“My best friend. She’s the most gorgeous person I’ve ever seen in real life, she has never been married, she has no kids, she’s younger than I am.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Good Lord. I should hope she’syounger thanyou.” Price was well aware of my almost-thirty-five panic.
We both laughed. I almost decided to take it back. I mean, here was a man who was exactly everything I thought I wanted. And I was going to give him away? But this was my best friend. She was light and fun and free, he was light and fun and free, and they both thought the world subsisted on even numbers.
“Her name is Marcy,” I said.
“So why isn’t gorgeous, childless Marcy married?”
I shrugged. “She has always been pretty wild, but she’s ready to settle down now.”
He nodded. “What does she do?”
“She’s a therapist,” I whispered.
“No,” he said emphatically. “No, no, no.”
I laughed. “At least go out with her. She’s not like that. She doesn’t analyze you or anything.”
He sighed. “I knew I should have taken you to Nantucket. But I was afraid it was too far away, and you would say no.”
I laughed. “You’re so adorable.”
“But not as adorable as Andrew.”
I shrugged. Andrew was pretty damn adorable. “Well, on the bright side, I may be Gray, but, trust me, Marcy is way moreFifty Shades.”
Price took my hand across the table and squeezed it. “In all seriousness, I hope you find your happiness. I only hate that we couldn’t give this thing a real shot.”
“I just know that ten years from now, we’d be in Martha’s Vineyard with our beautiful blended family, and I’d besmiling and kissing you, but on the inside, I’d be thinking about him.”
He nodded. “Then I wish you well.”
We sat there for a second, and I was happy that the waiter came and broke our silence. This was the problem with breaking up with someone when you were on a trip together that wasn’t ending for another day. We ordered for each other, and he said, “Well, on the bright side, I do have one night to change your mind.”
I lifted my glass. “Here’s to that!”
The next morning, as Price opened the door of his Cirrus for me, I did a gut check. This was what I wanted, right? He was perfect husband material. But I had married husband material, and now I was divorced. If I ever got married again, I knew that being in love was entirely more important.
Price slid into the pilot’s seat of the tiny cockpit and leaned over, cupped my chin in his hand, and kissed me tenderly. I have to admit that, feeling his lips on mine, butterflies welled up in my stomach.
“I think you’re amazing,” he said. “But I know when to say good-bye. No one wants to be second choice.”
I shook my head. “It isn’t like that, Price. It’s just—”
“No,” he said, “I get it completely. I’m happy for you. I’m just sad for me.”
I was afraid that the flight home might be like the one I had taken not all that long ago with Greg. But it wasn’t. Price and I sat in companionable silence, and I realized that, even though I wanted to, I just didn’t feel that spark with him. Wewere two compatible people. We were great friends, and maybe this time around that’s what I should have been looking for. But I realized I still believed I deserved someone who looked at me with that fresh enthusiasm that could only come from new, young (or, in my case, young-ish) love; I still wanted to be with a man who could make me feel like I was ten thousand feet in the air.
As we pulled into my driveway a few hours later, I said, “Why don’t you come in for a drink?”
He hesitated, and I added, “I’m sure that Marcy is in there waiting to hear all about our weekend.”
Price put his hand on my back and led me up the stairs, and I wasn’t surprised at all to see Marcy, hair in a ponytail, tube socks up her ankles, legs stretched on my couch, reading a magazine.
She popped up when she heard the doorknob turn. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I just came over to borrow this month’sVogue.” She winked at me.
“Marcy, this is Price,” I said. “Price, Marcy.”
