“Good. I don’t think I can help myself either. You look good in yoga pants.”
Butch sighs.
Bea pinches her lips together, but her dimples are still popping as she gives me a conspiratorial glance.
I’ve never believed the perfect woman existed.
But if she did, I do believe she’d be on her way to have tea with me right now.
25
FAMILY LUNCHES AND OTHER AWKWARD THINGS
Bea
Beingfriends-with-benefits with a single dad is already reminding me of how difficult parenting is.
We didn’t do tea yesterday. One of Simon’s boys gets tangled up with a skunk and so Simon had to dash off before we made it to the tea house.
He had the boys last night, so his focus was on them, though he’s texted me a lot.
The man is hilariously funny with a vulnerable vibe beneath it all that I can’t help but appreciate, even if I’m wary of how much I’m enjoying everything about him right now.
And then there’s the other weirdness that comes with being involved with a single dad.
Namely, his ex.
Who’s now sitting at my chef’s table, having a burger and fries while I wait on the occasional customer. I’m parked at the farmer’s market, the only food truck here today, and traffic is slow enough to make me wonder if the Camilles are spreadingmore rumors, or if something else is going on that I haven’t picked up on yet.
I know my social media reach is being suppressed—Lana said she almost couldn’t find my account to see what today’s special was even after searching for my bus by name—but I don’t know why or how to fix it.
It’s frustrating, but I’ll find a way to make this work. Or I’ll find a new mission in life.
That’s what I do.
“Can I ask a very personal question?” she says to me between customers.
“We’re basically neighbors since we live in the same town again, I know your boys well enough to tell them to behave in public, and I’m sleeping with your ex, so sure. Let’s get personal.”
She smiles.
Beams, really. “I love your bluntness.”
“Thank you. It comes and goes. And that wasn’t a question.”
“Right. The question. Why did you ever date Jake Camille?”
I look up from the burger I’m frying. “That’s your question?”
“He just seems like such a dick to me. The whole family, actually. But I was one of few people who didn’t like him in high school. Enough that I wondered if the problem was me.”
I shake my head. “He’s good at making people like him. When he asked me out, I felt like he was the first person whosawme in a long time. And it wasn’t just the way he smiled at me, or the little presents and the flowers and the other normal dating things. He’d go to Hudson’s band performances with me, hold my hand when I got nervous before all of those interviews about Griff, reassure me that Ryker would be okay when he was extra grumpy. Jake seemed to get that dating me meant dating my family. And I thought he liked all of us. Sometimes I still can’t believe he’s the guy who woke up one day and was like,weboth know this isn’t working out, so let’s just call it a loss before it gets worse.”
“He seriously just flipped a switch like that?”
“If there were signs, I didn’t see them. And believe me, Daphne and I analyzed everything either one of us could think of to analyze.”
“Asshole.”
