“Black bean tacos are not real tacos,” he scoffs.
I’ll never give this stranger the satisfaction of knowing that I actually agree with him. Black bean tacos aren’t real tacos, but that’s besides the point.
“My fiancee is a vegetarian, so I became one too. It was just easier to eat the same things.”
He looks over at my ringless left hand. I threw my tasteful, two-carat solitaire diamond ring down a sewer hole on my way to the bar. Some might call that stupid, but I have no regrets.
“You’re engaged?”
“No.”
“Sorry, I don’t follow.”
I’ll never see this man again so I decide that not only will he be my drinking buddy tonight but he can be my confidant as well.
“I caught him in bed with another woman tonight.”
“That sucks.”
He adjusts his seat, then throws back a shot.
“Yeah.”
I swallow another gulp of my margarita and try not to drool at the way he just licked the corner of his mouth.
“I think I understand now,” he says. “You’re here alone tonight because you need to obliterate him from your consciousness.”
Big words from a guy who peaked in high school.
“Exactly!”
This might be the first thing we’ve agreed on tonight.
“Well, you’re going to need some high-quality shots for that. Shots will get you there way faster. These girly drinks you’re ordering will make you sick.”
“I don’t know,” I balk. “I haven’t taken shots since my first year of medical school.”
He sits at attention.
“You’re a doctor?”
“Yes, a pediatrician.”
“You seem really young to be a pediatrician.”
“I graduated high school at sixteen, so I was a few years younger than most of my classmates in college and medical school, but not by much.”
“I guess when I think of doctors, I think of middle-aged men with bad comb overs and Porsche’s.”
“What?” I giggle. “That’s very specific.”
“The doctors I’ve seen are mostly men and seem to always be in the middle of some sort of mid-life crisis.”
“Hence, the Porsche cars?”
“Exactly.”
“You’re probably not that off-based, but I work with a diverse group of physicians, so you won’t see too many comb-overs at our hospital or at least where I work.”
