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“Because you’re positively glowing.” I wave to a passing server, hoping to get my patty melt and fries ordered quickly.
Resting her elbows on the table, Anna leans toward me. She starts to whisper which requires I match her posture if I’m going to have any idea what she’s saying. “Chris doesn’t even know yet,” she says.
“Chris doesn’t know what? Wait, you mean you are? You’re pregnant?!” So much for discretion.
Anna looks around anxiously. “NO!” She obviously says this to squelch any gossip that might start, because she lowers her voice and adds, “Keep it down, will you? I don’t need all of Elk Lake knowing before my husband does.”
“When are you going to fill him in?”
She smiles excitedly. “Tonight. I’m making his favorite meal and I’m going to tell him over dessert.”
“I’m so happy for you.” I try to feign enthusiasm, even though my comment sounds forced—like someone is holding a gun to my head. Also, my eyes give away my true feelings when they fill with tears.
“You’re so happy you’re crying?” She’s on to me.
I shake my head. “I’m happy for you, just not for me.”
“I told you we need to get you signed up on Catch.com. I truly think online dating might be the only way for people to meet anymore.”
“You met Chris at work,” I remind her, “and Faith met Teddy at the bakery.”
Anna shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly. “Maybe so, but Chris and I met in Chicago. There are a heck of a lot more single people there than in Elk Lake. And as far as Faith and Teddy, that meeting defies even the most swoon-worthy meet-cute in rom-com movies. Which I guess is fitting being that Teddy is an actor.”
“I’m not going to sign up for online dating, Anna. That feels like giving up.” Although, I really do feel like throwing in the towel, so I’m not sure that it would hurt.
Reaching across the table, she takes my hands in hers. Her skin shimmers like the oiled rubbed bronze faucet in my bathroom. Meanwhile, my hands look like two dead fish in comparison, pasty white and lifeless. “I’m a firm believer that everything happens in its time. Your happy ending is right around the corner.”
I shake my head, which causes my wavy auburn hair to bounce around my shoulders. “Just because you say it doesn’t make it so.”
“Life is like a mirror …” Anna says sagely.
I sarcastically interrupt, “I thought it was like a box of chocolates.”
Her expression is stern. “You’ve got to put positivity into the world if that’s what you want reflected back at you. You know, fake it ’til you make it?”
The waitress finally comes over, and I make quick work of ordering my lunch before saying, “Tell me about some of your bad dates B.C.”Before Chris.
She rolls her eyes but humors me nonetheless. “Did I ever tell you about Terrance?” When I shake my head, she continues, “He was a barista who claimed to be on the verge of getting cast in a lead role onChicago Fire.”
“How is that bad?”Did she not hear the part about my wanting them to bebaddates?
“It turns out he wasn’t even an actor.” My look of confusion prompts her to explain, “He was an undercover cop. He was dating me because he was investigating the man who owned the real estate brokerage I worked at.”
“So, he was using you?” Thatisbad.
She nods stoically. “Luckily, we only dated for two weeks and things had not progressed to the bedroom. But still, it made me feel like crap.”
“How could he not want to date you for real?” I demand heatedly. “You’re amazing!”
Shrugging her shoulders, she confides, “When I found out the truth, he told me he already had a girlfriend.”
“Excuseme? He had a girlfriend and was pretending to be a single actor/barista? How is that ethical?”
“I don’t think ethics were his prime concern. Do you want to hear more?” she asks.
“Yes.” I’m clearly in a misery-loves-company state of mind.
“I dated a guy named Fischer who stole my television and my bank card. I dated another guy named Frankie who was in the mob—I didn’t discover that until the cops came to my door to interview me—and then there was William. He was a nice guy, but I found him in my closet trying on my dresses.”
