Page 27 of Decidedly With Baby
That would be simple enough.Right?
10
Holly
Two months later,I entered the busy cafe and scanned the tables. Erin and Kelsey were already sitting at our favorite table in the corner. Twice a month we met up for lunch on the weekend—our girl bondingtime.
Our time away from the men in ourlives.
Which wasn’t too hard for me to do since there was no man in mylife.
What happened toJosh?
I’d been so busy with work lately, I hadn’t had time to join him, Kelsey, and Trent for drinks since returning from Australia. And those few times I did manage to make it, Josh had been away. So other than texting each other like we had before and the occasional phone call, we hadn’t seen each other since returninghome.
Was I still hiding from him? You’d better believe it—thanks to his goddamn sex-on-a-stickpheromones.
Those same pheromones that my body reacted to whenever my thoughts drifted to Josh’s and my time in Australia. Apparently, he didn’t even need to be near me for it to happen—his pheromones werethatpowerful.
Our fake engagement? No, I hadn’t gotten around to telling my family the sad truth: Josh and I had broken up. I figured I had plenty of time before I had to worry aboutit.
As I walked over to Kelsey and Erin, a good-looking man in shorts and a San Francisco Rock T-shirt approached me, a friendly smile on his face. And my mind instantly went back to Josh.Ugh!
“Hey, Holly. Haven’t seen you in awhile.”
My mind quickly rifled through the Rolodex in my head for his name. He looked vaguelyfamiliar.
And then it hitme.
“Oh, hi, Brad.” He and I had dated a few times in university. I was working on my MBA and he was working on his master’s degree in biomedical engineering. “What are you doing here?” I gave him a quick hug. We had ended on friendly terms when he moved away for a joboffer.
“I heard they make the best coffee around.” He winked atme.
I laughed. “I meant San Francisco. Are youvisiting?”
“No—moved back last month. I accepted a great job offer I couldn’t refuse.” His gaze slid down to my left hand. “You know, if you’re not seeing anyone, we should go out for dinner sometime and catch up on oldtimes.”
“I’d like that.” I fished through my purse and handed him my business card, pretending the ache between my legs hadn’t booed in frustration. It was unfairly comparing the one time I’d had sex with Brad against the incredible sex with Josh…and Josh was coming out the clearwinner.
“Who was that?” Kelsey asked when I sat at our table a minute later. “He’s hot,” said the woman who was dating the hottest man on the planet—when you didn’t countJosh.
I explained how I knewBrad.
“So you’re going to go out withhim?”
“I figured I might as well. It’s just one date.” I said, as a wave of nausea hit. Where was the waitress? I just needed something to eat and then I’d be fine. This wasn’t the first time it had happened in the past fewdays.
Maybe I had some weird version of the stomachflu?
As if reading my mind, a girl in her early twenties approached our table. “Are you ready to ordernow?”
You definitely want the fries, the angel on my shoulder not-so-helpfully pointed out as I glanced over the menu. The devil on the other shoulder snickeredknowingly.
After Erin and Kelsey ordered, I blurted, “I’ll have the California rolls and a side order offries.”
Erin and Kelsey stared at me as if I had ordered steak fresh from a fire-breathing dragon. Unlike them, the waitress didn’t even bat a mascara-coatedeyelash.
“Since when do you eat fries?” Erin asked as the waitress walkedaway.
