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We are sitting on the park-bench seat in Carol’s front yard. Everyone is chatting, and the boys are well on their way to being tipsy.
“So are you in a relationship?” Rebecca asks.
“No. I broke up with my ex a year ago.”
“Were you with him for long?”
“About twelve months.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“Good. It was my doing.” I shrug. “I don’t know, I always seem to attract the wrong kind of guy.”
“You have a type?”
“Not really.” I smirk. “But maybe I turn them into that type.”
She laughs.
“We just weren’t on the same page. He wanted to party and go out all the time, and I’m past that. I mean, the occasional night out is fun, but clubbing every Friday and Saturday night is not my ideal place to be.”
“Yeah, I get that. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-seven, and you?”
“I’m thirty-one. How amazing that you bought that house by yourself.” She smiles.
“It is.” I smile, proud of myself. “I’ve just got to pay for the renovations now. The quotes are coming in, and I’m floored how expensive things are.”
“Oh, I know. We just did our kitchen, and it was more than double what we thought it was going to be.”
A loud and husky laugh comes from the veranda, and Rebecca and I glance up to see Taryn draped all over Henley. My stomach twists with jealousy. She’s been all over him all night. “Are those two dating?” I ask.
“Henley and Taryn?” She screws up her face. “God no.”
My eyes linger on the two of them. “How do you know?”
“Because he’s super friendly with her.”
“Huh?”
She lowers her voice so that nobody can hear. “He and John are quite good friends. Don’t tell anyone this, but he has some major baggage.”
“Like what?” I whisper. At last, some intel.
“He will only sleep with women that he doesn’t like.”
I screw up my face. “What do you mean?”
“He is so antirelationship that if he meets someone he likes, he won’t date them again for fear of falling into a trap.”
I stare at her, shocked. “Since when?”
“Since his mother died when he was in his teens.”
“Has he been to therapy about this?”
“He saw someone in his early twenties, but it didn’t work.” She shrugs. “I think he’s just accepted that this is the way he is.”
