“I take it your date didn’t go great last night?” I asked.
She was a serial dater who was on multiple dating websites, and she was constantly showing me the guys she was going out with. But she was quite possibly the pickiest woman on the planet. She found something wrong with every single one of them.
“Guess why she won’t be going out with Stewart again?” Talia used her hand to cover the wide grin on her face.
“Do tell,” Mara said. She took a sip of her wine and set her glass down.
“Keep in mind that last week she went out with the neurosurgeon who looks like he could be on the cover ofGQmagazine, and she thought he had too much chest hair.” Justine’s head fell back with a fit of laughter, her brown ringlets bouncing on her shoulders.
“Dude. His chest hair was so overgrown that it was bunched up beneath his chin, and looked like a beard.” Whitney’s eyes were wide as she shook her head.
The table erupted in a fit of laughter.
“And tell them about your problem with Zed, the beautiful artist from last night,” Talia said with a smirk.
“I can’t wait.” I rubbed my hands together.
“He’s a spitter, and I’m not in the market for receiving a saliva shower. Five minutes in, I knew it had zero chance of working.” Whitney shrugged.
“How much did he spit to be labeled a ‘spitter’?” Mara asked, a wicked grin on her face. “How bad could it have been?”
“Listen, if I need an umbrella to have dinner with you, it’s not going to work. Zed and I are donezo.” She sighed. “So, the more important question is, how do you make the long-distance thing work? Is there a lot of phone sex involved?”
I shook my head, feeling my cheeks pink. “I can’t give all my secrets away.”
“I’m guessing that means there’s a lot of phone sex.” Whitney chuckled, and Mara waggled her brows.
We continued talking and laughing as we ordered a second glass of wine. Justine filled us in on her new boyfriend, and Talia told us that she’d run into the ex she’d dated all through high school, and the sparks were stronger than ever.
I was really glad I’d come, but I was happy once I pushed through the door to my apartment and kicked off my stilettos.
It had been a long day but a good day.
I saw a missed call from Cutler and FaceTimed him as I dropped to sit on the couch.
“Hey, baby,” he said, a big smile on his handsome face.
“Hi. Where are you, and why aren’t you wearing a shirt? It’s almost December and there’s snow on the ground.”
He laughed and turned his phone to Meatball, who was wearing a life jacket, before giving me a view of the large indoor pool behind him. I smirked to keep from laughing.
“Apparently, the indoor pool allows dogs to come swim one day a week, so Meatball just got his first swim lesson, because I can’t allow him to just sink if he jumps in the lake. I can’t handle Meatball having no life skills, Jeege. I told him that we love to go out on the boat, and he needs to get his shit together.” He propped his phone up and pulled his hoodie over his head.
“Damn. I liked the view with no shirt,” I chuckled as I watched him take Meatball’s life jacket off and attach the leash. He started walking and picked the phone back up so I could see him.
“I like any view that I can get of you.” He winked.
“So how many dogs were there tonight with you and Meatball?”
“Exactly zero. But Charlie runs the place, and he said that I could bring him once a week. You know I prefer the lake, but it’s fucking cold outside right now, and Meatball is a lazy fucker, so I figured an indoor heated pool would be better,” he said as he helped the dog into his truck and then sat in the driver’s seat and continued talking.
We’d learned to take the moments we had to talk, because with the time difference it could be hard to always be available at the same time.
But we made it work.
I couldn’t stop smiling. “I love my boys.”
“We love you more.” He turned on the car when Meatball tried to climb onto his lap. “I need to crank the heat, or he will insist on cuddling.”
