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I’m afraid he’ll go to voice mail but when I answer, he begins to speak. “Hey, babe. I was wondering if you’d like to meet for lunch.” I know he’s still affected by yesterday, but he attempts to hide it.
“Actually, I’m out with Jen. Thought I’d tell her about us. Want to meet me here and I’ll order you a sandwich?”
“Won’t that be a little awkward?” he asks but truth be told, I may know at this juncture I want to live my life with Xan but I always want Jen to be a part of it, too. I’d not been lying when I said she’s my best friend.
“No, by the time you get here, I’ll have told her. Anyway, I want to see you and make sure you’re okay.”
He’s quiet on the other end. I’m about to tell him that it’s okay if he’d rather pass on lunch, but he begins. “Send me the address, and if you can, order me a turkey sandwich with mayo, Swiss, sweet pickles, and tomato.”
I let out a scoff. “Oh, fuck, your sandwich order says too much about you. Could you be any more boring, a turkey sandwich?” I tease.
“Oh, but you never say I’m boring in bed.” My cheeks pinken but he’s not wrong.
“You got me there. See you in twenty. I love you.” I turn around and Jen is near the drink machine, meaning she’s near me. Oh, fuck, she heard me.
“Um, sorry…”
Her expression is somewhere between surprised and sad, I can’t quite tell. “And this is why you wanted to see me?” she asks.
“Part of it but I’d see you still. You’re my best friend, after all,” I admit and she hands me my Coke.
“Okay, let’s sit and you can tell me all about her.” I wince at Jen’s words as she hands me back my debit card. “Or him. Come on, now I’m super curious.”
“I’ll be right there. I need to order the most boring sandwich of all time.” She shifts her head to the side and narrows her eyes at me. This is her typical,what the fuck are you talkingabout look.
In three minutes, I slide into the booth, and she’s deep in her phone. She places it down, and in her brown eyes, it looks like she has teared up.
“I’m sorry, Jen. I didn’t mean for it to happen so quick.”
She waves me off with an awkward laugh. “No, I’m happy for you. I guess in my heart I thought we’d just end up together because we always have. I know we’re not right for each other, but hell, I miss you.”
And I miss her, too. She’s breaking my heart, and before I can tell her this, she covers my hand with hers. “It’s okay, really, Clark. I’m actually going out with someone Friday night. So, tell me all about him or her.” Jen had known early on that I loved the touch of a guy. We shared guys a couple times in our on-again-off-again relationship.
“Well, first off, it’s a guy. We’re nothing alike, and we really didn’t care for each other right away. We got put into a position where we were around each other a lot, and come to find out, there’s something with that enemies-to-lovers trope you love reading about in your romance books.”
“There’s another person you hate, other than Xander Lynol?”
I can put her out of her misery and tell her there’s only one person in this world I’ve hated enough that it turned into love, but I don’t, not yet. “I told you being together fighting for our lives made us call a truce.”
“Okay, I’m not sure if I believe you and Xan can call a truce with twenty years of history but back to your new man. How long has this been going on?” I think about her question for a second, counting back in my mind our first time together. But then again I was with her for years. How can two months compare to what we shared?
“About eight weeks. I guess.”
Her mind is working backward, and it’s what makes her a good criminal attorney, but I give it less than five seconds for her cross-examination.
“Wait, two months ago, that was right after or maybe even during the time you went missing and…”
I stay seated in front of her with a stoic look, giving nothing away. “Shit, speaking of two months ago, you’ll never believe who walked in?” I purposely sat with my back to the door.
“I’m assuming it’s Xander, right?”
Her face swings to me, then back to where I assume Xan is, and then back at me. “No fucking way. NO! FUCKING! WAY!”
A waitress approaches us with our lunch, setting the pastrami and rye in front of me, and the meatball sub in front of Jen. “And is this yours, too?” she asks with the boring turkey sandwich in her other arm.
“Yeah, you can set it near me.” Before I know it, Xan is sliding into the booth next to me.
“Hey, guys.” It’s all he says but his attention is focused on Jen. She still has her mouth hanging open. “I assume she knows.”
