Page 94 of One Week Wingman

I groan. For someone who seems so nice and wholesome, Jenn has a surprising stubborn streak. She really would stand out there hammering for hours, so I reluctantly drag myself upright, swaddle myself in a blanket, and go open the door.

“Finally!” Jenn’s standing there, wrapped in a plaid coat and hand-knit scarf, and she’s got Piper with her, too. “We were about to go scale the fire escape.”

“In those shoes?” I ask, eyeing Piper’s cute heeled boots.

“You’d be surprised.” She smiles, and pushes past me, looking determinedly around the room, at the blankets and unwashed coffee cups, and empty Entenmann’s cake box. “Just as I figured. You’re wallowing.”

I let out a sigh. “Look, I know what this is,” I say, “This is where you try and stage some kind of friend intervention to drag me out of despair, and give me a pep talk about how everything’s going to work out with Sebastian, or how I’m so much better without him, and the world is my oyster, and there are plenty of other handsome fish in the sea.”

Piper laughs. “Did she miss anything?” she asks Jenn, who grins.

“Just the snacks. Can’t have a motivational pep talk without great food.”

“Which is why we’re taking you to lunch.” Piper turns back to me, and claps, all brisk blonde determination. “Shower, clothes, food. Get to it.”

I don’t move.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Jenn asks, tempting. “For a nice, juicy cheeseburger? Onion rings, truffle fries…”

OK, maybe she has a point. “I’ll come to lunch,” I agree begrudgingly, “But promise me, no pep talk. No talk about Sebastian at all.”

They exchange a look.

“Promise?” I insist.

“Fine,” Jenn says, giving me a hug. “Promise.”

I shower and dress,and go with them to a cute café nearby, where Callie and Grace are waiting in a corner booth with fries for the table, and a latte made just the way I like it.

“Thank you,” I tell them, gulping it down. “I really, really needed this.”

“It’s good to wallow a little,” Callie says, hugging me. She’s wearing an amazing orange-red lipstick shade that I make a mental note to ask about. “But you can’t wallow for too long or you get stuck.”

I do actually feel more human, seeing sunlight, and friends. And the massive pitcher of Bloody Marys that the waitress delivers to us.

“For strength,” Callie says, holding up her glass.

“Vitamins and such,” Jenn agrees, scanning the menu. “Celery is basically a superfood.”

“Have mine, I can’t deal with the texture,” Grace jokes, snuggling in a big woolly cardigan. “It’s like…

“… If getting pubes caught in your teeth was a vegetable?” Callie jokes, and we all laugh. Except Piper, who places her hands over her ears.

“Let me know when you stop talking about my brother’s pubes!”

I smile, finally feeling better. This is what I needed. Something to stop me from thinking about Sebastian, and the sleepy, disheveled way he looks first thing in the morning.

“So when do you finish this MBA of yours?” Grace asks Piper, as our food arrives. Piper’s a few years younger than the rest of us, but as Dash’s sister, is a core member of the group.

“Officially? Next month,” she replies. “I took longer at my internship, so my classes got pushed off the regular schedule, but it was such a great opportunity, I couldn’t turn it down. I was atPerfect Match,” she explains.

“Ooh, the dating app?” Jenn asks.

Piper nods. “I’m really interested in the intersection of technology, and female sexuality. There are so many cool start-ups around, focused on female pleasure, and one of my old class-mates and I have this idea for a company…” she pauses, blushing. “Actually, I’m not going to say anything yet. I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Mysterious!” Callie says. “Well, we can’t wait for you to move here full-time. I know Dash is looking forward to it.”

“You mean, looking forward to making sure I never go on another date again?” Piper rolls her eyes. “I swear, those guys all have a radar. Every time I get talking to a man at the bar, one of them materializes to chase them away.”

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