“Full-price chocolates taste better. And gifted chocolate? That’s always the best. I mean, it’s just basic science.”
Sora laughs, her head tilted back, face a perfect heart shape. She takes one and bites into it. “Mmmm. Salted caramel. Ithink you’re right.” She glances at me through her thick, pretty lashes. “Want to try it?” she offers up the half-bitten chocolate.
“Hell, yes.”
And then she feeds it to me.
I taste the burst of salty sweetness.
“Delicious.” I wash it down with wine and she does the same, and before I know it, we’ve eaten more than half the damn box, all while debating the merits of nougat versus caramel. We’ve also drained our wineglasses and refilled them again. A warm buzz sinks into my brain. I’m feeling more relaxed. That’s probably a dangerous thing.
“Can I ask you a question?” I say, after we’ve both shared a new milk chocolate almond truffle. We’ve settled into the couch, Sora laying on the long part of the L, her feet toward me, swollen ankle elevated on a pillow, ice pack on it (my idea), and me, back against the short end of the L. My left arm sits inches from her socked feet. It feels comfortable. Cozy. Like we could relax together forever.
“Sure,” she says, licking the chocolate off her finger.
The bees are back in my brain, buzzing, making me feel light-headed. It’s because Sora might have short-circuited all the neurons in my frontal lobe.
“I know you vowed to go solo this month.”
She tenses a little. “Yeah?”
“So does that mean you’re not dating… that other guy?”
“What other guy?” She straightens a little, putting the chocolates on her distressed driftwood coffee table.
I think about Lance Bass and how his hand was cupped possessively on her ass in the produce section.
“Soul patch/shell necklace guy?” I know I shouldn’t bring him up, but I can’t help it. I need to know.
Sora’s eyes grow as round as dishes. “Dan? How did you know about him?”
“I saw you two together. At Margo’s.”
Now Sora sits up, back ramrod straight. “What?”
“I saw you—and Dan?—in the produce section. Back around Christmas. You two seemed friendly. I thought…” I drift off.
But she’s leaning ever closer to me now, hunched over her legs. “Wait, you saw meover a month agoand you didn’t say hi?”
And this is why I should just keep my mouth shut. “Well, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure it was you.” Lie. Terrible lie. “And…” I was a chickenshit who didn’t have the courage to say hi. “And… I don’t know, you were in and out. Quickly.”
“I was?”
“Yeah. But that guy. I thought… you could do better.”
“You did?” She falls back into the couch cushions, arms above her head in surrender. “You and me both. Turns out he was married. Lied to me about it. Then I thought I would just go along with it. Be his weeknight mistress or something.” She covers her face with both hands and blows out an exasperated breath. I already had a low opinion of Soul Patch but now it’s even lower. The snake.
“You deserve better than that. Much better. You arenoman’s side chick.”
Her eyes grow wide in surprise, as if no man has told her this before.
“So the first time you saw me was with Dan? Not when you gave out free tortes?”
“Yeah.” I’m already in deep, so why not take the plunge therest of the way down? “You were wearing a red wool coat and knee-high black boots. Red lipstick, too. Looking downright beautiful, actually.”
Sora’s mouth opens ever so slightly in surprise. She studies me. “So, you’re stalking me?” she teases.
I shrug. “Kind of.” I meet her gaze. The wine buzzing in my veins makes me feel bold.
