AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fuck. I’d ask where you put it all, but uh…” she raised her eyebrows as she trailed off, her lips twitching with barely contained laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m a fucking giant,” I said with an eye roll.
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
She might not, but others sure did. Between being a former bodybuilder and standing at six-foot-seven, I frequently felt like one.
Being nicknamed ‘The Beast’ in my twenties certainly hadn’t helped either.
Layla sobered up quickly and her smile turned sad. Fuck me, but that was the exact reason why I didn’t want to come to lunch with her. I’d much rather have her continue to tease me. That I could handle.
“How are you?”
“Peachy,” I grunted as I inspected the dessert menu, my stomach growling with hunger while we waited for our meals to arrive. “Think I’ll have some of this cake after lunch.” There was a tense pause and I added, “Or maybe not. Ice cream sounds better.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Do what?”
“Act like you’re totally fine. It’s okay if you’re not.”
“I am fine.”
“Ethan—”
“Did it occur to you that I would be fine if not for the reminder?” I asked, cutting her off. “What makes you think that I even spared a moment to think about what today is?”
She stared straight into my eyes, her expression softening even more as she said, “If you hadn’t thought about it, you wouldn’t have known why I came by.”
Well… fuck. She got me there. My shoulders slumped as I ran my hand through my hair. I was trying to figure out a way to dodge the comment and shift the conversation, but Layla spoke again.
“Mason says you haven’t even gone on a date since your divorce.”
“Been busy. And this is kind of like a date.”
“Lunch with your sister-in-law is not a date,” she deadpanned, rolling her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s time to let it go?”
“I did let it go,” I snarled. I took a deep breath to control my anger before I calmly said, “I let her go when I served the divorce papers.”
“I didn’t mean her—I meant the anger and the heartache and everything else you must have felt. The real reasons why you haven’t dated since then.”
“You think I haven’t tried?” I whispered, aware of just how crowded the restaurant was and feeling pathetic for having my dirty laundry aired here. “And couldn’t this conversation wait for a day that wasn’t my anniversary once upon a time? I’m in a shit mood already.”
Layla smirked. “At least you admitted it.”
“If you start talking about the stages of grief or whatever, I’m walking out. Been there, done that.”
“Then why are you still alone?”
I was about to snap out another excuse about being busy when the waiter returned with our meals. Thank fuck.
It was depressing enough to wake up knowing that on this very day seven years ago, I had been happily getting married. Layla badgering me about my loneliness was just making me feel worse, even though I knew she only had good intentions.
But everyone knew the expression about the path to hell...
“You gonna eat that?”
Her fork was stabbing at my steak fries before she even finished the question and I snarled as I playfully swatted at her hand with my fork. She pouted and I rolled my eyes, lifting the plate to dump some of the fries onto her plate.
