Page 28 of Secrets in Love
God, she sounded so happy and—if I wasn’t mistaken—like she’d missed me. Had I been on her mind like she was mine?I was desperate to ask, but I couldn’t do it with the eggplant queen beside me, so as always, I let the question slide. “Yeah, I’m fine, Eves. I’ve just been busy finishing the shearing, the last harvest, and getting everything cleaned and packed up. It’s my first year without Dad, and the old coot did more work than I realized. How are you? How’s my number-one girl?”
“Your number-one girl is pretty good, thank you. But honestly, I’ve gotten myself into a bit of a pickle and could use some advice.”
My heart leapt into my mouth. “You’re calling me for advice? Wow. I’m honored, little one. Shoot. The great one is all yours.”
She sucked in a deep breath, then released a string of words that broke—no, pulverized—my heart. “Well, it’s about a guy.”Yup. I’m dead.“My boss, Christian. Remember I told you about him. HotBoss?”
I tried to remain chill. Indifferent. “Uhh, the dancer? Vaguely. I mean, it’s hard to forget a grown man that wears tights for a living.”
“I’m ignoring that last bit, but yes, he is a dancer. A dancer who asked me on a date…and not for coffee this time. A proper one…in a restaurant…in Soho! What should I do? Should I go?”
Right then and there, it became clear…God truly hated me. The heavens opened, sheets of rain pelted into my skin, but I couldn’t move. Evie Austen was asking me for guy advice as Polly stood beside me, practically performing fellatio on an eggplant while looking like she could win a wet t-shirt competition.
I had no idea what to do or say, and my delayed reaction gave Polly time to swoop. “Hi, Evie! It’s me, Polly. Have fun on your date. I know I am!” Seemingly happy with herself, she trotted off to take shelter and started feeling up some zucchini.
A soft whimper carried Evie’s pain across oceans and time zones and drew my focus back to where it belonged. “Nate. Are…are you walking in the rain while on a date with Polly Hart? My Polly?”
“No. God, no, I mean it is raining, and we were walking. But we’re just hanging out and shopping for ingredients for dinner. Then later we might go out for a movie and…”
“That sounds an awful lot like a date, Nathaniel. Didn’t she drive you home from the pub a couple of weeks ago too? Is this the first time you two have hung out together since?”
A metaphorical neon sign flashed before my eyes:Lie. Lie. Lie.But because I was a true moron, I didn’t. “No. No, it’s not, Gidget. We are, I guess, kind of dating…I think.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. It’s all very new and not serio—”
“But you never date anyone. You’re a slut.”
As true as it was, I couldn’t help but take offense. “Geez. For some reason, that sounded an awful lot like judgment, Evie. Ignoring me all week after…well, after what I told you in our last conversation made it pretty clear that you don’t give a shit about me or my feelings. So, I’m struggling to see where you get the right to have any opinions about my love life.”
“Your love life!” she scoffed. “Nate, you don’t have a love life. You have a sex life. A very active one at that. Free and easy one-night stands and three-thingies with hot shearers and no complications. They’re more your scene, aren’t they?”
“What can I say, Evie? Things change. I have to grow up, and at some point, I sure as hell can’t keep Peter Pan-ing around, waiting for—”
“Nate, babe,” Polly called, waving at me from the butcher’s stall with two giant T-bones in her hands. “Look at these steaks. Should we have these instead of lasagna?”
“Babe? Oh my God, Nate. Did Polly just call you babe?”
“Fuck me! Have you got supersonic hearing or something? I could barely hear that over all these people and the rain, but you heard it in New York?”
Evie gave an ironic laugh. “What can I say? Polly was always quite vocal.”
“No kidding. You should have heard her when I fucked her on the tractor yesterday.” The minute it left my lips, I wanted to rip the bone from the steak that Polly, for some inexplicable reason, was still waving around and use it to stab myself in the heart. “Evie, I didn’t mean—”
“No, you did. You did mean it. And I’m happy for you. I’m happy that fucking my friend on farming machinery is so great, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your date. I’m sure I’ll enjoy mine too.”
Jealousy surged through me. “What the hell does that mean? Are you going to sleep with him? Is he pressuring you into sex, Gidget? Are you using protection?”
“Ughh, God. You’re such a pig. I can’t believe I even considered… Ugh. What’s the point? Goodbye,Nathaniel.”
“Evie! Wait! I’m sorry. What did you consider? What—”
The line went dead, and so did my chance with Evie.
Evie
Being a twenty-seven-year-old virgin had its advantages. For example, waxing and birth control expenses were virtually non-existent. Then there was um…and…hmm. That was all I could think of. Just twenty minutes before Christian was due to pick me up, I was in the bathroom, ripping every hair from my body. The blind rage I had characteristically maintained in the weeks since my last call with Nate ensured my waxing was extra brutal. Every inch of my skin was attacked. I felt like one of those hairless cats by the time I was done. Polly calling to make things right between us soured me even further. Her words may have been sweet and apologetic, but I knew Polly. There was poorly disguised glee in her tone. Glee which had probably been pumped into her by my Nate. No, wait. Not my Nate….by stupid Nate.
