“Nora doesn’t seem like a lot of things,” Stella just says, then lets that hang there.She knows Nora Levine—a genuinely mysterious person—well, having worked with her for years on their TV showUnbreak My Heart.
“But seriously,” Sienna says.“Are you considering it?”
“Of course, I’m considering it,” Stella says.“It’s what my wife wants more than anything.”A smile breaks on her face.“And I love my cute little Silas to the fucking moon and back.”
“Still,” Sienna says.
“Let’s say discussions are open, but…” Stella seems unable to wipe that smile off her face.“We’ll see.I’ll keep you posted on the state of my womb, bitches.”She snickers and it’s so infectious, Sienna and I snicker with her.
We hang out a little longer and all the while I try to remember this hot influencer that was supposedly flirting with me last week, but for the life of me, I can’t picture her.
Chapter4
Nic
“Any new hot, high-profile clients?”Derek asks while he fixes me a gin and tonic.
It’s an old joke—because he knows very well I can’t say—and so is my response.“Madonna came to see me.I’ll have her all fixed up in no time.”
“Please don’t fix Madonna,” he says.“She’s perfect just the way she is, and she always will be.”He hands me my drink and we head out to the patio.
Once we’ve sat down, he holds up his glass.“In memory of our beloved Lois.”
I clink my glass to his.“May she be served an equally tasty drink wherever she is,” I say, rather stupidly, while toasting my deceased wife.She would have been sixty-eight today, but she only made it to sixty-three and two months.
“May she swear into eternity.She was so damn good at it.Remember when she called me Lady Sasshole?”
“I’m still chuckling from when she called you a limp-wristed attention whore.”
“She was always on the money.”Derek grins.“I miss her terms of endearment every day.”
I take a breath because I don’t want to cry.I didn’t come here to break down in tears.I came to see my best friend, and to have a drink in Lois’s memory in good company—company she loved, too.
“Where’s Ben?”It’s safer to talk about significant others that are still alive and kicking.
“Late shift.”Derek looks me in the eye.“Speaking of…”
I take a sip, expecting some insider information about their relationship.
“Ben has a new captain at the station.”He waggles his eyebrows.“Shelooks mighty good in a uniform.”
“Really?”I tilt my head.“On Lois’s birthday?”
“Exactly on Lois’s birthday,” he says.“Today is an excellent day to nudge you toward the semblance of a love life again.You’re fifty-four, Nic.Are you really planning on staying single the rest of your life?”
“I honestly have no idea.”I take a gulp of my drink rather than a sip.
“Come on.You must have thought about it.”
“Sure, but… I’m not interested in anyone else.Lois was one of a kind.Where am I going to find someone like her again?”
“Agreed, she was completely unique.”He nods.“But maybe another Lois is not what you should be looking for.”
“We were together for almost twenty years.That’s not something you can just shake off.”
“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” Derek says.
“Also, when you’re into older women, it’s even more difficult to find someone to…” I can’t even name it properly.Connect with?Have some sort of chemistry with?
