Page 25 of Friend Zoned

“What then?” I know what she’s getting at, but I refuse to acknowledge it.

“The fact that your family owns half the hotels in this country and abroad,” Colt says. I stand, put both hands on my hips and stare, but he’s not done. “And the fact that Jeannie works for you,” he adds.

“She doesn’t work for me. I work here. You work for me,” I point at him. “And I should talk to the owner about getting you traded.” He knows I’ll never do that, and his smile deepens. “Well, I told her, but she doesn’t believe me.” I look away and avoid Vickie’s shrewd gaze.

They have a silent conversation with their eyes until Vickie asks, “She doesn’t believe you?” Her eyes narrow as she takes a step closer to me. “I’m having a hard time believing that. Set the scene for me,” she commands. “Tell me everything that was said when you made your big reveal.” She puts big reveal in air quotes, crosses her arms, and waits. Her husband mimics her moves. I take a deep breath and tell them the conversation I had with Jeannie after I gave her my business card and she found out my last name is Walsh.

“Are you kidding me?” she asks while her husband erupts in laughter.

I shrug and say, “I can’t control what she believes.”

“Bull. You don’t want her to know. Why not?” she asks

“I’ll get to it,” I say in my defense.

“Well, you should get to it soon,” Vickie says.

“If I do that, the best-case scenario is that I’ll be stuck in the friend zone forever. Worse case is she’ll block my number and never speak to me again.” I should have told her who I was that night. I could have handled it then, but if I tell her now, she’ll never see me as anything more than a friend. There’s also the added complication of me possibly taking a job there next year when my contract ends.

“It’s not like the man can change his family,” Chastain says in my defense. “I don’t understand women. Never will.”

His wife looks away from me and walks to him. He takes a step back as she approaches. “What women are you trying to understand, husband?” She crosses her arms and waits.

“Oh, Queen, you know how turned on I get when you get jealous.” He throws an arm around her and pulls her close. “I’m all yours, baby. Don’t worry.”

She makes a fist at him, and he covers it with his palm. Then she smiles and gets on her tippy toes for a kiss. It’s an intimate moment that reminds me of everything that’s missing in my life. I didn’t even know I was missing it until recently. I’ve been living a solitary life for so long, I don’t know what anything else looks like.

I was drafted into the league at twenty, and when my career ended after four short years, I never left. I worked my way up from being an assistant coach, and now, here I am, almost twenty years later, living the life of a nomad. Hopping flight after flight but spending lonely nights in hotel rooms no longer holds the same appeal as it did twenty years ago when I was a freshman in college.

Wakowski comes barging into my office with Chastain’s kid chasing after him. He runs behind me and uses me as a shield. The kid goes around me and wraps himself around one of Wakowski’s legs.

“He’s got me! He’s got me!” The idiot drops himself on the floor, almost knocking me over in the process, and the kid falls too, both of them giggling like it’s the funniest thing on earth.

“Go get him, please,” Vickie says to Colt, who picks up Evan and holds him. “You want to go have lunch with me after we watch your daddy practice for a little while?” Vickie runs her hand through the boy’s hair, and the kid nods.

“Can I go too?” Wakowski asks.

“Stay away from my wife,” Chastain says, playfully slapping Wakowski in the back of the head.

“Come on. Let’s go sit down.” Vickie says to Evan. “Hurry up with this practice nonsense. And don’t get any ideas about me coming to your practices from now on,” she says to Colt. He puts the boy down and takes Vickie’s hand. “Coach, we’ll talk again soon.”

Chapter 12

Jeannie

It’s not a date. It’s not a date. It’s not a date. I replay that mantra in my mind over and over again. I’ve been reminding myself of that all day. I didn’t schedule a hair appointment yesterday because I’m seeing Aiden. I have a high maintenance hairstyle. Since I got this pixie cut, I have to keep it trimmed. That’s why I scheduled the appointment as soon as Aiden left my apartment four days ago, not that I’m counting.

I didn’t buy designer jeans and a new red top to impress him. I made a promise that I would take better care of myself, and retail therapy is part of that. I only went to the nail salon because I’m claiming my life back. I used to go there with Camille and Leah every month. We’d get our nails done and go have a decadent brunch. We’d been doing it for the past five years, but when my marriage ended and our friendships imploded, I avoided that place like the plague. Returning there is part of my journey back to myself.

Your journey back to yourself? Girl, you’ve read way too many self-help books.

Even now as I sit in the back of his car, I can feel the butterflies waging a war in the pit of my stomach. I haven’t eaten all day. I barely slept last night. Thank goodness for the new makeup I bought to help cover the bags under my eyes. Makeup I bought for myself, not to look pretty for him. Or anyone else for that matter.

The car pulls up to a brownstone on a quiet street in the middle of the city. I’ve only ever seen this neighborhood on television. There has never been any reason for me to be here, yet here I am. Here to have dinner with my friend.

It’s been years since I’ve made a new friend. I’ve always had a small circle. I come from a big family, so my cousins are my friends. Now that we’re older and some have either moved away or started families, I see the importance of a circle of girlfriends. I had that until Quintin took it from me too.

Tonight is not about Quintin, Camille, or Leah. Tonight is about me and my very unlikely new friend. I never could have predicted I’d be here in a million years, but there is no place else I’d rather be.

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