I shrugged, feigning ignorance. “Nothing.”
She raised a single brow but offered nothing in return. Ugh, she was becoming more and more like Mom every day. Not that I’d tell her that.
I quickly debated whether to tell her the truth or not. I settled for not. “Sorry, it’s just a work thing.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“It’s fine. Nothing I can’t handle.”
She picked up her coffee and carefully considered me across the table. “Ok, this can’t honestly just be about work.”
“Why not?”
“Jace, I’ve known you my whole life. I know work problems versus girl problems.”
“I’m a grown man. I don’t have girl problems.”
She cocked that same eyebrow in response, mocking me.
“It’s nothing,” I said, nervously scratching my neck. “I might have met someone.” I blurted out.
She sat up straighter, instantly intrigued. “And?”
“And nothing. It was a one-time thing. I didn’t even get her number.”
Sarah deflated, groaning. “Ugh, guys are the worst! You obviously like this girl enough that you’re sitting there with heart eyes still thinking about her, and yet apparently you were either too horny or too stupid to get her details? I feel sorry for you.”
I was still stuck on the heart eyes comment. “And why is that?”
“Because. If you’d done the decent thing and taken her on a date instead of banging her like some floozy—”
“Jesus, Sarah.”
“Then you wouldn’t look like someone who just lost the Oscar.” She took a bite of her toast. “You’re the floozy, by the way.”
“Yeah, I got that,” I said wryly.
“So?” she asked, waving her toast towards me.
Was I meant to know what she wanted me to say? “So … what?”
She huffed. “Are you going to see her again?”
“I told you—”
“So what, you havenoother way of contacting her? How did you even meet her anyway? An app? Friend of a friend?”
Ah. That was it: her friend, the bartender. If I went back to the bar, maybe she would give me Audrey’s number or some way to contact her.
Sarah was a genius.
“Anyway, she must be pretty special to have you pining over breakfast.”
“Yeah …” I smiled. “Maybe.”
I metTerry at some trendy restaurant that looked exactly like every other trendy restaurant in Chicago. With the show in its third year, it was time to start thinking about my long-term goals.
Before the show had started, and for most of my career, the focus had been on chasing the job that would put me on the map. Step by step, audition by audition, inching towards a point where I didn’t have to worry about what would come next. Where I could pick and choose the jobs offered to me and have the career I wanted, as well as the financial stability to look after the people I cared about.
