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I wasn’t aware how I’d gotten onto the subject. And did I blurt out that I wanted to be fucked in the dark without foreplay? Oh. My. God. Even for me, knowing my propensity for TMI, that was over the line.
“Um, I’m hoping that because you’re a therapist you’ve heard more embarrassing stories? I blame it on the martinis and the shots Sasha had me do, or maybe it’s my sex-starved brain cuz it’s been way too long.” Oops, I was talking about sex again.
“Actually, you know what, since I should be honest, especially with you of all people, I blame it on the fact that there a lot of truly happy couples in love here tonight. And when you’re not, well—I realize that sounds completely pathetic, but witnessing it makes me a combination of envious, hopeful, and sad. If that makes any sense.”
“More than you realize,” he said with sincerity. “But look, as I was saying before, I’m not—”
“No, no, I know what you’re going to say. I’m all over the place, and my issues aren’t the kind you deal with. I’m trying to work on myself. I have a 2.0 plan. I want to start a new chapter of my life with my son. Because although I may appear confident, even to my friends, the truth is—” I lowered my voice to a whisper, leaning into him.
He appeared as though he was waiting on my words, while I once again suffered from drunk brain interruptus.
“Sorry I forgot what my train of thought was. So if you’re not my kind of therapist, maybe you can recommend another one? One who maybe isn’t as good looking as you? No offense, but I kind of pictured an older guy without the sex appeal.” Based on his shocked expression, I realized I’d reached capacity for information overload. Verbal diarrhea strikes again.
“Uh—”
“I’m sorry. When I drink, I get a tad bit loose—loose lipped, that is, not loose like slutty. Sweet baby Jesus, I’m making it worse. Just—stop—talking—Juliette.” I gave him a wan smile and stood up unsteadily. “I think I’ve probably done enough damage here and ironically ensured that now you need a therapist.”
“Mark. Hey, I’m glad you finally got to meet Juliette.” Brian’s voice and footsteps approached.
I looked over at him, unaware that my boss also knew the good doctor.
“Uh, yeah, we just met,” Mark said, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets awkwardly.
“It’s weird that after all these years you two haven’t crossed paths before,” Brian commented, sipping on his beer and glancing between the two of us.
My face scrunched up in confusion. “Why would we have met before?”
“Because Mark and I went to college together, along with Josh. That was back in the day at Harvard. Been friends forever, so I know I’ve talked about him a ton over the years. You’ve probably patched through his calls at the office. He works for Gamble Enterprises as Josh’s attorney.”
The color drained from my face and my head swiveled as if in slow motion. I met Mark’s uncomfortable gaze and felt an out-of-body experience of the worst kind of humiliation.
The tiny—starting-to-sober-up—part of my brain registered all of the times he’d kept trying to interrupt me.
Right on cue and driving the humiliation home, Haylee came over with an older man and smiled at all of us. “Juliette, this is Mark MacNally, or Dr. Mac as we all call him. Dr. Mac, this is Juliette.”
Holy fuck. I’d completely spilled my drunken guts to the wrong Mark.
