He typed back a message, then said he was going to settle the bill. This place was still outdated and required you to go to a till. Someone cleared their throat behind me. I assumed it was someone about to ask for the table, but when I spun around, I froze.
“I thought I’d find you here.” Wes smiled. His asshole friend was behind him with some woman on his arm.
“What are you doing here?” I stammered in shock. Ihadn’t seen or heard from him since the night of my birthday when he unceremoniously broke up with me.
“Looking for you.”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“I may have been hasty, and I hate to admit it, but I was thinking about you the other day and I wanted to see you.”
My jaw could have been picked up off the floor. Was he for real? “Why? You made it pretty obvious you were done.”
He dropped into the chair in front of me as if I’d invited him. “What have you been up to?”
“Work, life. Moving on,” I replied cooly, noting he hadn’t answered my question.
“Just like that, huh?”
Whatever shock I was in passed, instead anger moved in. I edged my chair forward leaning in closer to him. “I’m sorry. Was my life supposed to stop because you ended it with me?”
“Why is he wasting his time?” I heard the woman whisper out of the side of her mouth. I remembered her from my birthday party. She was a bitch then, too.
“Good question, you should ask him, since he came to me,” I snapped at her.
“Dinner, tonight.” I noted it was a statement, not a question directed at me.
My head shook. I was about to reply when another voice answered for me.
“She’s busy.” I heard Josh’s icy tone from behind me. “Get out of my seat.”
Wes glared between us, like a cat who caught the canary. He stood up and stepped back.
Josh took my hand in his and pulled me into him. “You can fuck right off and lose my wife’s number.”
“Wife?” His jaw dropped. I stood there, as dumbfounded as he was.
Josh added, “Soon to be.” And dragged me by the hand out of the café and into the rain.
“Uh. Are you insane?” I stage whispered.
“What?” He continued to march us away from the café towards our building around the corner.
“You just told Wes I was your wife, or soon to be, in a crowded cafe!”
“And?”
“Uhm, that’s going to be splashed all over the newscast and in case you have had a complete lapse of memory, we’re not married or engaged. Hell, we just started dating for real!”
“Whatever. No one cares about that.”
“I care.”
“About what?” He halted, making me nearly slam into him.
“What?” I repeated.
He turned and looked at me. “Which status matters more?”
