Page 93 of Suddenly Dating
“Lola, stop helping people!” Casey exclaimed. “You’re doing it again! You’re putting everyone else before you. Only this time, it’s people you don’t know that well! You haven’t mentioned your bookonce.”
“I don’t have to mention it, Casey. We’re just talking. It’s not like I have to report to you what I’m doing.”
“Then how is it coming?” Casey snapped.
Lola was too mad to answer that question. “It’s not. Birta said she really liked what I had, but I’m stuck. I can’t seem to find words.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know... too much on my mind,” Lola said, and threw down a pencil.
“Oh, Lola,” Casey said, her disappointment evident in her voice when Lola remained silent.
“Don’t, Casey,” Lola said sharply.
“Okay,” Casey said. “Fine. Ruin this opportunity, what do I care? New subject: What’s up with Harry?”
And there was the reason that Lola couldn’t find words. “Well, his ex came to East Beach and it looks like they are going to give it the old college try once more.”
Casey gasped. “Details!” she demanded.
Lola gave them. She told Casey how she’d met Melissa at a party. And about the look she’d seen on Harry’s face, and the longing that had seemed to vibrate around those two. When she had finished telling her sister every last horrible detail, Casey said simply, “But what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Don’t you want him?”
Lola snorted. “Of course. But I had what, a month with him? Melissa had a year. Melissa was going tomarryhim.”
“Not your problem! You have to fight for him, Lola.”
Lola rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to fight, Casey. It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean, it’s not like that? Who do you think you’re talking to? Youlikehim. And you two seemed really good together. Need I remind you that you’re not going to get a guy that good-looking to come waltzing into your life every day?”
“Well thanks for that. Need I remind you that this was only a casual sex thing? Thatyouadvocated?”
“And aren’t you glad I did? Anyway, casual sex never stays casual. You have to tell him how you feel, Lola. Let him make the decision!”
“Stop directing me, Casey! You’re always doing that. I don’t know how I feel. It’s not like it was a relationship.”
It just felt like one.
“Oh for God’s sake. If you have any feelings for him, you better say it before it’s too late—”
“There is nolate,” Lola snapped. “It’s done! It’s over!”
Casey groaned. “Lola. I don’t want to see you let something really good pass you by because you’re too busy burying your feelings and helping others who are going to take advantage of you in the meantime.”
“Okay, all right,” Lola said. She was beyond angry now. She wanted to argue that Casey was way off base, but Casey knew Lola better than anyone, and she’d seen through her. Lola was hiding behind a wall of being helpful, of filling her thoughts and her time with someone else’s problem instead of facing her own. “I have to go,” she said curtly. “I promised Mallory I’d help her.”
Casey was silent for a moment, and Lola could almost hear her debating with herself. “Okay,” she said, giving in. “When are you coming into the city?”
“Not sure. Maybe next week. I have to go,” she said, and said good-bye.
She tossed her phone into her purse and stared at the wall of the tiny office in the back of Mallory’s store.
She was fine. She was going to be just fine. She always was. This wasn’t the end of the world. Frankly, she’d probably dodged a bullet. How long could it have lasted, anyway? A couple of months?
