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I shrink away, disgusted.
When she makes it clear she’s not going anywhere, I do the only thing I can think of to get her the hell away from me.
Spinning around quickly, I smash my lips to Hunter’s unsuspecting mouth and kiss him. The kiss is fucking awful, but I’d rather be kissing my best friend than this barfly. He pushes me off him, and I subtly chuckle when he wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, appearing absolutely disgusted.
I turn to face an uncomfortable Brea. “I’m so sorry. I’ve seen you here before with other women, and I thought you were straight.”
“Nope, this is my life partner,” I reply, attempting to reach for Hunter’s hand. He stomps on my foot in protest.
“Sorry again,” she quickly says and rushes off, mortified.
“Tell all your friends!” I yell out after her. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t turn around.
The moment she’s gone, Hunter flicks me in the balls. I wheeze and almost drop like a sack of potatoes. “Oh, c’mon. You know you liked it,” I tease between deep breaths as I clutch my junk.
“You motherfucker! Just because you’re renouncing your sexuality doesn’t mean I am. That chick is going to tell everyone she knows that I’m your”—he pales—“your life partner.”
I pucker my lips and throw him a wink. He gags and downs his beer in one gulp.
Surprisingly, this ridiculous situation has made me feel slightly better. It’s also given me a crazy idea.
“I’m over New York. This city is overrated. It should be renamed the city where dreams go to die.” Finch looks at me, interested, while Hunter scrapes down his tongue with a cocktail napkin.
“What are you saying?” Finch asks, drumming his fingers on the bar.
“I’m saying I might go back to Jersey.”
Finch pulls back, while Hunter stops mid-scrape. “Are you serious?” Finch says, shaking his head. He knows how hard I’ve worked to achieve all that I have, but what’s the point of having riches if you have no one to share them with?
I nod. “Maybe. I need a change of scenery. I also need a clean slate. And I can’t have that here because there is a line of Breas around every corner I turn.”
Hunter suddenly rolls up his napkin into a tiny ball and throws it at my head. “Are you fucking insane?” I don’t even bother replying because I don’t know what my answer will be. “What are you supposed to do in Jersey? Have you forgotten how boring it is over there? Not to mention we moved to Manhattan to getawayfrom there. Why would you move back?”
“Because I need boring, Hunt.” The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
“What about work? You’ve worked hard to establish your business.”
“I can work anywhere. And besides, Manhattan isn’t that far away. I’ll work something out with my patients,” I reason, thinking of all the ways I could actually make this happen.
But Hunter shakes his head. “No, fucking no. As your lifelong partner, I forbid you to go.”
I laugh at his melodramatics. “You could come too.”
He scrunches up his face like he’s just smelled something bad. “Now I know you’ve really fucking lost the plot. What am I supposed to do in Jersey?”
“Find a nice girl and settle down?” I suggest.
“Thereareno nice girls in Jersey. That’s why we moved. And settle down to what? Settle down and become Captain Boring. No, thank you.” He stubbornly folds his arms across his chest and juts out his chin.
I narrow my eyes, wondering why he’s so worked up. Could it be my friend is scared of change? Or worse, is he afraid of growing up? But we’ve lived this bachelor life for far too long. I need a change in scenery.
Thoughts of going back to Jersey remind me of the date. Tomorrow is the family fun day at Sunnyfields. I’m not an idiot, and I know Maddy won’t be there, but I won’t let that stop me. If I’m really contemplating going back home, then I have to deal with the issue of my father and me. Avoiding him will be a lotharder with him being twenty minutes away as opposed to two hours. But the thought of reconciliation isn’t as daunting as it once was.
Maybe moving isn’t such a crazy idea after all. I mean, nothing is keeping me in Manhattan. I can count the reasons to stay on one hand. But I can’t count the reasons to go because I’ll run out of fingers.
I know I’m not in any frame of mind to be making any decisions, but this is the first time in weeks that things have looked a little clearer.
Sadly, Hunter doesn’t agree. “Fuck you both. I’m getting a dog.”
