Page 81 of Mr. Infuriating

I preferred stewing. My righteous anger kept me from crying, and I’d done enough of that in the beginning of the week when I lay in bed and hugged the pillow he’d used.

Not my proudest moment.

But tonight, I was doing laundry and washing away any trace of Gabe Mitchell.

That was the plan anyway.

But when I got home, after I put Jake to bed, I found myself coming up with other things that “needed” to get done first.

Like organize my sock drawer.

My phone rang as I sorted my knee-high from my anklets, and I glanced at the screen.

Laura.

I answered with a cheery, “Hey, gorgeous, what’s up?”

“My beautiful friend! What are you doing?”

“Just some stuff around the house; what about you?”

“You should get a sitter and come out with me!”

“Um, it’s eight-thirty on a Friday night. I don’t think you understand how getting a sitter works.”

“I know, I forget you can’t be spontaneous when you’re a mom.”

“My days of spontaneity are behind me. At least until Jake doesn’t need a babysitter. And that’s probably when you’ll be having kids, so I think our Thelma and Louise era will have to wait until our sixties.”

“Come on, I’m not waiting until Jake’s old enough to not need a babysitter before I have kids. I’m two—three years tops, away from procreating.”

“Don’t you need a partner to do that?”

“Eh, I’ve got a little bit more time to have fun before I have to think about settling down. Which is why I was calling you! I thought we could go see what’s shaking at Flannigan’s tonight. Maybe we could get you an encore with Gabe.”

“Yeaaaah, that’s not going to happen.”

“What? Why not? Was he a bad lay?”

“No, just the opposite, actually. Hands down the best sex I’ve ever had. He spent the night, and we ended up spending Saturday night together, too.”

“Oh, wow! Quite the contrast from his brother. Derrick gave me five minutes of pillow talk before he put on his pants and was out the door.”

“You’re kidding. Ugh, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. I was glad I didn’t have to kick him out.”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. That sounded awful.

“I am so not cut out for dating in today’s world.”

“You just need practice compartmentalizing. Sex can just be about the physical act. Feelings don’t have to be involved.But if you and Gabe spent the weekend together, it sounds like that wasn’t the problem, so why won’t there be an encore?”

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t want more kids.”

“Okay, so he’s not Mr. Right. Why not let him be Mr. Right Now? Keep enjoying the great sex until Mr. Right does come along.”

“I’m not wired that way. There will always be feelings involved for me when it comes to having sex.”

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