“At the ripe old age of twenty-six? Pretty sure that’s a quarter-life crisis,” Jules said.
“Whatever.” I wiped the bar under their glasses without much more to do. It had rained most of the day, keeping tourists away. Mid-week it was mostly locals, and they weren’t venturing out today.
“So I’m a neutral third party. Give me the scoop. Clearly there’s chemistry between you two.”
Beck was nowhere to be seen now. Probably in the back.
“There is?” I asked, innocently.
“A hundred percent. I thought the bar might go up in flames a few minutes ago.”
Chemistry. Between me and Beck. What was the world coming to?
“The scoop?” What was the harm in laying it all out? “Well, first, we are good friends, and I don’t want to ruin that. But more importantly, the reason I never saw him as boyfriend material before, and still don’t, is that he has literally slept with half of Cedar Falls and beyond. Beck’s a bit of a man whore. On the other hand, I get too emotional, too quickly. It’s something I’ve learned to accept about myself. We’d never work. Also, I was just engaged a few months ago and don’t want to jump from that relationship into another one. Especially with someone in the service industry who makes a living being around pretty women. My ex cheated,” I added, realizing it was an important point. “I’d like to avoid having my heart broken, again.”
“Wow,” he said, taking a final sip of his rum and club soda with lime. “That’s a lot of negatives.”
I took his glass. “Another?”
“Please.”
“Bacardi?” I teased.
Boo looked as if he wanted to throttle me.
When I’d asked earlier what kind of rum he wanted, lifting up the Bacardi, Boo had a visceral response that made me laugh when he’d replied, “Jesus Christ, not fucking Bacardi. Mount Gay will do.”
I sighed.
There really were a lot of negatives. If Beck was anyone else, I might have agreed with Jules’s “get over a guy by getting under another one” advice. Although that would be taking a page more out of Beck’s playbook than my own.
Tattoo. Contemplating one-night stands. I couldn’t decide if this new Mae was liberated or just repressing her heartbreak in one unhealthy way after another. There was no rulebook on this thing called life. Which was where I started when I returned back to Jules and Boo.
“I wish there was a rulebook on life that could tell me what to do. On one hand, I’m feeling… free. As if I could do anything in the world. On the other, part of me thinks it’s just self-destructive behavior to cope with the whole Mathieu thing.”
“A rulebook on life.” Boo shook his head. “Don’t have mine with me, but if you want mine, I’m happy to give it.”
“Shoot.”
Beck was back. He was talking to Cedar Falls’ mayor, smiling up a storm and… Shit. Caught me looking.
“Never get just one tattoo. And as for you and Beck…memento mori.”
“Memento, what?”
He never got to answer.
I nearly fell to my knees at the sight in front of me.
Impossible.
“Mae? What’s wrong?” Jules asked, her voice slightly panicked.
“I…” Gripping the edge of the bar, I stared at Mathieu, unable to respond. What the hell was he doing here? In the States? In this bar? I hadn’t spoken to him since I blocked his number out of self-preservation when he kept trying to apologize and get me back.
She and Boo turned on their stools just as he approached the bar. Dressed impeccably, as always, he demanded attention… and got it. Every person at the bar was looking at him.
Including Beck.
