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“That’s…exactly how it feels,” Dani said. Unshed tears stung the backs of her eyes at finding someone who understood her so well.
“Well, look, you’ve known Sean a lot longer than I have, but the guy is one of the most laid-back people I know. So maybe you guys just keep it casual until you feel like you’re in a better place.”
Casual. Right. What were they if not casual? They’d made no promises. They had no expectations of one another. They were the same frenemies they’d always been. Something about that conclusion niggled inside Dani, but she just nodded and embraced the fact that she felt better for having let a little of these emotions out. “Thank you. Really.”
Tara hugged her, and Dani let herself be pulled into it. “Also, I hear that hot sex with orgasm-giving gods is really good for stress relief.”
Dani smiled. “Did Jesse tell you that?”
Tara burst out laughing. “I’m sure he has, but he also isn’t wrong. Orgasm-giving gods are something we have in common, that’s all I’m saying…”
Unsure how to reply to Tara’s assertion, Dani just smirked and shook her head.
“Come on, let’s get cleaned up,” Tara said, grabbing her things for the shower. “Food will help, too. And if you need to talk or want company or need a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, you know you can call me at any hour, day or night. Okay? I’ll be there.”
“Okay,” Dani said, following Tara to the stalls at the back of the locker room. “For the record, I like chocolate chip cookie dough and mint chocolate chip. Pretty much anything with chocolate chips.”
“Duly noted,” Tara said, grinning at her.
In the shower, Dani leaned her head back into the hot water and let it stream down her hair and over her body. She imagined letting the stress and worry and fear wash away, a visualization technique she’d learned years ago in grief counseling. For all the good it had done her. What Dani wouldn’t have given for her granny to be here now so Dani could talk and cry it out before Granny kicked her butt into shape with some no-nonsense wisdom.
Both of her grandmothers had been wonderful women in their own ways, but Nana, her father’s mother, had been gutted by the loss of Dani’s dad and couldn’t talk about him without getting upset, so Dani stopped bringing him up to her; whereas Granny always confronted things head on and would let Dani talk about her mom and dad as much as she needed—all while making sure Dani didn’t wallow in her grief for them. Dani supposed Tara had just done something like that for her, and it made her appreciate their deepening friendship even more.
By the time she was getting dressed and joining up with the rest of the WFC gang, Dani felt more like her usual self. “Hey, where are we going? I have to text Sean.”
Exclamations went up around the group—everyone glad to hear he was joining them. Dani smiled at that and hoped he knew how much he was being missed around here.
Including by her. She could admit that much.
Finally, the group decided on a restaurant, a fantastic Mexican place just a few blocks away and, as they left the gym, she shot off the information to Sean.
His response came almost immediately, like he’d been waiting for her to text.
Did someone say chimichangas?
Completely confused, Dani pecked out, Uh, I’m sure you can order them?
And then it dawned on her. He was quoting ‘Deadpool’. Because of course he was. But before she could write another reply, he sent a gif of Deadpool gasping in surprise.
Dani chuckled and sent a new reply: I figured it out. Now, get your ass to the Cantina, Mr. Pool
Next, Sean sent an image. Of Deadpool, facing away but peering over his shoulder coquettishly, a finger to his mouth, his hand on his ass. The caption read:
BAD ASS.
SMART ASS.
GREAT ASS.
Laughing out loud at that, Dani found a ‘Deadpool’ gif of her own. A close up of Deadpool’s face with the caption: Oh, I’m touching myself tonight.
After she hit Send, she put her phone away. And found it hard not to grin the whole way to dinner.
Chapter Twelve
By the time Sean arrived at the restaurant, everyone was already seated around a big table of nine with overflowing baskets of chips. The only open seat was on the far side right next to Dani, who was looking hot as usual tonight in a simple fitted dark gray T-shirt, her black hair laying all together over one shoulder and exposing a black ribbon choker she wore around her neck. She was mid-conversation with Tara when she saw him. Even as she finished her sentence, she smiled at him and he just knew—that empty seat by her wasn’t a coincidence.
She’d saved it for him.
