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“All right, chill the fuck out. What’s the guy’s name, anyway?” She leans closer to Gilly and stage whispers. “Our Petal is becoming quite the heartbreaker, isn’t she?”
Gilly nods with enthusiasm.
“Heartbreaker? Yeah, that’s me,” I scoff. “Anyway, the guy’s name is Rake something or other. What kind of name is Rake, anyway?”
Lucy tilts her head at me, and I know what’s coming. “Like Petal isn’t a weird name too?”
I walked into that one.
Gilly scrolls through her phone. “Hey, are you talking about Rake Hanson from the San Francisco Aftershocks?”
I slam my hand on the table. “Yes! That’s it. Aftershocks, not Earthquakes.”
It’s all the same to me.
Lucy’s head snaps back on her neck and she gives me thelook, the one where I know I am about to be chastised to within an inch of my life. “Oh. My. God. Do you know who heis?” she shrieks.
More looks.
I shrug. “Yeah, some poor bastard who got signed up for a charity fundraiser, who I happened to spend two thousand dollars on a date with. Fuck, I’m mad about that. You know how I hate wasting money.”
She grips my upper arm and gets in my face. “Rake Hanson? Rake Hanson?Rake Hanson?” she repeats, getting louder each time.
Jesus. She has me scared. “Why? Is he dangerous? Been charged with murder? Or date rape?”
That does it. I amsonot going.
She squeezes my arm tighter, so tight I try to wrestle out of her grip.
“Ouch, Lu. You’re hurting me.”
She doesn’t let up.
“He’s the star of our hockey team, you dummy. Not to mention, hot as fucking shit.”
I nod. “He is nice looking, if that’s your kind of guy. I call himpuck headto myself. Isn’t that clever?”
“Nice looking?” she cries, ignoring my play on words. “He’s a freaking god. Did you know he was voted most eligible bachelor in the city last year?”
“I heard that somewhere. I think it was in the auction brochure.”
“Petal, you are from an old-time San Francisco family. How can you seriously not stay on top of what’s going on socially here?” she asks.
Gilly looks at me sadly. “Really, Petal. You gotta get your head out of the clouds. And out of your romance novels. You need to move back down here to the city. We miss you. It’s not the same with you up in Sonoma, hiding out like a hermit.”
I hold my hands up. “Look. I’m healing. Taking time for myself. It’s what my shrink suggested, and I’m doing it. And I like Mom’s cottage. It’s cozy and cute.”
Lucy looks at her watch. “Hey, I gotta split. Babysitting for my sister’s little monsters, I mean kids.”
“Really?” I ask, brightening. “They are so cute. I’d come by but I have to get back to Sonoma. I’m working in the bookstore tomorrow.”
Gilly and I follow Lucy outside to Valencia Street, where we have to raise our voices to be heard over the traffic and general dinner-time chaos.
“You know my take on this, Petal,” Gilly says. “You need to come back to the city. I know you’re down here a couple times a week to visit, but we need you back here permanently. And that bookstore? You left a perfectly good job here in the city, and now you’re working in abookstore?”
I sniff. “Hey, I like Twisted Hearts. You know, it’s one of the only romance-exclusive bookstores in the country.”
“Just what you need, more romance to bury your head in,” Lucy says. “Look. It’s been two-plus months. You’re as healed as you’re going to get. I know you’re humiliated, but the only way to get past that is to come back and get on with your life.”
