Page 2 of Perfectly Complicated
Of the three of us, she’s the big sister of the group. “You’re twenty-seven with the habits of a seventy-five-year-old.”
“I don’t see the problem.”
“It’s not,” Madi says, holding up a sensible ankle boot, “if you’re actively looking for a nice widower who enjoysJeopardy.”
I toss the mascara into the drawer. “I’m a mom now. I can’t just talk to a random guy at a karaoke bar. As soon as they find out I have a baby, they’ll bolt for the door.”
Gabriella roots through my jewelry box for a pair of earrings. “It’s not like you have to open with that fact.”
I shake my head. “And what—surprise him when he comes over? Maybe answer the door with Aria and say, ‘Did I forget to mention I’m a mom?’”
“Listen, any guy worth your time will thinkshe’s amazing too,” Scarlett says, handing Aria a block. “You’re a package deal, and that’s not a flaw.”
“You know what else is not a flaw?” I turn toward my friends. “Me being happily single.”
“We all agree,” Gabriella says, handing me some hoop earrings. “But we’ve watched you put yourself in this little protective bubble since Nick?—”
“Don’t.” I hold up a hand.
“—and we get it,” Scarlett finishes softly. “What he did was awful. But you can’t let him steal your joy forever.”
I concentrate on the earrings while avoiding my friends’ concerned looks. “It’s not about Nick or Lia,” I say, though we all know that’s not entirely true. “It’s about being realistic.”
Even now, their names feel like a wound that hasn’t quite healed. Lia used to be part of our friend group, my closest friend since kindergarten when we bonded over cheese sticks during snack time. Which is why it hurt so badly when I found out my husband was seeing her behind my back, the same woman who’d stood as my maid of honor at our wedding.
“Finding out about him and Lia when you were pregnant…that’s not something you just get over,” Gabriella says quietly. “But you’re letting him keep you from moving forward.”
I struggle with the clasp on my necklace, and Madi takes over, fastening it from behind. “That’s why we’re here for you,” Madi says, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “We want you to remember who you were before all this happened with Nick. You used to light up a room. We miss that version of you.” She adjusts the simple gold chain so it’s centered. “And we think she’s still in there.”
My daughter squeals and I cross to where she’s sitting on the floor. “I just don’t know if I remember how to behave in public without a baby attached to my hip,” I say, kissing her head and breathing in her baby-scented hair.
Scarlett motions toward the door. “Which is why you need toleave now, before you settle for a bowl of ice cream and a Netflix binge.”
“Oooh, maybe a rom-com?” I ask, brightening. If only I could convince them that a Nora Ephron film would be so much better than a night out.
“No,” Gabriella says firmly. “You just need to put yourself out there.”
I don’t know how to explain that the solution to every problem is notputting yourself out there.
“Truthfully? I’d rather put myself in witness protection,” I mutter, wondering if it’s too soon for this. “I just want easy for once. Is that too much to ask?”
“Well, that’s your problem right there.” Gabriella laughs as we head out the door. “Love is always complicated.”
TWO
Janie
Twenty minutes later, we’re walking into Boots and Buckles, and I immediately remember why I have a problem with this place. The smell of barbecue and fried food makes me ravenous, butmy heavens, the noise. It’s worse than a screaming kindergarten classroom. And that’s saying a lot, since I work in one.
Is this what grown-ups do when they get off work? Go to a crowded honky-tonk and listen to someone butcher “Friends in Low Places”?
I search for an opening in the farthest corner from the stage, where I hope my eardrums will stop bleeding.
“There’s a free table,” I say, pointing out one in the back.
“Wait.” Madi’s gaze lands somewhere close to the front. “I see an open table near the stage.”
A guy turns around from the dance floor and dips his head toward us, giving us a Joey Tribiani “how you doin’” look.
