I nodded and thanked her, promising to meet up in a few hours. And then I closed myself inside the meeting room and pressed my fists to my eyes as I muttered, “Fuck.”
Twenty-Six
Whitney
Rule Number Eighteen:
Live in the moment. No one wants to talk about tomorrow.
“At that point,”I said, stabbing at my salad, “it was a relief to get called in for a procedure. Any exit from the night of a thousand family horrors was welcome, even if it meant sleeping on the sofa in my office.”
Meri stared at me, her fork hovering over her bowl. For the first time in months, we’d been able to get away on Wednesday for our Wednesday lunch. Miraculous. “Let me get this straight. Your sister took daddy dearest’s latest rejection and decided the best way to soothe that wound would be hooking up with a guy who’s been separated from his wife for like forty-five minutes? And who also happens to be your guy’s best friend?Thatwas the rebellion she chose?”
I held out my hands. “She’s going through a selfish moment.”
Brie and I hadn’t spoken much since the night I’d walked in to find her with Mason. There was a fair amount of avoidance coming from both sides.
“They’re all selfish moments, Whit.” She dropped her forehead to her palm, grumbling to herself like this whole affair was really wearing her down. “How did you leave things with the best man?”
I speared a cucumber slice harder than necessary. I hadn’t talked to Henry since asking him for space. I didn’t want to admit it because I was remarkably stubborn, but I missed him. “I told him I didn’t want to be one of his quests.”
“Why not? That sounds great. I’d love to be someone’s quest.”
“But what happens when he realizes that a real relationship isn’t that exciting?”
“Neither is medical school or residency, but he seems to be doing just fine with that.” She reached for her water, giving me a side-eye glance. “And what do you know about real relationships?”
“Nothing, clearly.”
“Listen.” She leaned forward and motioned for me to do the same. “Maybe the best man is caught up in the thrill of the chase, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Let him chase you. Play hard to get. Be mysterious. Make it into a role-play. Dress up, dress down, whatever floats the boat. Let it get weird—and then a little strange. You might be surprised to find you like it that way.”
I wagged my fork at her. “That’s not—that’s not the advice anyone needs right now. We need to stay focused.”
“Okay, yeah, I can do that. Here we go. Brace yourself. I don’t think the thing you’re worried about is the thing you’re actually worried about,” she said. “I think you don’t trust that he’s chosen you. You’re betting on him changing his mind and walking out on you, and you’re going to hold tight to that until he has no other choice than to do it. It’s the abandonment issues combo platter.” She paused to glare at the men seated nearby who were obviously listening to our conversation. When they wereadequately terrified, she went on. “I can sit here all day and tell you that those concerns aren’t real, but you’re the one who has to decide to believe it.”
I pushed the remains of my salad around the bowl. “You didn’t have to focus so hard.”
“Sorry, I only have one setting and it’s power thrust.” She glanced at her phone before turning it facedown. “I wonder if it would’ve gone differently if you hadn’t walked in on Brie and the groom.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t be shopping for a new sofa to replace the one that had some dude’s balls all over it.”
She gave me ayou know what I’m talking aboutface. “It was a really rough night for you. Everything went wrong even before your sister got into some shenanigans. I think you were emotionally overtaxed and that’s made it all seem so much worse.”
Rather than acknowledging any of those fine points, I said, “Tell me about the thing. With the guy. That you’ve refused to acknowledge for months.”
Her gaze shot to her phone. “There’s no one.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“I don’t know, babe, you’re struggling to believe a lot of true things this week.”
I steepled my fingers under my chin as I watched her. She was just itching to reach for her phone again. “The only reason you haven’t told me is because it’s not actually over. If it was, I would’ve heard about it.” When she didn’t respond, I added, “If this is something you need to keep to yourself, just say that and I won’t ask again. You won’t hurt my feelings.”
Meri took a sip of water and glanced out at the people walking along Newbury Street. She smoothed the cloth napkin on her lap and straightened the silverware. Then, “It’s not over.”
“Are you going to tell me who this person is or are you hoping I’ll guess?”
After a breath, she said, “Simon.”
