Page 33 of The Problem with Fire
I downed the last of the wine in my glass and poured another one. “I hadn’t thought of it like that before. Whenever I thought about counseling, I pictured it for the both of them, together,” I admitted. “I never considered individual counseling for Leta only.”
Karma shrugged a shoulder before pouring herself another glass of wine. “There’s also a chance that if counseling for them is suggested by a certified doctor of the mind, instead of his ex-wife, Thom-ass would actually consider going with Leta,” she offered. “It’s worth a shot.”
“Maybe,” I conceded.
“All I know is that you have to get this shit cleared up before the wedding,” she said, another gulp of wine under her belt.
I laughed. “I don’t think his co-worker was serious.”
Her blonde brows drew down. “Why not?” But before I could answer, she added, “More to the point, why wouldn’t you want to marry that man?”
I laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the crashing and burning of my first marriage?”
Her pretty face still looked confused. Karma really was the perfect blonde hair/blue eyes beauty next door. “You said he had anine-inch dick,”she exclaimed. “Does Thom-ass?” She scoffed. “That average-sized dick asshole did you a favor by divorcing you. Had it not been for him being a complete snatch napkin, you would never have known a nine-inch dick. Forthreenights in a row.”
Okay, so sue me. The wine has made me a little loose-lipped.
I shook my head. “I never should have told you about the size of his dick,” I grumbled. “That’s private.”
Karma cocked her head. “You know the size of Vernon’s dick,” she pointed out.
My eyes rounded. “But I had neveraskedto know that piece of information,” I reminded her. “You just clubbed me over the head with that detail one night.”
“Can you blame me?”
“Yes, Karm, I can,” I retorted. A few years back, when I had still been with Thomas, I had called Karma to help me redecorate our home office, and she had overshared by telling me she was out of commission because she had finally given up the ass, and the soreness from sitting on a cucumber-sized cock was no joke.
I still blush every time Vernon serves salads with cut-up cucumbers at their barbecues.
“Look, cocks aside, you’re fucking glowing, Monroe,” she said. “That’s love.”
I shook my head. “It’s called getting laid after three years, Karm,” I replied. “While I like Sayer a lot, I’m not sure it’s love. And the last thing I want to do is confuse love with lust.”
“You know why I think it’s love?” she asked, and I nodded. “Because you’re not a bumbling idiot around him anymore.”
I almost spit my wine out. “What?”
“He’s made you comfortable to be around him, Mon,” she said. “I’ve been sitting here listen to you talk about Leta and Sayer, and it sounds like the real you again. Leta’s challenging, but you’ve always been a good mother with her.” She shrugged. “As for Sayer, this entire time you haven’t mentioned his age or yours. You haven’t mentioned appearances like most women our age do. And not to rag on you, but considering what that man looks like, most women would be worried about the tracks of age.” Karma reached out and squeezed my arm before grabbing her glass again and taking another drink. “You feel comfortable and confident around him. It sounds like you feel safe, and that’s big considering what that jerkface, Thomas, did to you.”
“It’s too soon for love,” I argued. “No matter how much all that might be true, we’ve only spent three days together, Karma.Three.”
“Love had no timeline, Monroe,” she chided. “You know this.”
“Even if I were in love with him, he’s yet to propose or even tell me he loves me,” I pointed out, the wine really hitting the spot.
She snorted, the wine already doing its damage with her. “Pretty sure you’re wrong there, Mon,” she replied. “If he wasn’t in love with you, why would he ask you to marry him?”
“Hehasn’tasked me to marry him,” I repeated.
“He had to have,” she insisted. “How else could there be a wedding being planned if he hasn’t asked you?” I knew we’d had enough when her crazy words started to make sense.
Before I could mull her words over in my buzzed head some more, my phone dinged with a text message.
Sayer:Miss u.
I turned my phone towards Karma. “He misses me.”
Her eyes rounded. “Is he working?”
