Page 46 of Suddenly Dating
“That depends,” she said. “I want to meet Birta Hoffman and her agent. If I help you meet Mr.Cantrell, which I am obviously doing, as you wouldn’t be invited if it weren’t for me,” she said, smiling devilishly at that, “then you have to help me meet Birta Hoffman, or no deal.”
“Deal,” he said easily. How hard could that be? “So we’re doing this? We’ll do this as a favor to each other and get it done?”
She picked up a bag of coffee and added it to the cart, braced her hands on either side, and said, “I’m still wondering about this date business. When you saydate,what exactly do you mean?”
Damn it, she was determined to make him work for it. “Like... two people on a date,” he said. “You’ve been on a date, right?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Plenty. Have you?”
He snorted.
“So then you know we have to establish a story. Are we a couple?”
“Ah... I guess,” he said, uncomfortable with applying that word. In some ways, he hadn’t completely uncoupled from the idea that he was with Melissa. And besides, this was a favor. Why did they have to put a lot of labels on it?
“Youguess? Are we a couple, or did we just meet over spinach and sort of show up at the same place?”
Harry sighed. He dragged his fingers through his hair. “Why are you making this so hard?”
“Couples have to know each other, Harry. They talk to each other, they aretogether. And I don’t know anything about you.”
“You’re right,” he said, nodding. “I don’t know anything about you, either. I didn’t know you were divorced. Maybe you could start by telling me if there are any other surprises lurking. That would help. Know any other people in East Beach? Any other thing about you that might pop up?”
He hadn’t meant it as it apparently sounded, because Lola’s gaze suddenly hardened. “I just remembered I need some kale.” She brushed past him, walking quickly back to the produce section.
For the love of God, if there was one thing that drove Harry insane, it was having to darken the door of a grocery store. If there was anything worse than that, it was backtracking in a grocery store. But he felt like an ass at that moment and dutifully turned his cart around, going against traffic, and followed her back to the produce section.
She was standing under a sign that said Organic Producepicking up bunches of kale. Harry was familiar with kale—Melissa had deemed it her diet food. He had personally eaten pounds of it in the last year. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should be more sensitive.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said, her eyes fixed on the kale as if studying a new plant species. “It’s no big deal.”
Bullshit. Divorce was always a big deal. Just ask Zach and Sara. Just ask him. The breakup of any relationship was, by its very definition, a big deal. “Do you mind if I ask what happened?”
She glanced up from her kale. “The usual.”
What was the usual when it came to divorce? He stared at her blankly.
Lola sighed. “Infidelity?” she said, as if the answer were obvious.
Harry blinked with surprise. “You had an affair?”
“Notme,” she said, hitting him in the chest with the kale before adding it to the cart. “Him.”
“Oh. Yeah, of course.” Of course? Was it a foregone conclusion that the man in any couple equation would have the affair? There were lots of women out there who got their jollies outside the bounds of holy matrimony, too. “How long have you been divorced?”
“Fifteen months. Not that I’m counting. What about you?”
“I haven’t been divorced,” he said quickly. Perhaps too quickly, judging by her slight frown. He hadn’t meant it as a criticism. It was just that for him, if he ever did take that walk down the aisle, he wanted it to be permanent. Which, his astute sister had once pointed out, was why he never really settled with anyone. He hadn’t been convinced of anything permanent with his girlfriends until Melissa had come along.
“Ah, so you’re abachelor,” Lola said, nodding sagely.
“I’m not abachelor,” he protested. “I just ended a long-term relationship, if you must know.”
“Oh really? Let me guess... afraid to commit?” She tossed an onion at him. Harry caught it with one hand and put it in the basket as Lola walked past him, once again going in the opposite direction of his cart.
Harry turned the damn thing around. “That wasn’t it.”
“That’s what they all say,” she tossed over her shoulder. She was now in front of the yogurt case. But she wasn’t looking at the yogurts with fruit or honey on the bottom. She was looking at a giant tub of plain, fat-free Greek yogurt.
