AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You need some girl time. See you later, sweetie!”
Before Candace could protest, Brenton rolled his window up and sped off, waving to me on the way by. Candace followed his gaze to me and her jaw dropped. She crossed her arms over her chest and planted her feet.
“No. Way.”
“Your dad said you were having some guy trouble. I thought maybe you’d want to talk about it with another girl.”
I got up from my chair and walked over to her.
“Not with you.” Candace pulled her phone out. “I’m Ubering home.”
“Wait, come on. Just let me buy you one coffee and if you still want to go home after that, then I won’t protest.”
Candace stood thinking about it for a few moments. She finally uncrossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
“Ugh, fine. You’re lucky I love caffeine.”
I smiled and followed her into the cafe.
“I’ll have a medium nonfat iced caramel macchiato with two pumps of vanilla, an extra shot of espresso and some sweet cold foam on top.” Candace had her hands on her hips as she ordered and a subtle glint in her eyes. I met her challenge.
“That sounds delicious. I’ll do the same.”
I paid for our drinks and we found a seat.
“Do you even know what you just ordered?” Candace asked me.
“Of course. This is my go-to coffee chain. It’s fairly new, but I have the menu and the secret menu memorized.”
“Hm,” she responded. I thought maybe she was slightly impressed, but she didn’t give me much to go off of.
“My dad has no idea what any of this means. He messes up my order any time he tries to get me coffee,” she continued.
“That sounds about right. Have you ever tried his coffee beans? They are seriously the best.”
“He makes coffee beans?”
“Oh my god. I can’t believe he didn’t tell you that. You have to ask him when you get home.”
Candace looked down at the table, not wanting to meet my eyes.
Our number was called and I retrieved our coffees, sipping mine on the way back. I had to admit, after trying Brenton’s beans, it was hard to appreciate my sugared-up lattes as much. I actually found this was making me feel a bit sick to my stomach.
“So, Candace—”
“Save it. I’m not talking about Alex with you.”
“I was just going to say that I have some expertise in dealing with unappreciative men. I told you about my ex at dinner the other night, but he wasn’t the only one. I’ve dated plenty of losers. Enough to know when they are worth keeping around and when to cut them loose.”
“Oh yeah? How many men have you cut loose?”
“At least five. Most of them were chasing me for money. My family is pretty well off and men thought they could use me to get a job at their company. There were a few that expected me to pay for every single date because my family was richer than theirs. Little did they know I didn’t keep a dime of my family’s money. I was practically broke.”
Candace’s interest was piqued.
“Alex pays for all of our dates.” She sat up a bit straighter in her chair as she said it.
“That’s not necessarily good either. I mean it’s great for a guy to offer, and even to pay on the first few dates, but you want them to see you as their equal, so eventually it’s only fair to start paying for some too.”
