Page 2 of Rebel Heart
As he walked off to find a table while he talked to his girl, Vic, Jamie, and I gave each other knowing looks and shook our heads. Of the four of us, Talon was the only one seriously involved. Jamie had just gotten out of a year-long relationship about three months ago, and like me, Vic was simply having a good time. Though, to be fair, Vic likely wanted to have something like Talon had. He just hadn’t found the right girl.
By the time we’d gotten our food and met Talon at the table, he had just finished his call.
“Everything okay?” Jamie asked.
Talon nodded and reached to take his food from Jamie’s hands. “Yeah. Thanks for bringing this over for me. Trisha’s on her lunch break, so she wanted to call and see how things were going here.”
“Is she pissed?”
“About what? That I’m here, and she’s at work?”
Vic jerked his chin down. “It’s not unreasonable to assume that could be the case.”
I sunk my teeth into my burger as Talon lifted a fry to his mouth and said, “Well, I don’t think she’d want to intrude on this specific gathering, but she certainly wishes she was having a day of fun instead of having to work.”
Before anyone else could respond, Jamie declared, “See? You’re lucky, Talon. I always think I’m upset about things ending with Sara, but then I recall these moments and get a good slap in the face.”
I swallowed a bite of my burger. “To be fair, Trisha is not like Sara.”
“Thanks, Beau,” Talon said, a proud smile on his face.
“It’s okay, Jamie,” Vic assured him. “You’re back to enjoying things again. You were miserable with Sara.”
“That’s the truth.” I sipped my chocolate milkshake. Westwood’s was known for a lot of things, but they did chocolate like nobody else. The milkshake was proof of that perfection. “You’re so much happier now. But I guess that’s to be expected when you’re spending your time with us. We’re a blast, aren’t we?”
“Shut up.”
His words indicated he wasn’t amused, but the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth said otherwise.
Jamie knew we were just yanking his chain. When it all boiled down, we’d been there for him throughout it all. During the relationship, he’d gone from that honeymoon phase in the beginning to the misery he endured every time he wasn’t devoting each second of his life to Sara. He’d done things to make her happy that none of us would have done, and it still wasn’t good enough. In the end, despite how we felt about her, we’d been there to see him through the breakup.
“Still haven’t changed your mind on the topic, Beau?” Talon questioned me.
“The topic of dating?”
He gave me a nod in response.
I shook my head. “Not at all. I think I have pretty good reasons for never wanting to go there. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be happy or supportive of any of you if and when you decide to tie the knot.”
Jamie held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, let’s not get too carried away.”
“Seriously,” Vic grumbled. The look on his face revealed just how disgusted he was at the thought of marriage.
Whether it was that he’d always been the most optimistic of the four of us or that he was with someone who made him happy now, I didn’t know. But Talon reasoned, “Maybe it’ll change if you meet the right one.”
“That’s unlikely to happen for me,” I countered, plucking up three fries. “While you know I’m always down for a good time with a gorgeous woman, I have absolutely no desire for a serious, committed, long-term relationship.”
“Sorry, but I’m with Beau on this one,” Vic lamented. “It’s going to be difficult to findthe right onewhen I don’t go into anything looking for more than just some fun.”
While I didn’t think he was judging us, Talon was certainly disappointed. Even though I couldn’t exactly understand where he was coming from on this particular topic, I could understand having a specific hope or expectation about something and things not being the way I wanted.
Jamie stayed in the middle of the road. “I can’t say I don’t want that one day, but it can’t be like it was with Sara. If I’m going to make a commitment like that again, she’s going to have to be someone incredible.”
“I hope you find her,” I told him. “As for me, I’m not interested in giving up this life for anyone.”
“And which life would that be, Beau?” Talon pressed,holding the last bite of his burger in his hand. “The one where you wake up on a random Thursday morning and head to an amusement park with your three best friends?”
I shrugged, wiping my fingers on my napkin. “Why not? What you’re doing, what Jamie is hoping for, I’m happy for you. It’s too much of a risk for me. I’m perfectly content answering to myself, doing what makes me happy, and not having to worry about catering to someone else’s demands. I’ve been done doing that for a long time now.”
