Carmela sighed. “Then what? Do I have to pull it out of you?”
“He’s pulling away from me after the night we spent on Saturday. He doesn’t want to be with me, he just wants a convenient—”
“Ladies,” the waiter said as he approached with their food. “Can I get you any refills?”
“No, thank you,” Hailey answered. The other two sat silently as he passed out their plates.
“So, a convenient lay?” Hailey prompted when he walked off.
Carmela rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure that was what she was about to say.”
“Actually, it is. He was so open with me last weekend.” Alex picked up her fork and pushed her food around. “He talked about his life a little more than usual, he asked me about myself. And then he said he didn’t want to leave on Sunday evening. I heard nothing from him on Monday, so I went to see him at the shop last Tuesday morning. He was alone, and we . . .”
“Oh, you’re making me jealous,” Carmela said in a throaty voice as she fanned her face.
“Yeah. Well.” Alex took a bite, but she wasn’t focused on the food. “I haven’t heard anything from him since except for a text telling me he was busy.”
“Ooh, damn. That sucks.” Carmela nudged Alex’s drink closer to her.
Alex took another big sip. “It does.”
They took a few minutes to eat without talking. Hailey was the more compassionate of the two, but Carmela felt sorry for her, too.
“So when I said you should walk away before he changed you or made you miserable, you ignored me.”
“How do I walk away when I’m so far in?”
“Babe, you’re only in lust. Trust me.” Carmela pointed her fork at Alex.
“If you say so.”
Alex had another margarita before she called it quits and had Carmela take her home. She was tempted to call Grant, but she knew it was the alcohol talking. She didn’t want to be his last-minute boredom cure. She didn’t want to be his fix because he’d decided to change up his life. That wasn’t fair to her. She thought she deserved more, but it didn’t seem that he thought the same. He was using her, plain and simple.
***
Grant was going out of his mind. He sprawled out on the couch, draining his third beer. He didn’t want to think anymore, not about Alex, or his feelings, or anything else. He hated that he’d strung her along and was now ready to dump her and steer clear of all women. Even though he’d told her ahead of time what he expected, he didn’t think it was fair to her to hold her to it. Maybe that wasn’t the brightest decision. He didn’t knowwhatwas the brightest decision.
His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen. He picked it up as soon as he saw who it was. “Reagan!”
“Hey, G. What are you up to?”
“Just hanging out at home.” He sat up and scrubbed his hand through his hair.
“No hot date on a Friday night?” she teased.
“Ugh. No.”
“Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good. Are you okay?”
He heard the concern in her voice and it made him feel like an even bigger asshole. “I’m fine. I was seeing this woman casually, but it felt awkward so I haven’t seen her in almost two weeks.”
“What felt awkward?”
“The casual part. You know me. But I made it clear I didn’t want a relationship, and I think she’s changed her mind about it.” He rubbed his face and shifted on the cushion.
“There’s nothing wrong with casual every once in a while, but don’t you want to give her a chance? There must be something about her that you like.”
“I do like her. It’s hard to explain, Ray. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, to stop being boring and predictable. I told her I wasn’t looking for long-term commitments, but it didn’t stick. I’m repeating my same old pattern.”
