Page 10 of Love Out Loud

He checked his phone again. Nothing.

The doorbell rang, and after a moment, Marcus walked right in. He had a key, so ringing the bell was just a courtesy. Not that Jake needed it right now. He hadn’t dated in a while, so it wasn’t like his friend would walk in on something.

“Cued up to the first inning yet?” Marcus asked, grabbing two beers from the six-pack he’d brought before putting the others in the fridge.

“No. Was watching pregame.” Jake reached over his head for the beer handoff as his friend passed behind him.

Marcus sat on the sofa with a sigh and placed a pizza box on the coffee table. “Fuck, I need a new job.”

“You do,” Jake said, popping the top on his beer.

Marcus was an investment analyst for a mutual fund company, and his hours were terrible. So was his social life. The only thing he had time for was a run on the weekend, and every now and then, he found time to watch a recorded game. Hell, the guy didn’t even date anymore.

Jake took a swig of beer.Sound familiar?After another glance at his phone—which, of course, had no message from Fiona—he unmuted the TV as the first pitch was thrown.

“Pizza?” Marcus flipped open the box on the coffee table.

“Sure.”

Jake and Marcus had been friends since undergrad. It was nice to have someone he knew well enough to not have to be “on” every single second, which his job as a public speaking coach required. He was supposed to be the most outgoing, most well-spoken person in the room all the time, but with Marcus, he could just be himself.

He’d landed the job with Upward Media after graduate school. Honestly, he’d only gone to graduate school to kill time while he’d figured out what he wanted to do with his life—and to avoid his overbearing father, who wanted him to join the family window installation business in Queens. No way. No to windows. No to working with Dad. He checked his phone again.

“You waiting for something?” Marcus asked around a bite of pepperoni pizza.

“I’m expecting a text from a new client.”

“Another one of your famous stars?”

Jake worked with some pretty well-known folks, but for some reason, the idea of working with Fiona Nichol made him far more nervous. “No. A veterinarian who has to give a speech.”

Marcus snorted. “What’s the speech about? Rabies? Mange? Sounds awful.”

In the game, there were runners on first and third base, but Jake wasn’t interested at all. “Sounds awful because you haven’t seen the veterinarian.”

His friend’s eyebrows rose. “Now this sounds promising.”

Not as promising as he’d like. “She’s a client. Nothing promising.”

Marcus leaned back and studied him. “She’s hot?”

He wasn’t sure if hot was the right word, but something about her did a number on him. “She’s different.”

Marcus tilted his head as if seeing Jake for the first time. “I haven’t heard you talk about a woman in ages.”

“Says the man who hasn’t gotten laid since his high school reunion last April.”

Marcus laughed. “Not quite true.” He paused, attention drawn momentarily to the TV while the fans cheered for a base hit. “But you’re close. Like I said, I need a new job. One that doesn’t require eighty to a hundred hours a week. What’s your excuse?”

“Hey, I date.” That sounded more defensive than he’d intended.

His friend responded by snorting before finishing off his beer and going to the kitchen to get another one. “Yeah. You go out with women. Once, sometimes twice a month, even thoughyoudon’t have killer work hours.”

“I had no idea you were so up on my dating life, Marcus. I don’t know whether to be flattered or frightened.”

“Neither. My life is so boring, yours looks like an action movie.”

As Jake watched his friend, his chest tightened. He’d been worried about Marcus for a while, but he hadn’t realized he was this dissatisfied with his job and his life. Jake was lucky by comparison. Being a speech coach offered him a lot of variety, working in the office and out in the field. It put him in touch with cool and famous people, and no day was like the one before.

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