Luke:Nope. Although they did look alike.
Me:I was 12, you idiot. How was I supposed to know my idol had a doppelganger
Luke:Hm the mailman uniform should’ve given it away
Me:Can you be serious? Freaking out over here. Katy is here.
Two seconds later my phone rang. “Thought that’d get your attention.”
“I can’t believe you let me text that long before dropping that bomb,” he said, his voice raised.
“Wasn’t sure if you were busy,” I answered.
“Doing what?” he asked, his voice going even higher.
“If you have to ask, you’re doing something wrong,” I answered wryly. “Maybe rubbing your wife’s feet again.”
“Stop knocking my moves, dude. She loves it. You should try it.”
“I did. Didn’t work out for me,” I deadpanned.
“You did wh…? Forget the feet for now, but wewillrevisit that. What the heck is going on over there?”
I gave him all the details. The beach day. The intention to talk to Vicky this evening. Katy’s mysterious appearance and our conversation.
Whistling, he said, “Whoa. That’s nuts, dude. And Vicky won’t answer?”
“Nope. Not my call or texts. I don’t know what to do.” I sat up, pacing once again.
“Pretty sure I know the answer to this, but how do you feel about Katy admitting she’s interested?”
“Pfft, she’s not interested. She doesn’t want me, Luke. She just can’t stand the idea of me with someone else. All these years, I was reliable Miles. Always taking up her slack, covering for her with MJ, making her seem better than she was as a mother. Not happening.”
“I get that. I’d honestly have been surprised if you said something different.”
“Yeah, well, anything I might have felt for her as a woman outside of being MJ’s mother ended tonight with the way she talked about Vicky.”
“Oh, boy.” I heard him walking, the familiar shuffling of his feet giving him away. “Sorry, had to go out front. Sofia was coming to bed. If she heard anyone talking smack about Vicky, I’d have to tear my pregnant wife away from poor Katy.”
Despite my pain, I laughed at the visual of an angry Sofia going after my ex.
“What’d she say?”
“Just that she didn’t see the attraction. Made some vague comment about Vicky’s appearance,” I spat out. Just remembering it made me mad all over again.
“Herappearance?” he asked, confused.
“Yeah, like she’s not my type or something.”
After a few beats of silence, he said, “Ohhh. Oh, wow, man. Thought she was better than that.”
“Exactly what I told her. I don’t know what to do about Vicky, Luke. She’s young, has her whole career, her life ahead of her. The age difference doesn’t bother me.Enzois who bothers me. I refuse to put her in a position to choose a relationship with me or pursuing her career. Been there. And I can’t analyze this and come up with an answer,” I said, sitting down again on my bed.
“Dude, there’s no spreadsheet or app that’s gonna help you figure this out. What doyouwant, Miles?”
Blowing out a heavy breath, I answered, “I know what Idon’twant, and that’s to give Katy another chance with me. I will listen to her plans to be a better mother, but there’s nothing between us anymore.”
“And Vicky? What do you see with her?” he asked.
