“Be nice,” I scolded but stifled a laugh.
“Do you think she’s cute?” Gretchen asked.
“Yes.” I arched an eyebrow. Perhaps the jealousy I thought I’d seen in Brian ran both ways. “Why?”
“She’s all right, I guess,” she said and then sat back and kissed Greg on the cheek.
I wondered if Brian had heard her, since he made a fist around his fork. His eyes quickly shifted to me, and he smiled. I smiled back. Regardless of Gretchen’s opinions, I liked Brian, and I could tell that he was watching out for me in David’s absence.
“More wine?” Jordan asked, positioning the mouth of the bottle over my glass.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Come on.”
“No,” I said. “I think I’m good.”
“Aw, Livvy,” he sang, the way he used to when he was trying to convince me of something.
“Jordan,” I replied in the same voice, shaking my head.
He put the chardonnay down and his eyes drifted to my neck. “Did I tell you how pretty you look tonight?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“I was just thinking about us. You know.” He shrugged. “We have a long history.”
“History, yes,” I said. “Future, no.”
He laughed a little, then stuck out his bottom lip. “I’m not a kid anymore. I was stupid to let a girl like you get away. I’m happy to hear this Bill guy’s out of the picture.”
“How can you say that?” I asked at his offhand comment when the last several months had been anything but easy. “That was my marriage.”
“Candidly . . . because it gives me a second chance,” he said.
“It doesn’t, though,” I said, folding my napkin in my lap. “I told you. I have a boyfriend.”
“Who’s in New York,” he pointed out. “So, maybe you and I could, you know, get a drink after this. Without the others.”
I stared at Jordan a second. The idea was so ridiculous that it fizzled my anger, and I burst out laughing.
His expression fell. “What’s the big deal? You cheated on Bill, didn’t you?”
My laugh vanished with his proverbial gut punch. So because I’d done it to Bill, I would to David? Jordan’s interest had just gone from harmless to insulting. “The big deal is that my boyfriend is ten times the man you ever were.”
“Aw, Liv, come on,” Jordan said. “You don’t even know me anymore.”
“I don’t need to,” I said. “Sorry,babe.”
Jordan inclined farther toward me, and I realized I’d slid to the opposite edge of my seat. “Think about it,” he said. “We make perfect sense. We were college sweethearts.”
“There’s literally nothing you can say to convince me,” I told him. “So you can back off. I’m totally and completely taken. I might as well be—”
“Olivia,” I heard behind me.
I whipped around at the endlessly deep voice that made my heart soar. David stood over me, arms crossed, wearing an expensive suit and a hard gaze. Just his tone alone was enough to quiet the table.
I jumped up and threw my arms around his neck. “What are you doing here?”
