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The band finished a song, and the sound of claps traveled around them.
He dipped his head, speaking close to her earlobe. “Tell me, Lara. What is keeping you from sleeping with me? I can email you my last physical, I’m safe. And we can always—”
“It’s not that. I mean, I’m safe too, and I’m on the pill.” She stood on her tiptoes, leaning into him. “I don’t want to make things complicated.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Then, she gestured to the other direction. “Let’s go back to the table.”
“Sure,” he said, but doubted she heard him.
He followed her as she made the way amongst the growing crowd, and disappointment weighted heavily on his shoulders. He shouldn’t let it faze him. She’d turned him down, and he’d been right about her. She was strong. She made the right choice—and he’d been weak.
* * *
“The new arborization plan looks solid,” Julie, the manager of a coveted strip mall in an exclusive part of town said. “I wish I had your eye for these things.”
Lara looked at the 3D project on the screen in the small but clean and functional conference room in her office. “I’ve always enjoyed playing with dirt. At least now I’m getting paid for it.”
Julie chuckled. “Right. Also, I hear congratulations are in order. I eavesdropped when a couple of your friends were shopping the other day, talking about your wedding.”
Lara slapped on a smile, like a newlywed dripping with marital bliss should. “Thanks.”
“I’ve been in such man drought that I’d settle for just a date, really.”
Lara squared her shoulders. Why wouldn’t Julie find a date easily? With her dirty blonde hair falling in layers down her shoulder and a heart shaped face and pretty green eyes, she could turn heads. Maybe she just didn’t go out much. Lara always had a hard time scheduling meetings with her—Julie worked all kinds of hours. Managing a luxury strip mall wasn’t easy, she could bet. “Have you tried online dating?”
“Nah, I’m more of an in-person dating. But a lot of my friends are married and don’t go out to bars as much. When they do and they invite me, their husbands usually come and I feel like the odd duck.”
“What? No girl’s night out for you?” Lara drummed her fingers on her desk. Her heart squeezed a bit. She could relate to Julie. Until now, she’d been the single one, besides her failed engagement. In the past couple of years, her best friends and members of the Bad Girls Club had gotten married or seriously committed. “You know, if you want, we can invite you next time we do something.”
Julie’s eyes glinted. “Really? That would be fun.”
Lara had once brought up the idea of inviting more women into their group. They usually met on Fridays, either at Splurge or at one of their houses for drinks, dinner and dick talk—and lately, a lot of diaper talk too.
Having more single gals would re-invigorate their meetings and a woman on the hunt would be particularly helpful when her bogus marriage to Troy ended and she needed a companion to go out and meet new guys. “Yeah, we’ll make it happen.”
Julie winked at her. “Can’t wait.”
Lara nodded. The idea of swimming in the dating pool again didn’t excite her, but she’d have to move on after her marriage came to an end. She’d miss Troy, or at least gawking at him and salivating when he wasn’t looking. More than she should.
“What do you mean, you’re married?” Lara’s mom asked on the other side of the line. “First Miguel practically forces me to visit Celia, then he doesn’t call me back, and now this?”
Lara rolled her eyes. Her mother, Angela Nunes, was no dummy. She would have to sound the calmest she could over the phone to make this work. She steered her wheel into their house’s driveway. His house, she corrected internally.
“Mom. We’re having a reception in a few weeks. I’ll tell you to come back from Aunt Celia’s as soon as I can.” She would bet money that her mom and Aunt Celia already exchanged enough passive-aggressive jabs. They loved each other, those two, but also moonlighted as frenemies.
“Larissa Ana Nunes, what are you hiding from me? How did you meet this man? Who is he?”
Ugh. Full name. She was in trouble.
Larissa parked her car, turned it off and hit her head against the steering wheel. Frustration crept under her skin. If she told her mom the truth, her mom wouldn’t keep a secret. She’d make her opinion known the moment she met Troy, and possibly his family. “I’ll be honest, Mom. I met him a couple months ago, but it wasn’t anything serious. I’m very into him though, and we decided to take the plunge. I knew you’d say it was a mistake. Um erro,” she added in Portuguese, knowing it was a sure way to get on her mom’s good side.
“Erro doesn’t begin to cover it. Meus Deus, Larissa. You barely know this man.”
Can’t argue there. “I love what I do know about him. And that may be not enough for you, but it is for me now. And it’d mean a lot if you supported me. Por favor.”
She heard her mother’s exhaling on the other end of the line. “I thought your brother was the one I had to be worried about.”
Miguel. He still hadn’t replied to her texts after she told him she was handling the situation with Troy. Miguel tended to weasel his way out of his troubles and magically appear after they had been solved. Hopefully this time, he’d stay away until it was safe for him to return. “He still is, Mom. I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well, tell me more about this reception, because I have to be back to Tulip so I can witness this nonsense.”
