Both men just sat and stared at me in silence.
“From the long faces, I’m guessing the reunion didn’t go well.” Laticia commented as she dropped off a roast beef sandwich in front of Nick. A chicken club in front of Alex. And a double cheeseburger with extra fries in front of me.
It didn’t surprise me that the guys had already ordered or that Laticia knew about the reunion. Nick was a talker; he just couldn’t help himself. In fact, some of the listeners of his podcasts had started calling him Lord Whistledown after the notorious gossiper Lady Whistledown fromBridgerton.
“It was fine,” I lied.
“Peyton was there. They hung out. Had a sleepover. She ghosted him, again.” Nick summarized the reunion with depressing accuracy.
“I’m sorry.” Laticia patted my hand. “But, just remember, sometimes things aren’t as they seem. People do things for all sorts of reasons. So just don’t jump to conclusions. I remember her, and she’s a good girl. You might not have the full story of what’s going on with her.”
I nodded as Laticia moved on to help other customers. As much as I appreciated Laticia trying to make me feel better, I’d always believed actions spoke louder than words. And her actions were screaming that she didn’t want anything to do with me.
“Anyway, enough about me. What’s going on with you guys?”
Nick lifted his pointer finger in the air. “The podcast is number one on iTunes and Spotify.”
“I still can’t believe you have a relationship advice podcast.” Alex shook his head.
“Why not?” Nick asked incredulously.
“How long is the longest relationship you’ve had?”
“Why?”
“He’s just going to argue it’s about quantity not quality.” I popped a fry in my mouth.
“Exactly!” Nick grabbed my shoulder. “Women want to hear a man’s honest, unfiltered point of view on things and I give them that. And, I haven’t announced it publicly, but I just signed a very big deal to do another podcast with a certain radio personality. It’s going to be a he said-she said sort of thing. I can’t say who it is for legal reasons.”
“That’s awesome.” I smiled.
“That’s great, congrats man.” Alex lifted his coffee cup in cheers.
“Okay, fine.” Nick leaned forward and whispered, “It’sSelena Grace.”
Nick had never been able to keep a secret. It still boggled my mind that out of our group he was the oldest. He would be forty this year and still acted like a frat boy half his age the majority of the time.
I looked at Alex. “Have you and Sadie set a date for the wedding?”
“We did, but this morning we decided to postpone it.”
“Why is Sadie knocked up again?” Nick joked as he took a drink of his coke.
Alex’s mouth curled in a goofy smile. “Yep.”
“Seriously?” Nick choked on his soda.
“Seriously,” Alex confirmed. “We’re going to have Irish twins.”
Penelope was just a couple months old, so the next baby was going to be born within a year of her.
I stood and hugged Alex around his neck. “Congratulations, man!”
I couldn’t be happier for my friend. No one deserved happiness more than him. He’d lost so much and had been in such a dark place for so long.
What he’d gone through really put my issues into perspective. The one that got away, got away again.
So what?
