Page 32 of Love Undiscovered
I arrive first, which doesn’t happen often, and order drinks from Maureen, our favorite waitress, then sit back to wait for them.
Lexie sends a text saying she’s running a few minutes late, just as Kat arrives at the table. She looks good, healthy even, with a dark burgundy loosely curled wig that goes past her shoulders, and wearing skinny jeans tucked into black stiletto boots, paired with a black dolman top.
“Hey, sexy,” I tell her as she walks up.
“What’s up beautiful girl?”
“I’m good, just waiting for you.”
The waitress brings our drinks and some chips and salsa. Kat and I both dig in. Lexie arrives looking adorable, as always, in her jeans and sneakers, with aLovestone(her winery) branded hoodie and her hair in twin braids on either side of her head.
“Oh look, all my favorite things at one table!” she says as she sits at the table.
I ask about her day and she fills us in on everything going on at the winery.
“And, I’m planning another movie night. But I can’t decide if I should do a romance or a comedy. And if I do a romance, do I make it a contemporary Rom-Com or one of my classic oldie-but-goodies?”
“Rom-Com,” Kat says at the same time that I say, “Oldie-but-goodie.” We all look at each other and start laughing. It does amaze me how close our friendships are when our personalities, likes, and dislikes are so very different.
“I like the oldie-but-goodie idea too,” Lexie says pointing her drink filled hand in my direction. “What aboutCasablanca?”
“That’s a good one,” Kat says. I nod my head in agreement, as my mouth is filled with chips.
We don’t ask Kat about her day, because it’s not always a happy topic for her, depending on how she feels, what her doctors are saying, and how much of her hair she has left. Of course, that doesn’t stop Kat from askingmeabout things that aren’t happy topics.
“So, Rem,” she says, her tone snide. “How’s the date planning going?”
“It’s actually fine, Kat. We are going out this Saturday. I just need to decide on a place and time and get back to Alex.” I’m feeling smug as I say this. Because I know that after I missed my previous deadline for setting the date, they both thought I was going to crash and burn with this whole thing and lose the bet.
And, therefore, lose my beloved Louboutins.
Which is SO not happening. I worked hard to save the money to buy those shoes and I am not going to watch some homeless woman take them for herself. Will she love them like I do? No, she won’t. She’ll probably sell them, or worse. Maybe I could secretly buy them back from her? Though there’s no telling what condition they’ll be in by the time I find her again.
I tune back in to the table when I realize Kat is talking.
“I’m shocked. I kind of can’t believe you actually did it.”
It makes me happy Kat is shocked. I hope Lexie is too. That’ll teach them to doubt me in the future. I don’t tell them that Alex actually approached me first with the same idea. There’s no need for them to know that. And I don’t want them coming up with some reason why it now doesn’t count. All that matters is that a date has been scheduled and I will be going. Well, and making sure the guy likes me enough to want to see me once a week four different times in a row.
“Should we have brunch on Sunday morning so we can hear all about it?” Lexie asks.
“I can’t,” I say. “I’m already taking time off tonight and Saturday, so I’ll need to be in the lab on Sunday.”
“FaceTime?” Kat asks.
“Definitely,” I say.
“When does this schedule of yours end, Remi? This is brutal. It’s like me at harvest time, only you’ve been at it for months.” Lexie reaches out to touch my arm.
“It won’t last forever. And I know that I’m so close. There’s something I’m missing. I just have to find it.” Something I’m presenting on at a conference soon. Hence the rush to figure out the hole in my theorems.
“Hey, I’m meeting Bauer at the precinct tomorrow,” Kat says. That surprises me because she hasn’t done any consulting work for the San Soloman Police Department since she was re-diagnosed six months ago. But it’s also why she calls Chance by his last name, Bauer. It’s a law enforcement thing. Except that Chance calls her Cookie, further proving my point that no matter who you are to him, if you’re female he can’t be bothered to learn your name.
“Are you working on a new case?” Lexie asks.
“I don’t think so. He has a couple things he wants to run past me, you know see if I get any tingly pinkie intuitive feelings about them. Otherwise I think we’re just going to grab lunch.”
Kat had a brain tumor removed over a year ago. She woke from the surgery being able tofeelthings that are about to happen with surprising accuracy. Her only indication being that her pinky finger tingles. She describes it as more premonition than emotion, like a flash of instinct in her subconscious before her logical mind has a chance to take over and negate it. It doesn’t happen often and she can’t force it, but she has been able to help the local police, Chance included, with solving cases.
