“Nicole Garrett.”
“Nicole Garrett,” Jasper said thinking, “Yes, Nicki. He snapped his fingers. Yeah, we went to high school together. I think she was in my math class, or maybe it was biology? Nice girl, quiet. We ran in different circles, but I’d probably recognize her if I saw her. She must still live around here, huh?”
“Yep, she lives right by Jesse’s.”
“Hey, that’ll be handy. You can head over to her place after a long day behind the stove. She can help you relax.” Jasper waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Sean just rolled his eyes. “I don’t think anything like that is going to happen. Everything was going great; we were there talking and laughing. We lost track of time, and you know how you feel that spark, that chemistry?”
“Sexual tension?”
“Yes, it was there! I know she felt it too! God, it was so disappointing.”
“Did you come on too strong? Did you start sharing your life plan? Did you tell her how you don’t see yourself having kids, and how what you want most out of a relationship is someone to be your partner for life? Did you mention the word soulmate?”
“First of all, no. And second of all—,” Sean punched Jasper in the arm.
“What was that for?” he yelped.
“You being ridiculous. I don’t know what happened! Everything was going really well and then all of a sudden, she just went cold. Then we left and I drove her home. She could nothave gotten out of the car any faster; she practically opened the door and rolled out while I was pulling into her driveway!”
Jasper was mid swallow when he started laughing so hard that beer went up his nose. He kept laughing until there were tears streaming down his face and Sean had joined in as well.
“I-I c-can’t stop picturing it! Her rolling out of your Jeep,” Jasper gasped.
“I’ll admit; it’s pretty funny, but damn it, I liked her. I thought maybe…well at least I thought we’d go out again. See this is why I’ve haven't been dating. I’m not built for the on again, off again.”
“Oh, I know Sean. You are, ah, like a golden retriever.”
“I’m a dog?”
“I mean not in a bad way, more like the opposite. You’re easy-going and you are the most reliable friend I have. And you’re a hugger. See, like a golden retriever.”
Sean rocked his head, side to side. “Okay, I see what you mean. I don’t hate it. I suppose I am like that. Too bad you weren’t there Jasper, maybe you could tell me what Nicole is. She’s definitely not a golden retriever.”
“Well maybe she’s had a bad break up or two? Or maybe she just wasn’t into you?” Jasper leaned back and tapped a finger on his lips. “You want to know what I would do?”
“I know what you’d do. You’d just move on. Plenty of fish in the sea, tons of honeys waiting for you on the app.”
Jasper screwed up his face, “Tons of honeys, what does that even mean? You’re a riot, Sean. That’s why I keep you around, you make me laugh and you are the best chef. What I was going to say was, if you think there was something there, what could it hurt to send her a text? If she leaves you on read you’ll know she’s not interested; if she replies, you just go from there. I think you are overthinking it. Women aren’t that complicated.”
And with that, Jasper got up and headed back inside the main brewery building.
***
NICOLE
Nicole was scrolling social media trying to distract herself until it was time for Zaina to pick her up. Usually watching random stranger’s videos online made time fly. Today the minutes were creeping by. She shouldn’t have gotten ready so early. Now all she could do was sit and hope her hair stayed sexy. She put down her phone and went back to the bathroom to check her makeup and hair. She gently fluffed the curls around her face and adjusted the clip in her hair.
Devin was a marvel at hair and makeup. Nicole didn’t know how she managed to always look so put together, especially since she had twins to chase after. Not to mention, she was always running around between her law office and being mayor. Nicole recalled Devin saying her mom had drilled into her the importance of always looking proper. "Black women don’t get the same consideration your white friends might get. You always have to be on point in your clothing, hair and manners."
Nicole had always been a wash-and-go girl, except for the bad days. She looked in the mirror once again admiring her hair. Thank God it had grown back. Losing her hair during chemo had not only ached as it happened, but once it was gone, she couldn’t hide that she was sick. She couldn’t go anywhere without strangers knowing she had cancer, and she hated that. She took a deep breath and pushed those emotions away. She should be excited about where she was now; dwelling in the past wishing she’d never had to deal with cancer wasn’t living. Once she started thinking about the bad old days, it was hard for her to stop.
She thought back to when she’d been at her lowest, going for weekly chemo treatments, sitting in the infusion room with Zaina or Devin there by her side and talking about all the things she was going to do when she was done fighting cancer. It had been so easy to talk about the wonderful life she was going to have, the wonderful life she was supposed to be living right now.
Somehow, she’d become trapped in a comfort zone of work, sensible eating, moderate exercise and avoiding as much stress as possible all to try and guarantee the cancer never came back. She thought that maybe if she just kept her head down and didn’t make any waves, the universe would reward her with a long life and no cancer ever again. She knew it wasn’t logical, but that’s how she lived, and it had been working just fine for her. At the same time, what would her old self say, the one who she’d made promises to about living life? Her head was full of so many conflicting thoughts that she began to convince herself she’d be better off if she just stayed home tonight.
Her phone chimed. Too late now, Zaina was here. She put her purse over her shoulder and made sure she had her house keys, then she hustled out the door to Zaina’s waiting car. Nicole got in and put her seatbelt on.
