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I’m surprised Dempsey told them he bought it rather than won it from a pool game. But maybe he thought it was the better of the two options. If Nathan knew he won it in a bet where Gemma was at stake, he might have done a lot more than have a fit.
Jamie pauses to ask our waiter if he’ll bring mimosas. Once he’s gone, she fiddles with her napkin and grins at me. “Enough about my family drama. Tell me about Oliver. Was he good in bed?”
I snort out a laugh that earns us a couple of annoyed looks. “I didn’t sleep with him.”
“Ugh,” she complains, still smiling. “Did you at least kiss him? Come on. Spill the beans, girl. I’m dying to know everything.”
Should I start first with our awkward dinner where I discovered he’s chummy with my corrupt boss? Maybe I should just launch right into how Oliver took me to a pool hall where we ran into her children and Dempsey almost lost one of her beloved twins over a bet.
“He dresses nice,” I say instead, grimacing. “He’s very proud of his accomplishments.”
She scrunches her nose. “Ew. Really? Was he bragging or something?”
“Let’s just say his favorite subject to talk about is himself.”
“Well, damn.” She sighs heavily. “And here I thought maybe he could be the perfect one for you.”
Oliver was okay but far from perfect.
“I’m starting to think a relationship isn’t in the cards for me, Jame. You have to let it go. I already have.”
We get distracted when we’re brought our drinks and then place our order. Once we’re sipping on our tangy mimosas, Jamie continues trying to unpack my love life…or lack thereof.
“So there was no spark? No spine tingling when he touched you?”
The only spine tingling I’ve felt lately is when I’m around your son.
“No,” I say, clearing my throat and hoping my cheeks aren’t blazing crimson. “It was just meh.”
She downs her mimosa and shakes her head. “Life’s too short for ‘just meh.’”
“He’s been blowing up my phone asking for another date,” I grumble. “See what you started?”
“Maybe you just need to give him another chance. You’re rusty on the whole dating scene. If he’s trying to get you to go on another date, it wasn’t so meh for him.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
Lies. I know going on another date with Oliver will be just as awkward as the first one. Sure, he looks like a good match for me on paper, but there just wasn’t a life-altering connection.
“You and Nathan had the spark right out of the gate, though, right?” I ask, studying my beautiful friend.
She flashes me a mischievous grin that reminds me of Dempsey. “Well, since I was dating Callum, I was trying desperately not to feel those budding feelings for his father. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn’t fight my attraction to him. It was forbidden and wrong, but it didn’t stop us.”
My stomach twists into complicated knots at her words. Her love story sounds like a fairy tale now. At the time, however, their shocking love destroyed Callum. Jamie always felt horrible for doing that to him, but it didn’t prevent her from living her happily ever after with his dad. I assume she’d feel equally betrayed if she knew her best friend was thinking unsavory thoughts about her precious baby boy.
He called me babe.
I liked it.
I can pretend all I want that nothing is happening between me and Dempsey, but my own nephew and Gemma might disagree with that. I may not want anything to happen between us, but our relationship has morphed into something different lately. I’m seeing him as a friend and an attractive grown man, not Jamie’s young son. Dempsey is entertaining and fun to be around. I just have to keep him at arm’s length because I have a feeling he’s the kind of guy a woman could easily get swept up in.
I have enough drama in my life right now.
Definitely no time for that.
“I saw Lucy the other day,” I say, changing the subject so I’ll stop thinking about her son. “She’s working at the diner.”
Jamie tenses and her expression sours. “Nadine’s?”
