“How was work, dear?” she joked. She pointed at the wooden spoon next to the rice pot, silently commanding me to stir. I complied.
“Are you looking for gossip or do you actually want to hear about my work?”
“Gossip, of course.”
“My dad found out about Denver.”
Jenny laughed. “You hide him like he’s a shameful secret. Denver is just about the most respectable specimen you could drag home.” She ticked off his qualities on her fingers. “He works for a bank, he has good personal hygiene, nothing on him is pierced, and he takes you on real dates.”
“Youmake fun of him.” I stole a piece of carrot out of the pan and ate it quickly.
“Too much salt?” Jenny asked.
“Nope, perfect.”
“I make fun of him because he’s a little too perfect, a little too cookie-cutter. You need someone who’s going to challenge you once in a while. And, you know, maybe someone with less gel in his hair.”
I sighed. Jenny knew me too well; enough that she could see all the reasons I’d picked Denver out in the first place, even if she didn’t fully understand the motivation behind it. Denver was nothing like my family, nothing like Clay, and I liked that.
Clay Olsen. It always seemed to come back to him.
Stupid childhood crush. I’d like to crush it until it was a fun little detour in my history that no one had to know about, like the Justin Bieber poster I used to keep on the back of my bedroom door.
Case in point, after talking to Dad about Denver today, my mind had dwelled on the fact that it was Herbert who told Dad about my boyfriend, not Clay. I’d asked Clay not to say anything, and as far as I could tell, he’d kept his promise.
It shouldn’t matter.Heshouldn’t matter. Clay had always been there. I should be bored with him by now, despite his dark blue-gray eyes, his wavy brown hair, and his big strong hands that could fix anything. Stupid crush.
“So, what does this mean? Did your dad ask to meet him?”
“Huh?” I pulled myself out of my thoughts and back to the conversation at hand. “No, but that’s not good news. Normal dads ask. My dad? He’ll probably recruit a spy or go visit Denver while he’s working at the bank and pretend he’s interested in a home equity line of credit.”
Jenny stopped stirring the meat and vegetables and looked at me. “He’d do that?”
“I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s discuss this with food in our mouths.”
“So lady-like, Lauren.”
“So hungry.” I grabbed a plate and dished myself up a nice helping of rice and stir-fry. I loved that Jenny cooked. You would think the more you enjoyed food the better you’d be at making it, but I’d proved that theory wrong over and over again. I couldn’t even properly make brownies from a mix.
After a few bites, I continued. “He’s never liked anyone I’ve dated. Okay, he liked one guy, and that turned out to be the biggest disaster of all.”
“Because your dad got too attached to him?”
“Because he was my dad’s best employee, and he immediately quit after we broke up. His name was Boyce.” I didn’t like to think about Boyce. I still felt bad about him, and not just because of my dad.
“Boyz?” Jenny leaned forward. “Did you call him Boyz, like Boyz II Men?”
I rolled my eyes. “B-O-Y-C-E. Boyce. And don’t try to make everything about Boyz II Men. Your obsession with them is weird. You weren’t even born when they had their ten seconds of fame.”
“It was way more than ten seconds. They set records with their number one hits.”
“Anyway…”
Jenny rolled her hand. “Sorry. Continue. When did you date Boyce with a C?”
“When I was twenty. And my dad has never gotten over it. He still brings him up from time to time. It’s not like I deliberately tried to ruin his favorite employee.”
Jenny swirled rice around her plate. “Dating coworkers is always tricky. I’m assuming you were working there, too, right?”
