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“Geez, who died?” I asked. Then I added: “Crap. Nobody actually died, did they?”
“Relax, you’re not a horrible person like me,” August said.
“But we do have bad news,” Michael said while sitting down.
“You’re not taking Allison’s job, are you?” I asked. “Meaning we would now have a conflict of interest?”
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” August said with a wink. “You could stillhang outwith me, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t want Allison’s job. That would be a demotion.” Michael lowered his voice. “We have to bail on tonight.”
I flinched as if someonehaddied. “Aww, no!”
“It’s not our fault,” August whined. “Stupid Sandra Trout is throwing some fundraiser that we have to attend.”
“And they waited untiltodayto invite you?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, my dear father was supposed to attend,” August explained. He propped his feet up on the chair next to him. “But he’s on a golf trip to Scotland until next week, and he didn’t bother telling anyone about the Trout fundraiser until now. So we have to pinch hit.”
“It doesn’t start until seven, and her parties are notorious for going late,” Michael said. “We could always try to hook up before the event? Right after work?”
“Nah, that’s no fun if we’re trying to rush it,” I replied.
“Agreed,” both of them said.
I stirred my lunch spaghetti around with a fork. “Aww, man. That bitch is ruining my life in so many different ways.”
“Tomorrow night?” Michael asked hopefully.
“I volunteer at the women’s shelter every Tuesday and Thursday,” I lied. “And Friday I have plans with my family.”
“Maybe this weekend,” August said. “I’ve got a busy schedule, but something might fall off. Play it by ear?”
“Play it by ear,” I agreed, knowing that my weekend was also busy.
The rest of our lunch was eaten in disappointed silence. I had been looking forward to tonight. Now I would need to wait a full week before hooking up with them again.
But I still had one thing to look forward to.
Kai.
38
Ginny
I was weirdly nervous going into my Friday evening with Kai. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so weird after all. We were going to dobutt stuff.For the first time. I was afraid I might not like it—or worse, that I would outright hate it—and kind of self-conscious about doing it with someone else. Even someone like Kai who normally made me feel like I was totally, completely safe.
New things were scary, sometimes.
When I had dinner with my parents on Friday, they could tell something was wrong. “Did you and Kai break up?” Mom suddenly asked halfway through the meal.
I almost choked on my food. “Excuse me?”
Mom waved her fork at me in annoyance. “You sit at the table, moping around like you used to do before a community college exam. Did you and that lovely man split up?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I replied.
“Your mother is right,” Dad offered. “There’s something going on with you tonight.”
