Chapter Twenty-Three
Trevor’s appointment appdinged the next morning. He looked at it, realizing he’d told Will he’d meet him for lunch. High on his list of things he didn’t want to do was see his friend—his happily married friend—and be forced to explain that he and Jedidiah had broken up.
Will was a fixer. He’d want to help, which meant he’d want to know why they’d broken up and what Trevor could do about it. Because Will knew that Trevor was crazy in love with Jedidiah. No, he hadn’t admitted it but Will had figured it out. Frankly, it shouldn’t have been hard for anyone he was close with to figure that out.
He thought about canceling but Will had said it was important and had sounded excited, so Trevor figured he’d better go. Otherwise he’d feel guilty.
They met at Jalisco’s, Whiskey River’s Mexican restaurant that Mateo Castanera owned. The restaurant had changed hands fairly recently and it was a definite change for the better. Good food, good service, and they’d even spruced up the place with plants and Mexican pottery, along with local artwork hanging on the walls. One of Will’s creations, a large carved wooden jaguar, greeted customers as they came in.
“Why a jaguar?” Trevor asked Will.
“Mateo came by my booth at the art fair and saw a smaller version of a jaguar. He really liked it and wanted something different to put at the entrance of Jalisco’s. So he asked me to carve a life-sized one for the restaurant.”
“He’s kinda scary, dude.”
“He’s a jaguar. He’s supposed to be scary.”
After they ordered Trevor asked, “What’s up? You said this was important.” Whatever it was, it was good, judging by the shit-eating grin on his friend’s face.
“How would you like to be godfather to another little Reynolds?”
“Mel’s pregnant?”
He nodded happily. “Three and a half months. She’s past the morning sickness, thank God. That about killed me.”
“Hate to tell you but your wife is the one who was sick.”
“Sympathy morning sickness. So how about it?”
“Of course I will. Congratulations.” He tried hard and without success not to think about Jedidiah and what it would be like to have a family with her. To see her all round and glowing, carrying his child.
Shit! Since when did he fantasize about having kids? Will was still talking. He needed to pull his head out of his ass.
“Thanks. We don’t know the sex yet. We’re kinda hoping for a girl, but we don’t care as long as it’s healthy.”
“That’s cool, man. Tell Mel congrats too.”
“You and Jedidiah need to come to dinner soon. You can tell her yourself.” Will continued to talk as the waitress brought their food. Trevor didn’t bother to tell him there was no him and Jedidiah anymore. He wasn’t paying attention but he heard something about building a cradle for the new baby.
Then his day went straight to hell. Jedidiah and her friend Angel Chandler walked in. Just what he didn’t need. He knew when she spotted him because she stood stock-still staring at him with the smile fading from her face. Neither of them acknowledged the other, which was stupid but there it was. The two women were seated at a table that directly faced the one he and Will sat at.
Great.
“What’s wrong?” Will asked. “You look like shit.”
“Nothing.” But he couldn’t take his eyes off Jedidiah. Who couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Will turned around and looked. “That’s Jedidiah,” he said, waving at her. “What’s going on? She looks as bad as you do and she’s not making a move to come over and say hi.”
He couldn’t put it off any longer. “We broke up. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“What? Why? You’re crazy about that woman.”
“It wasn’t my idea. It’s a long story that I don’t want to go into.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What part of I don’t want to talk about it did you not understand?”
