Page 79 of Actually Yours

“He wants to go out again.”The man is determined. I’ll give him that.

“He’s really keen, hey?”

“It’s always the wrong ones who end up liking me the most.”

“Or the ones who are interested in you, who you keep scaring away.”

Touché. Andrea has a point.

I message Mike back, letting him know as gently as possible that I’m not interested in another date, and put my phone back down with another sigh. Only to pick it up again when it pings loudly.

“Is it him?”

I blink at the screen in front of me. It’s a message from Joe the firefighter, who I don’t remember giving my number to.

“Damn Bella.” I send my bestie a rapid-fire text, demanding answers.

“It’s not him,” I report to Andrea, tapping my foot anxiously while I wait for Bella’s response.

BELLA: Sorry! I gave it to him at the gala ball. When I’d THOUGHT you two had hit it off. My bad for not keeping up with the shenanigans of your love life.

Humph. That’s a reasonable answer, but still. I don’t want a message from Joe.Why am hearing from everyone I know except for Jake?

“This is getting ridiculous.” I type another rejection text message, this time to Joe, the innocent firefighter who had haplessly wandered into my drama-filled love life. “I hate my phone!”

Determined to put it and thoughts of Jake out of my mind, I collect my bag from my locker, tossing my phone inside, retrieving it instantly when it pings again. This has to be him.

“It’s not him.” I feel the blood rush from my face as I read the latest message, looking up to see Andrea watching me with concern.

“Who’s it from?”

I show her the screen, my hand shaking. “It’s a message from my dad.”

*****

"What does he want?”

It’s been two hours since I received the text message from my dad, out of the blue, while I’m at my most vulnerable. In true emotionally stunted fashion, I hadn’t replied, instead calling my friends over for an emergency therapy/drinking session.

“He wants to see me,” I tell them around the straw in my mouth. Lilly had turned up with ingredients to make strawberry daiquiris and had been keeping up my supply like a trooper.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Amy asks, taking my drink and replacing it with a glass of water. Which is a real grown-up move, given it’s a Tuesday night and we all have to work in the morning.

I think back, counting the months, realising it’s been years. “At least two years.”

My friends give me matching looks of sympathy, and I gulp at my water.Has it really been two years?

“I wonder why he’s reaching out now?” Bella asks in a soft voice.

“My mum told me his new wife is pregnant. Maybe he wants to share the news?”

Lilly frowns at this. “Do you really think so?”

Given that he hadn’t contacted me the last two times his wife was pregnant, this seems doubtful, but what else can it be?

“Maybe you should just call him? Put us out of our misery?” This comes from Amy, the only adult in the room, apparently.

“Call him?” I gape at her like she’s grown another head. “What are you? A Boomer?”

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