Page 59 of The Fun Part
He leans across the bar. “You should tell it to the crowd across the street.”
“What crowd?”
“The Happy Endings Book Club. They meet tonight. I’m surprised you’re not over there now. Rowan and Harper are there.”
A stab of betrayal hits my already bruised heart. And, okay, a little bit of FOMO. This is why Harper couldn’t be there for me in my misery. She fell in with the romance crowd behind my back. Meanwhile, I share every little thing in my life with her. She used to say she didn’t believe in all that love fantasy stuff after her live-in boyfriend of two years cheated on herin their bed. What about that, huh? We were a united anti-love front.
And another thing she never shared—she never told me why she’s always pissy with Nathan all these years. I tell hereverything.
Does this mean Harper’s going to start looking for a happy-ever-after fantasy man and leave me behind? We were supposed to be roomies for at least our fun twenties. That was the plan.
And since when does Rowan read romance? When I first met Rowan, she had a decidedly anti-romance stance. How my brother Cooper managed to turn that around is a mystery to me. I guess being the new partner in Mom’s wedding planning business finally got to her.
That book club is filled with Mom and her friends, all my favorite aunties, and now my friends are there without me. This is so wrong.
I toss back the rest of my wine. “Put it on my tab.” I hop off the bar stool and march toward the door.
“Dude, it’s free for family,” Cooper calls after me.
“I know!”
I shove the door open and jog across the street to Something’s Brewing Café.
Cal
I thought I would feel out of place, but this romance book club has been very welcoming. When Mad invited me last week, I looked up the book on the store’s event calendar. At the time I thought it could be one of those fake-date things for me and Mackenzie. Then, of course, I had to actually read the book so I wasn’t lost during the discussion.
Fiery Embracewas an eye-opener. First, I had no idea there were sex scenes in these books. My little sister reads them voraciously. Explains more than I want to know. Second, I finally understand a woman’s thoughts and feelings. It was allspelled out right there. I can’t believe more guys haven’t caught on to this.
The women’s animated talk at the café fades into the background as I review what happened with Mackenzie again to figure out where it went wrong. We had a great night. I said the wrong thing, as I often do, but what was wrong with what I said? It would take a long time to get each other out of our systems is a good thing. And good chemistry means I like being with her.
She took everything the wrong way. Then she put me in themaybe sometime in the futurefriend zone. Friends! After all we shared.
For the first time in my life, I don’t know the next strategic move. All these confusing feelings cloud my thinking. I want to stuff them down into the box that holds all my unwanted feelings, but they’re too strong for that.
And then suddenly she’s here. The blood rushes through my veins. Our eyes meet across the room, her lips forming a perfect O of surprise.
Shit. She’s going to think I’m not giving her space like she asked. Should I bail? I’m sitting in a circle of women. It would draw a lot of attention if I suddenly stood and left.
Her gaze shifts, riveted on Harper. Mackenzie does not look happy with her. A temporary reprieve for me. I need to come up with a good explanation for being here that doesn’t let on how clueless I am about the emotional lives of women.Think!
14
Mackenzie
I’m trying really hard to keep my shit together, but not only are Harper and Rowan here behind my back, but Cal’s here too. And why else would he be here? Mom must’ve invited him after I told her not to do any more matchmaking with him! Or anyone!
Oh, wait, she didn’t know I’d be here. What the hell is Cal doing here?
I stand there, waiting for a break in the conversation. The women and Cal sit in a circle in the center of the room, the tables pushed against the walls. I glance around at the lively group, Mom and some of my favorite aunties, Mad, Lauren, Charlotte, and Carrie. Aunt Ally isn’t here, still on her cruise around the world. She’d be the one to make me feel better about not believing in romance. She’s the one who discovered sologamy and married herself as part of her single-me, happy-me plan. She always said romance was a fantasy. Of course, that was before she fell madly in love and married Uncle Ethan.
I blink back tears. I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s just a book. Why do I care if everyone is into romance except me?
Aunt Mad is fervently defending the heroine for hooking up with the hero again after their breakup. I don’t dare look at Cal. Don’t draw any comparisons, nothing like us.
“Obviously the breakup was temporary,” Harper says. “They’re locked in, so hooking up was fine by me. Also, hello? Steamy as hell.”
“Harper, what are you doing here?” I burst out.
