Page 2 of The Situation
“I miss you around here,” Jamie says. “The Luxe isn’t the same without you.”
“I’ll be back in town tomorrow night.”
“You know what I mean.” She huffs. “I know your new job is what you wanted,and I’m so happy for you.” The way she says it, as if a gun is pointed at her head, makes me laugh. “I haven’t even tried to fill your chair. I don’t want to think about working alongside someone else.”
“If I hate this new gig, I’ll return to the salon full-time. You know that.”
“And we both know you won’t. You’re going to be so damn good that they’ll promote you within a week, and you’ll be running the damn place.”
“I love how supportive you are about this. Did you get that whole thing out without rolling your eyes?”
“No. They’re still rolling.”
I laugh, digging around my bag for my book, and then I slide my purse under the seat in front of me.
The cabin air is thick and balmy, thanks to the rain pelting the windows. The sky is less angry than before I boarded and not quite as dark, but the buckets of precipitation haven’t waned. I slip my sweater off my shoulders before I sit back again.
“It’s so humid in here,” I say, gathering my dark hair at the nape of my neck. “If this plane gets delayed, I’m going to be pissed.”
“The weatherman just said the storm is passing quickly, so you should be clear.”
“Good.”
“So you get into Columbus this evening. Then what? Do you go straight into the event activities?”
I fashion my locks into a low-hanging knot to keep my hair off my neck. “I don’t have anything until tomorrow. The original plan was to leave here tomorrow morning, but if I did that, I’d be scrambling as soon as I landed. That left me with this flight or one that leaves at ten o’clock tonight, and I hate landing in a new city and getting to the hotel when it’s dark outside.”
“That’s fair. So you’ll hang out tonight? Order some room service?” She pauses. “Go on the prowl?”
My laugh is quicker and louder than I intended, and I capture a few curious looks from passengers lining the aisle.
“I’m serious,” Jamie says. “You’ve been separated for almost two freaking years, and now you’re officially divorced from the asshole. You need to get back out there before you forget how.”
“Trust me. I won’t forget how. It’s practically all I think about sometimes.”
Lately? Most of the time.
I haven’t been with anyone since Kent. When our marriage fell apart, it took my sex drive with it. The idea of being with a man was wholly uninspiring for the longest time, and fighting over lawn mowers and quilts for months on end is just short of getting doused with a bucket of iced water on repeat.
But a month ago, I picked up my first romance novel in years. My sex drive is suddenly back and very,veryneedy.
“Then what’s stopping you?” she asks. “You keep telling me you’re too busy—blah, blah, blah. One of these days, you’ll have to take the leap and dive back in.”
“I’ve been divorced for three weeks, Jamie. It’s not like I’m avoiding it.”
“It looks like you’re avoiding it to me. It doesn’t take that much time to have a one-night stand.”
I roll my eyes, fumbling with the tray table.How in the heck does this thing come out?“I’m just getting to know myself for the first time. A preacher raised me, remember? I’ve spent most of my life in a relationship or feeling guilty for lusting after men I wasn’t married to.” The tray table frees from the armrest.Presto! “I’m just not sure what I want, and I don’t want to make mistakes this time.”
“I’ll tell you what didn’t look like a mistake—and that was the Daddy in the salon the other day,” she says.
“More like Granddaddy.” I laugh. “Besides, that man had red flags the size of Texas.”
“That might be true. We all know I can’t see red regarding warning signs in men.”
“Thatis definitely true,” I say, reminded of the litany of men who Jamie should’ve steered away from and ran toward instead.
“What about the hot cowboy you told me about from the grocery store?” she asks. “Anything on that front?”
