything to me at the time. When we parted ways later that night…”
“Oh.Ohhh.How much later are we talking?” Quinn asked.
“Quinn! That’s so nosy!” Sarah reprimanded.
“Notthatmuch later. We sat at the bar for two hours, and then he walked me to the elevator and left me there.”
Quinn slumped. “Oh.”
“But he did kiss me.”
“Now you’re talking.” She grinned.
Dahlia, who’d been smiling the entire time and not acting jealous or weird or anything other than like she wished she had some popcorn for the story time, asked, “How was it?”
I thought about demurring. But again, I didn’t want to. And I sensed I didn’thaveto. “It was the best.”
Truly. The best ever. The best first kiss. The best last kiss. The best kiss goodbye and hello andlet’s start something. Simply the best.
“And then?” Sarah prompted.
“And then nothing. We didn’t exchange numbers or anything. But I thought about him nonstop. And then I ran into him on the street a few days ago. We made plans for coffee. Andthenhe showed up at my house as my contractor for the landscaping. It never even occurred to me because he said he was a tree farmer. But Chadwick was being all possessive and awful and… yeah. He agreed to see me today when I made clear I am not with Chad.”
Quinn snorted but pressed her lips together. I would’ve bet a thousand bucks she wanted to crack a joke about his name.
“But you both looked kind of bummed when I saw you.”
