And how could she not half-smile ayou bet your britches I willhalf-smile back at that?
Jules cleared her throat. “So, how was your divorce lawyer?” She shoveled another handful of fries into her mouth and eyed the rest of Anna’s sandwich as though she’d be asking for it next.
As if she hadn’t just used the worddivorceas casually as if they were talking about a mechanic and a tire rotation.
“Jules?” Anna’s lips went rubbery, her cheeks paralyzed, her eyebrows so high she’d nearly given herself a permanent face-lift.
“Seriously, if this is going to get touchy-feely, forget I asked. You gonna eat your sandwich?”
Anna doubted she’d want to eat anything the rest of the day, and she regretted what she’d already ingested. She slid the paper box across the table.
“It’s not working out between me and Brad,” Jules said. If it hadn’t been for the twitch in her cheek and the catch in her voice, barely noticeable between her inhalation of two fistfuls of fries, Anna might have believed her.
“God, I could eat a horse.” Jules glanced at the next table over. A master sergeant was cleaning away an unfinished boxof Burger King chicken tenders. Anna’s stomach rolled over.
She hadn’t seen anyone lust after chicken like that since Beth hit her second trimester with Jacob.
“Jules—”
“Have you ever dipped fries in a milkshake? Because, oh. My. God. Better than an orgasm.” The wonky eyebrow appeared. “Tells you something, doesn’t it? Giggidy, my ass.”
Anna’s face screwed up like she’d bit a lemon. She didn’t needthatmental image. She scrubbed her tongue over the roof of her mouth, swallowed hard, then put on her best poker face. “Have you two had counseling?”
“Counseling’s for fucking losers,” Jules said.
Out of the corner of her eye, Anna tracked Jackson moving her way. She gave a subtle head shake. He stopped.
“You’ve had some major life changes this year,” she said delicately. Brad still wasn’t working, but Jules had been tight-lipped with any other information. “Lots of stress. Are you sure divorce is the right answer?”
“It put you better off, didn’t it?”
Anna’s phone dinged a text message alert. “It put me different.” She glanced at her phone even though she knew what it was.
Here if you need me.
“See?” Jules said. “Better off.”
No, not better off. Jackson had an expiration date. “Temporary reprieve.”
“Suppose it doesn’t matter how good your lawyer was. Brad won’t get off his ass long enough to fight me.” Jules straightened. “Hel-lo. Hottie checking us out.” She winked and waved.
And Jackson, happy-go-lucky, grin-at-anyone Jackson, didn’t crack the barest hint of a smile.
“This repeal of don’t-ask-don’t-tell is seriously hurting the uniform hotness factor,” Jules said. “God, I want a milkshake.”
“Does Brad know you’re pregnant?”
Jules went from slightly irritated to radiating pissed-offanger in half the time it would’ve taken her to down a large shake, which was probably three nanoseconds. “Are you calling me fat?”
Anna held up a hand, more to stop Jackson than to make peace with Jules.
He dropped into an empty seat at the end of a long row of tables.
Jules kept talking. “I could take you to human resources for that. The workplace isn’t supposed to be hostile. What a woman does with her own body is nobody else’s damn business.”
“I’m asking as your friend.”
“Well, who asked you to be my friend?”
