“We met up when I got back.” The image of Jack with Yelena hanging on his shoulder makes me want to break my mug on my counter. “And things just kind of fell back into place. I’m supposed to meet him after work for dinner.” I wrinkle my nose, shame pooling in my belly.Liar, liar.
“Is it really all that serious? Because Brian—”
“We’ve been seeing each other for a few months. It’s getting to be serious, yeah, but… We’ll see!” I sound as upbeat and chipper as a ray of sunshine shoved into a rainbow shoved into a puppy’s ass. A joy turducken.
“Okay… Brian will be devastated, but… Don’t let me keep you.” She sounds strangely subdued. I have to force myself not to dwell on it. I’ve spent far too many nights dissecting her moods or words like they were science-class frogs.
“I hope you’re not wearing anything black. It doesn’t suit your coloring. No man will find you attractive if you remind him of a struck match, Penelope.”
“Nope, I’m good. Talk to you later,” I say, watching with a frown as the sheet covering The Hole billows slightly.
I hang up and slump on my kitchen stool. Now to decide how long to keep a fake significant other around before telling Mom it’s over. Maybe I draw it out for an age and then on the way to introduce him to her, I show up in tattered clothes, mascara running, screaming about how the love of my life was nabbed in the middle of the street by an unknown enemy and pressed into service in Her Majesty’s navy. He’s doomed to pursue pirates on the high seas, but one day he seizes an opportunity tojointhe pirates, trying with all his might to find his way back to me—only to discover me at the altar about to exchange vows with his biggest rival.
I gust out a sigh.Pirate Dukeis so hot.
The memory of a hand skimming my silk-covered breast and a mouth on my neck in a closet on a different waterborne vessel blazes through my mind. I slowly release a breath, fighting the wildfire that streaks up my spine.Do you really like Jack, though? Maybe it was just proximity to a decent-looking male.Forget about the fact that you reacted to Brian like you would a bowl of oatmeal. Jack sucks. He doesn’t deserve sexy gymnastics with you. He deserves a kick to the head.And this violent sentiment has absolutely nothing to do with his little tête-à-tête with his appraiser.
Maybe he was just having her finish the appraisal?
I snort and pick up my coffee mug.With all that cleavage?
I hear Jack’s vacuum going, and then, as quickly as it flared, the wellspring of denial and annoyance runs dry. I like that menace more than I can say.
19
La Smith is packed, but when Avery and I show up, La greets us with a welcoming smile and gets us a table immediately. She also fusses at me for my ankle, though I assure her I am fine.
“I’m happy for Margie,” I tell Avery once our dinners have been served and La is back behind the bar, “but squatting where you eat—whereweeat… She’s as bad as me with guys.”
“La’s not a guy,” Avery offers unhelpfully.
“I know, but I mean, if she and La don’t work out, we’ll need a new restaurant.”
Avery swipes a fry but then cuts me a piece of his fish. Boy Scout can’t even steal properly. “This thing with La seems different somehow.”
I shove a bite of fish into my mouth and mutter, “Or maybe you’re in love and wearing rose-colored glasses.” Though I begrudgingly admit to myself he’s right.
Instead of acknowledging my comment, he asks, “Was Anna over at Jack’s?”
“No, I haven’t seen her. What’s going on with you two, anyway?”
Avery shrugs a broad shoulder, and a flash of naked vulnerability washes over his face. I’ve never seen him put himself out there with someone he wasn’t sure of. It’s so foreign to see him this way.
“Haven’t heard from her since the party. She mentioned some issues she was having with her fiancé and…um… She tried to kiss me up on the flight deck, but I didn’t want her to do something she’d regret. I mean, I wanted to kiss her, obviously, but not like that. I think she got offended. Anyway, I’m just worried.”
“Wow. Okay… You know what I think?”
“Jägermeister was invented by the devil?”
“Yes, it was, but also, you need to take the advice you’ve always given me: take a breath, let things happen how they will. Don’t force it. Don’t sabotage. Just be.”
He grunts in acknowledgment and gives me a wry look. “I’m very wise. Should we order Margie something to eat?”
I pull out my phone to ask Margie exactly that when I realize she texted me about a half hour earlier.
Can’t make it. Retakes. Incoming, though— Lucas needs that script. Told him to meet you at La’s.
“Margie isn’t coming here. Lucas is!” I immediately drain my wine and fuss with my hair.
