“I don’t know how to answer that either. Can you also decide that for me too?”
She laughed at me. Seriously, laughed at me. “You must really like him.”
Her words seemed to grab whatever air was in the room and suck it straight from my lungs. “What?”
“You’re so worried about him. I’ve never seen you like this with a guy before. Usually you’re happy to use and lose them.”
If by use, she meant get them to buy me dinner. And by lose, she meant fake a text before the check came, then she’d hit the nail on the head. “That’s true, but only because they’re usually Tinder randoms that aren’t exactly the bring home to mom kind of gentlemen. Vann is just… more complicated than my usual blind date.”
“By complicated, do you mean he has his life together?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
She released me and stood up. “What if you tried to be friends with him first? I know this might be a foreign concept, and please take no disrespect from this, you know I love you and everything about you. But… what if you, oh, I don’t know, tried dating without sleeping with him? See what happens then?”
I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around my chilling torso. Dang, my body was freezing now that it was starting to cool down. “Sounds risky.”
Her smile softened. “He’s not going to leave you just because he gets to know you.”
I resented her words. Not because she had meant them maliciously, but because she knew me and had the right to call me out on my bullshit. Only there was more to my story than just the fear of being known by someone who could potentially hurt me. I mean, there was definitely that. But there was also more. “You don’t know that,” I said instead, it was easier than the truth. “Isn’t that why couples breakup? They get to know each other and decide they don’t like what they know?”
“It didn’t happen with Ezra and me.”
“You guys are different though.” She gave me an annoyed look. “Besides, I don’t want my only options to be to get hurt badly or get married. Is there a third option?”
Now her smile turned into a frown. “I think you’re doing the third option.”
I threw my hands in the air because the third option wasn’t working either. “See? This is why I’m keeping my distance from now on. I need space from Vann so all of these volatile emotions and freak outs can end. We spent too much time together over the weekend and we were the only single people in the bridal party. Basically, it was bound to happen. I’m just glad it’s out of my system now.”
“So, you’re choosing the moving on option?” But she didn’t sound like she believed me.
“It’s better for everyone this way.”
“Whatever you say.” She walked over to her locker and opened it. “You want to meet here on Thursday for another class? Or are you over getting your butt kicked?”
“Are you seriously willing to do this with me?”
“I hate it,” she admitted. “But I do want to look amazing in my wedding dress. I need a partner though. One that sticks this out longer than the three guest passes I have. So, you need to join the gym and help me.”
“Is Vann going to be here every time.”
She shrugged and it was a little too casual for my Spidey senses not to kick in. “Not every time. But you’re moving on so what does it matter?”
She had a point. And it seemed like he was moving on too. What did I have to lose? I could join this gym and have a workout partner that I loved. Win-win.
I’d have to avoid Vann in the process. I could do that. Easy. Like taking over Bianca had been easy. Or like climbing Everest in a bikini would be easy.
Sixteen
By the endof the week, I was frazzled as hell.
Bianca had not been going smoothly. There were moments of pure genius with my staff. But the majority of my days and evenings were struggling through tough conversations and trying to steer them in the right direction.
The food was, frankly, not up to par. The majority of it was mediocre at best. And as I tried to gently remind people what I was looking for in each dish, meals were taking longer and longer to get out to diners.
Plus, service was slow anyway. Which should have meant we had plenty of time to perfect each plate. But the opposite was true. The more free time we had, the more difficult getting them to focus became.
I was anxious to implement my ideas and switch Bianca’s focus, but I also needed a killer marketing plan to coincide with the changes. Which meant getting Molly on board. Which meant, coming clean to Ezra about my vision shift.
