Chapter Seven
I scheduled a day off with my best friend for a shopping and lunch date the first week in April. A mental health day, as we like to call them.
I’d been looking forward to Friday all week; eager to catch up with Claire. We always saved big conversations for when we could get together for some adult time and I still had to tell her what happened with the Golden God over the break.
I dropped Sadie off at school, headed to one of our favorite stores, and found Claire browsing the shoes. She grinned when she saw me and put down a pair of heels so we could hug.
“Still shrinking, girl. You’re going to end up in a smaller size than me if you keep this up. And no, that isn’t a compliment.”
“Please.” I laughed. “Size six pants aren’t in the future for these hips.”
“Be glad. I’m so jealous of your hips. I wish I had some!”
I loved that we could try on some of the same clothes again. We were teenagers the last time I’d been able to do that.
Twenty minutes later, we were in the fitting rooms.
“Boo!” Claire sounded through the wall. “I figured this color wouldn’t go with my skin tone. You try it.”
I laughed as a pale peach top came sailing over the stall and landed on my shoulder.
We spent several hours shopping while we caught up on work drama and what was going on with my girls and Claire’s boys Peter and Owen, I learned their new obsession was fancy sports cars.
“Oh my gosh! How did I forget to tell you this?!” Claire moved on to a new topic while inspecting a dark blue blouse.
“Fill me in and I’ll chastise you about it later.”
“I signed up for a conference this summer.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and grinned. “You want to guess where?”
“Oh! Orlando again?”
“Yes! It’s the last week of June. I think… Or is it July? Well, I’ll have to confirm on my calendar. But the point is, Devin’s parents are keeping the boys since we haven’t had a vacation alone in eons. The welcome reception is Monday evening so I was thinking we could come down to the condo on Sunday, get in before dinner, have a night out, and do the beach on Monday before heading to Orlando. Thoughts?” Claire gestured to the top. “On this and Florida.”
“I like the color but I’m not a big fan of the sleeves.”
Claire examined the blouse again, nodded, and hung it back on the rack.
“And Florida, umm, duh. Of course! ”
We did a little happy dance together and snorted with laughter after an older woman walked by, eyeballing us as if we each had two heads.
“So excited!” Claire did one more little shimmy. “I’ll tell Devin to plan accordingly. Or at least I will once I remember which month to tell him to plan for.”
We headed to our favorite Thai restaurant when we got hungry.
Claire took a sip of her tea after we put in our order. “So how was your vacation?”
I’d been waiting for lunch to bring it up myself. Claire knew all about me having the hots for Logan. She understood why, seeing him herself that first summer he started working at the condos when she was down for a long weekend with her family. We’d even gone and discussed how gorgeous he was over a round of margaritas.
She always liked it when I included details about any interactions with him when summarizing a trip to the beach. I bit my tongue to control my face, I’d been looking forward to shocking the hell out of her this time.
I started recounting the week, mentioning running into Logan in the breezeway when we’d arrived and about him offering to play in the sand with Sadie.
Claire grinned with surprise. “Oh, how sweet!”
“So then Thursday, I uh, stayed in while my mom and uncle took Sadie out for the day…”
Ten minutes later, Claire was staring at me with her mouth open. “Logan Harper. THE Logan Harper kissed you?” she asked when she recovered.
“I’m pretty sure it was him. If I was mistaken, remind me never to have two glasses of wine with dinner again.”
“Holy crap!” Claire exclaimed. “Then what happened?!”
I sobered as I told her the rest.
“So yeah, back to normal. We’ll be awkwardly polite to each other while I try even harder not to drool every time I see him now.”
“Oh, be quiet, I highly doubt it’s as simple as that.” Claire gave me a knowing look. “You might think he only kissed you because he was drinking, but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested in you. Have an open mind! You never know what might happen. He surely intends to be in your company more this summer if that note to Sadie was sincere.”
The waiter delivered our meals and we paused to thank him.
“That’s so sad about his family.” Claire rolled noodles onto her fork. “It doesn’t seem like he was just screwing around. You believe his apology was real, right?”
I still couldn’t help but think nothing would have happened had Logan been sober. I stirred my food around my plate as I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “Yes.”
“Then I suspect you’re going to be having an interesting summer and I will look forward to a full update when I see you in June. Eh, or July,” Claire stated before taking another bite of her lunch .
I began eating as well, remaining silent regarding my disagreement with her prediction. Claire was often the positive to my negative and I loved her for it. Despite her optimism, I knew Logan was out of my league.
She reached out and put her hand on top of mine. “I do have to say how freaking happy I am to FINALLY hear your last romantic moment is no longer with Block Head.”
My friend was never a big fan of Drew. Once we were over, she’d taken to calling him a rotation of names, some more colorful than others depending on the specific context of the conversation.
I felt uneasy. I’d decided I wouldn’t tell Claire about Drew’s parole. It would only upset her and make her worry about me. She’d done enough of that through the years of my marriage.
I angled to change the subject away from my ex-husband.
‘Romantic’ is a stretch, but that is a positive takeaway. Along with…”
“With?” Claire pressed.
I let out a dreamy sigh. “The fact that, drunk or not, that man knows how to kiss.”
Claire let out a low squeal. “All the details. Now!”