Page 76 of Take This Heart
Juju
LOL. It does sound delish…hotdish and bars, not the redhead.
Erin
Don’t rain on my fetish parade.
Juju
Never!
You have both made me very happy. Not as happy as Erin with a redhead…but happy. See you at 5:15.
The Loon is busy when I walk in. Lorraine waves from the bar.
“Erin called ahead and asked that I save the window table for you,” she says, pointing to our favorite table overlooking the lake.
“Thanks, Lorraine!”
I stare out the window, endlessly amazed that the lake goes as far as the eye can see. I hear Erin and Juju before I see them, already laughing about something as they walk in together. We hug and order hotdish and bars right away to ensure we don’t miss out, and we catch up for about twenty minutes before Erin bumps my elbow.
“Okay, lay it on us. What has you so pensive tonight?”
“What? I don’t think I’m pensive.” I shake my head.
Juju points at me. “That’s the perfect word for it. I was trying to figure out what was up.”
“Uh…not much is up.Except…”
“Here we go.” Erin waves her hand for me to continue.
“Well…Milo asked me to go to his parents’ house for dinner in the Cities this weekend and I said yes.”
Juju gasps, delighted. “Oh my gosh! This is so exciting!”
“I hope you’ve packed your Scarlett Landmark lingerie,” Erin says, winking at me. “And you need to binge on Zoey Archer’s books to get you prepared for sexy time.”
“No, not necessary. There will be no sexy time,” I say emphatically. “We’ve had an…off week.”
“Define off,” Erin says, eyes narrowing.
“Mm-hmm. This just got even more interesting,” Juju says.
I sigh. These two can always see right through me, dangit.
“We had a little too much to drink and made out the other night and then had a fight the next day and then we didn’t speak and then he invited me to his family home and I don’t know what to do and—” The words rush out of me and when they’re out, I sit back, winded and flushed.
“Breathe.” Erin puts her hand on my shoulder and I take a ragged breath.
“So…was the makeout sesh awesome?” Juju whispers.
I wrinkle my nose and nod reluctantly. “So, so awesome.”
“And the fight?” Erin’s eyes widen. “Super sexy?”
I laugh. “No, it was not sexy. It was infuriating, just like him.”
“Mm-hmm. Sounds sexy.” Juju smirks. “That man is incapable ofnotbeing hot.”
