Page 16 of The Sweetness of Life

Lexi asked if Shelby was going to post about it on her blog, Starving for Southern, and Shelby just grinned and lifted her glass to her lips. I turned and left without actually finding out her answer.

“She has a blog, too?” Kyle asks.

“Oh yeah, and not a little blog, either. It’s a big one.” I open my laptop and type in the web address.

“Well, what is it?” he asks as I move my computer around so he can see the screen.

“Starving for Southern.” I watch him carefully as he studies the image of a girl with her hands covering her face—the same girl who’s been walking around here for the last twenty-four hours.

“Shut the hell up!” He leans closer to get a better look. Even though her face is hidden, there’s no denying it’s her. Same hair, same shoulders, just . . . the same. “I can’t believe that girl, the one out there, runs Starving for Southern.”

“I take it you’ve heard of it?”

“Of course I have. It’s my job to keep up on the who’s who of food and wine in the south. This blog has been around for years.” He leans back in his chair.

“Yeah, I had heard of it, too. Lexi had mentioned it a few times, just saying how much she loved the recipes on it. Needless to say, I was shocked and then pissed when I found out my blind date for the night was the author. I checked repeatedly after that night and searched our name, but nothing ever popped up.” Tension builds in my muscles as I think about that night.

Turning the laptop back around, I scroll down through the home page. Most of the posts are recipes and food tips, but every now and then, there’s a review.

“Wow, what a small world.” Kyle shakes his head.

“Tell me about it.” I frown and run my hand over my face.

When Lexi first called and said she had someone she wanted me to meet, I was all for it. How could I say no? Lexi has great taste in friends.

But after what I heard, and then later what I saw, I went out of my way to spend as little time with the girls as I could. I ran into a few colleagues in the industry and was approached by a few girls, but mostly I kept returning to the bar to try to drown the hours away.

At one point toward the end of the evening Lexi found me standing at a small table. She was fuming and called me an asshole, and although I hated disappointing her, I had my reasons.

No one knew about the four wilted grapes review yet. It was scheduled to go to print a few days later, and until then, I was keeping it to myself. So, I didn’t explain.

She pushed her hair over her shoulder, nodded to her friend as she walked toward us, and mumbled, “Whatever.”

I knew then I was forgiven.

“Come out soon and see me?” I asked.

“Maybe.” She punched me in the arm and then hugged me tight. “See you around, Ten.” Ten—a stupid nickname she gave me because of my college jersey number.

“See ya, Key Lime.” I returned her teasing. Lexi makes pies.

As I walked toward the door, ending the worst blind date ever, my eyes met her friend’s. No words needed to be said. We both knew the likelihood of seeing each other again was slim to none.

Too bad we don’t always get what we want.

“You know what this means,” Kyle says.

“Not really. I mean, she’s a food blogger, critic, whatever. You know how I feel about critics.” Just saying the word critic leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“I do, but you need to stop thinking of them in a bad way, and really, you’re the only one here who doesn’t like her. Michelle, the crew, and myself—we all think she’s great. So, keeping that in mind, also think about how if she’s happy here, she might blog about it and/or Instagram the wine. She has like a bazillion followers, and since she’s so well known in the southeast, she might be as much of a marketing strategy as the magazine article.”

Strategy.

My eyes jerk and lock onto his as the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end—he’s right.

Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Oh, I know, it’s because I’ve been too caught up verbally sparring with her and trapping her against walls. I shake my head at the frustration I feel for myself.

“What?” he asks.