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“And I’m glad you did.” She got a funny look on her face. “Speaking of that, I saw the pint glass when I was at your place. You put it on the wall next to all the awards you’re actually proud of.”
“You kidding?” I replied. “That glass means more to me than all the other pieces of metal on that wall.”
Taylor laughed it off.
“I’m serious. The rest of that stuff? People have been expecting me to win them since I was eight years old and playing Pee Wee football. But winning a trivia game, well, nobody ever would’ve expected that from me. It’s outside my wheelhouse, so it’s more satisfying. Plus, I won that pint glass with you. That’s worth at least ten more pride points.”
She smiled and said, “I still don’t believe you, but your logic is sound.”
“Thanks for checking my work, professor.”
There was a loud laugh across the room, where Double-D was picking Dallas up and swinging him around while congratulating him. Taylor and I glanced over for a moment.
“You see all the excitement?” I asked.
Taylor nodded. “Got here just in time to watch the proposal from the other room. That was really sweet. They seem perfect for each other.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “They have that special spark for sure.”
Taylor smiled sheepishly at me, and I grinned back. Things felt so easy between us. Like we had that special spark. And it may have been wishful thinking, but I doubted she had that spark with her boyfriend.
Suddenly I pictured them together in the conference room in the Paleontology Department, smiling and laughing. The pain was raw and bright, and I took a long pull of my whiskey to make it go away.
“Where’s what’s-his-face?” I asked casually. “Fancy guy with the sweater vest and expensive wine. I believe his name was something like Barnaby Humphrey Wattingstonworth The Third?”
Taylor giggled. “His name’s Eric.”
“Eric. Damn, I was close. You didn’t invite him?”
She hesitated and then said, “It’s complicated.”
Complicated is good. I tried not to break out in a huge smile.
“Complicated, how?” I asked.
“We… had a big fight a few weeks ago. It was after we all played trivia, as a matter of fact. I won’t bore you with the details, but we kind of broke up.”
“Kind of?” I asked.
Taylor shrugged. “I stormed out of his place. We didn’t speak for two weeks. Then, after one of the Stallions home games, he showed up at my apartment and apologized for everything.”
“Oh, wow,” I said, although I wanted to hurl my whiskey glass against the wall. “What happened?”
“He said he wanted to get back together. His apologies seemed completely genuine, which was a big step for someone like Eric. He never admits he’s wrong. But…”
But! There’s a but!
Before she could go on, the last woman I wanted to see in the world appeared behind Taylor.
