“Thank you. Sorry. I don’t have many female friends. Just my friends’ girlfriends. Even with them, I don’t really know how to be.”
Jessie got a sly smile and a glint in her eye. “Just used to picking up girls to bring home, huh?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said, defending myself.
“I never said there was,” she said, sticking out her bottom lip toprove her innocence.
“What’s it like being in a relationship?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“I don’t know. What’s it like fucking random girls all the time?”
I took a drag on my beer as she eyed me for an answer.
“I’m being serious,” I said. “Does it get stale?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Fuck, what did I mean? Obviously, Cole thought it was stale if he was stepping out on Jessie. Christ, I’d really boxed myself in.
“I mean, don’t you hate fucking the same guy all the time?”
“I don’t hate it,” she said quietly. “In a lot of ways, you build trust over time. That’s nice.”
I felt sick again, thinking of how her trust was so misplaced. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted that. The trust thing.”
“What’s holding you back?” Jessie looked up from her knitting.
“Maybe haven’t found the right person,” I said. “Maybe I just don’t know how to do it.”
“Maybe you’re emotionally unavailable,” she suggested.
“What? I’m an open book,” I argued.
“Sure. But you put on a big cocky front. If that’s who you are, fine, but if it’s not, you’re selling yourself short. I think you’re more introspective than you give yourself credit for. You’ve been asking me some thoughtful questions.”
“Wait a minute. I was trying to psychoanalyze you, not the other way around,” I said.
“See? This conversation was already too intimate for you. It’s just the surface.”
I took a deep breath. “How are you cutting me down so quickly, Jessalyn... ?” I wanted her to tell me her last name.
“Welsh.”
“How are you cutting me down so quickly, Jessalyn Welsh?”
She smirked again. “I talk to people a lot when I’m at work. I prefer to go beyond the weather. People tell me about their lives, and I listen.”
“I’m impressed, Sweet Cheeks.”
Her eyes shot up from her knitting. “Call me by my name or I go inside.”
“Sorry. I’m impressed, Jessalyn.”
“Better.”
I took a sip of my beer, trying to figure out what to talk about next. “So how long has it been since Cole gave you a real orgasm?”
Her jaw fell open. “And that’s my cue to leave,” she said, gathering her stuff.
