Page 94 of Degrees of Control

“So? You shouldn’t do it now!”

“Yeah, she needs the cock,” Jordan said. “Charlie, are you sure there’s no one on the scene? Maybe someone from work?”

“James works with five dudes in a garage that is literally more grease than garage. And even if he didn’t, he isn’t like that anymore.”

Again no one said anything and Charlie turned to look at where James stood talking to Andrea. She was laughing in a way that spoke more of sexual arousal than amusement and as they watched, she put a hand on his shoulder. Jordan made an angry hissing sound. “Want me to go tell her to keep her paws to herself?”

Though her insides were twisted up like a pretzel, Charlie shook her head. She and James had come a long way with his jealousy. She would be a hypocrite and a half if she let her friends do what she wouldn’t. “He’s backing away, anyway.”

Sure enough, James had turned and found Parker. He gestured toward the bar and Charlie was sure he was asking for another shot.

“Hmm.” Sophia’s pale blue eyes were locked on her cousin and Charlie was sure she was thinking up ways to interrogate and/or punish him.

“Please don’t yell at James,” she said again. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but just because he’s being weird, it doesn’t mean he’s the bad guy.”

“What does that mean?”

Charlie pressed a hand to her chest and decided to just say it. “I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like me anymore?”

“Impossible,” Sophia said.

“Total bullshit,” Hayley agreed.

“You guys are great together,” Jordan said. “Your Instagram pictures give me life. I mean, what would you evendoif things didn’t work out?”

“Um, join a monastery probably.”

They all laughed.

“I mean it!” Charlie looked around the table. “I’d join that Buddhist monastery I took a course at the last time I was in Bali. I liked it there. One of the monks said if I ever considered joining, he would mentor me.”

There was another long pause, only this time her friends looked terrified. Jordan poked her side. “Charlie you can’t be serious.”

“Ow! You know I’m interested in mindfulness.”

“So get a fucking app! When you get dumped, you mope around for a bit and drink too much vodka. You fuck some twenty-two-year-old just to prove you still can. You don’t just give up and become a monk.”

“Nun,” Charlie corrected. “And I don’t think I can do things your way, Jord. If things ended with me and James, I’d need a whole new start just to keep from falling to pieces.”

“Well you don’t have to think about it,” Sophia said loudly. “James is probably just going through some internal man-trauma. Maybe Jason Isbells’ touring and he can’t get tickets. Maybe someone should talk to him.”

Charlie could sense where this was going. “Please don’t yell at James.”

“I…will aspire to try to not do that, even though—”

“She can’t promise you anything,” Hayley interrupted. “That’s what you’re getting at, right?”

“Pretty much.”

Charlie grimaced. “Look, let’s change the subject. Do you have any idea what you’re going to call the baby, Soph?”

They’d barely gotten into the debate Sophia and Parker were having over naming the baby after his grandmother—a nice woman who was nevertheless called Florence—when Sophia’s friend Greta burst into the kitchen. “You told me to tell you if Jerome showed up. He’s here and he brought friends.”

“Oh geez.” Sophia got to her feet, one hand on her protruding belly. “You don’t mind if we leave this for now, do you? Jerome’s ex, Darcy is here tonight. They had theworstbreakup. I need to go run interference before something catches fire.”

“No problem,” Charlie said, suppressing a yawn with the back of her hand.

“Thank you but remember,no sleeping.”

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