“How will you inform and entice all the people who haven’t recently visited your website or driven through that light?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know.”
Taking a pen from my purse, I grab a paper napkin from the container at the end of the booth.
“Here’s what you’re going to do.” I uncap the pen and start writing. When I’m finished, I slide it across the table to her.
“This is”—Julia glances up to me and back down to the napkin—“incredible. How do you know about all this?”
I wave my hand in the air. “A past life. It’s not hard. Honestly. You identify your product, and who wants it. Then you take it to the places where they put their eyes.” I recap my pen and slide it into my purse. “Easy peasy.”
Julia reads over my notes. “The grocery store idea. I mean, duh. So perfect.” She looks up at me. “Thank you. I’ve been stressing about this like crazy. You have no idea.”
Our server interrupts Julia to drop off our food. Connor and Anthony remember their dates and ask us what we’ve been discussing.
“Oh my gosh,” Julia says, stuffing an onion ring into her mouth and chewing. “Brynn basically just snapped her fingers and solved all my problems with the parade. I was so stressed but now”—she makes a show of taking a deep breath—“I can chill.”
“Are you chill enough to try that thing I want to try?”
“Anthony,” Connor complains. “Are you for real?” He balls up a napkin and throws it on the table. “We do not want to hear about your requests in the bedroom.”
Julia reddens. “That’s not what he was talking about.”
I ignore them and eat my sandwich. Fried chicken. With pickles. I mean, really? Has anything ever been this delicious? I hear them again when Connor saysbody shot.
“No, I’ve never done one, dipshit. I just want to know what they’re like.” Anthony holds up his hands. “Sue me.”
“They’re not that exciting,” I say, retrieving a pickle from my plate and popping it into my mouth. “You either take the shot and then lick the salt off someone, or you drink the liquor out of someone’s belly button. It’s not that great. Unless you’re talking about the ones that happen at house parties or frat parties, and those can get crazy.” I meet the eyes of three surprised people. They’re more surprised than they were about my prickly pear cactus comment.
“Not that I would know,” I add. “I’ve never done one, but I’ve seen them a lot.”
Connor kisses my temple. “What else is in this beautiful head of yours?” he murmurs against me. His breath tickles the baby hairs at my hairline.
“Many, many things. Like types of screwdrivers and how to line up brackets to hang pocket-rod curtains.” Our job yesterday was installing and hanging curtains in a living room with eight windows. I had no idea how much math went into a job like that. It was a great reminder that I’m still terrible at math, as though I could’ve forgotten.
“Connor, have you painted anything recently?” Julia asks.
“Umm…well…” Connor stammers. An outline of my half-naked form doesn’t count as a painting.
“He painted an eye,” I answer for him. “It’s really cool. It has all these colors inside it, kind of like a storm or something, right, Connor? But it’s like the sky is painted typical storm colors.” I’m using my hands to describe it. “The water is colorful. It’s fascinating.”
“You like it, huh?” Anthony says. His lips are pinched like he’s holding back a smile.
“Yes. Of course I like it. Why?” I squint, trying to figure out why he’s asking before he can tell me.
“No reason.” He looks at Connor and then signals to our server. “Another round, please,” he says when the server stops by.
Julia leans forward. “Connor, there’s an empty space downtown. We’ve been talking about trying to introduce more culture into the area. If I’m able to get my boss to agree to an art exhibit, would you put some of your pieces on display?”
“Of course!” I blurt out, then cover my mouth with my hand. “Sorry. I got excited. I’ll let him answer.”
Connor chuckles and winds his arm around my waist, pulling me into his side. “I’d like that,” he says to Julia.
She claps her hands together twice. “I’ve solved two work problems in one evening. We should double-date more often.”
Anthony gives her a hungry look. “Does this mean I get to take a body shot off you?”
She rolls her eyes and looks exasperated, but I can see her interest. “I guess.”
