Page 6 of Take Me
“I heard it snowed.”I didn’t really, but that makes Erika smile.
“Guys, really.”Erika stacks another candle in the box.“You don’t have to dance around this.Hearing about happy couples doesn’t bother me.”
It doesn’t?
Because it bothers the shit out of me.
Then she catches my eye, and I know.
We’re both big believers in the fake it ’til you make it approach.She’s faking it hard, and dammit if I’m not right there with her.
Erika glances away, so I turn my attention back to the brides.“So,” I manage, clearing my throat.“Centerpieces, huh?”
Maxine looks up.“If you’re as crafty with a hot glue gun as you are with a calligraphy pen, we’ll take all the help we can get.”
“Can I be Vulvarine?”
“No.”Sam smiles.“But you’ll have our eternal gratitude.”
“Sounds like the next best thing.”I’m whipping through these candles, just a few more to go and?—
“Um, not to make this awkward...”Maxine bites her lip, looking pretty damn awkward.“If you need to update your RSVP, we can still do that by midnight tonight.”
Sam gives me a soft look of sympathy.“It wouldn’t be a big deal, except Annabelle requested a vegan entrée?—”
“—And the caterer charges gobs extra to deviate from the standard menu.”Max winces.“I’m sorry, this is crass.I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No, it’s fine.”I guess Maxine and Sam don’t know Annabelle beyond her status as my former plus one.“Um, yeah.I mean, Annabelle’s not coming.”God, I hate that sad puppy look they’re all giving me.“But I’ve got another date lined up.”
Lucy blinks.“You do?”
“Yep.”God help me.“A hot one.”
“Who?”Zoe asks.“Do we know her?”
“Is she vegan?”Max asks, getting right to the point.
“Nope.Definitely not vegan.”Now I need a date who eats meat.That shouldn’t be hard, right?
My eyes bounce to Erika’s, hers sea-pebble shimmery and a little bit lost.There’s steel in her spine though, and a clench in her jaw I know well.We’ve been doing this dance since we were the kids everybody felt sorry for.Different circumstances, but the same damn aversion to strangers and friends shooting us sad little looks.
Maybe that’s what makes me say it.
“Her.She’s my date.”I feel my hand move, and whaddya know?I’m pointing at Erika Gentry.
My buddy, my pal, my brother’s mechanic.The woman who crushed the Big One’s Darts Championship last week.
A woman who also got dumped.
Erika blinks, then nods.“That’s right,” she says, turning to Maxine and Sam.“We’re attending your wedding together.”She puts a hand on my arm, and it almost feels natural.“He asked me last week.”
“Yep.”I’m liking this story already.“We’ve been dating kinda casually.”
“Wait, what?”Zoe glances between us.“I didn’t know that.”
“We’ve been keeping it quiet.”Erika’s getting into this now.“Didn’t want it to be weird with our friends.”
“Exactly.”This story makes total sense.“Things were never exclusive with Annabelle.She wanted us both to date other people, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”
