Chapter 54
Scarlett
“So, how are things going with Farmer Boy?” Lydia asks around a mouthful of apple fritter.
Today is the anniversary of Andee opening up her bakery.
The girls and I all came over to help her celebrate with her customers.
It was an incredibly busy day, even though it seems every day is a busy day for Andee.
I couldn’t be more proud of how much she is flourishing with this bakery.
We all watched her strut around in here like the boss bitch that she is, handling everything that came her way.
Now, the bakery is closed and we’re all sitting around the largest table in here eating the goodies Andee set aside for us before she opened.
“Amazing,” I say, “incredible, fantastic, pick whichever word means the best sex of my life and go with that one.”
“That explains the glow,” Andee says over the top of her mug of coffee.
“Good sex will do that to you,” Mia nods and wipes the corners of her mouth with a napkin, “so will this donut, Jesus Andee.” Andee beams but says nothing.
“Glow?” Kenzie asks, raising her eyebrows.
“Not that kind of glow,” I assure her.
“But you do have a glow, you look amazing,” Lydia says.
“Guys, he’s reading the books I read,” I announce. “Like, actually reading them. Not pretending to. He gets wrapped up in them the same way I do. I tried texting him the other day and didn’t get a response for over an hour because he was reading and didn’t hear the notification.”
“Wait, hold on, he’s reading the books YOU like?
” Kenzie asks. Kenzie is more of a fluffy, light hearted romance reader where I am…
not. Sure I read the fluffy romances, when they get picked for book club.
But for the most part I like the darker stuff.
Couldn’t tell you why, I just do. There’s something sexy about mixing in sex and attraction with a touch of fear.
Even though in real life, I much prefer my emotionally intelligent farmer boy.
“Yep,” I pop the P sound at the end of the word. “He even read Chasing Kitten.”
The girls have a mixed reaction between gasps and laughter.
“That book is wild,” Mia says.
“Was that the one where you don’t know who the stalker is until he finally catches her?” Lydia asks, I answer with a nod. “Yeah, that was one of your better ones.”
“I loved that book,” Andee says. She and I share the same taste in the darker romance. Mia doesn’t mind them and Lydia will read them when it’s my turn to pick for book club but I don’t know that she typically enjoys them.
“I didn’t actually finish it,” Kenzie says. She looks down at her half eaten donut on the table with shame in her eyes.
“We know babe,” I say, putting my hand on hers, “and that’s okay.”
“The material isn’t the point though,” Lydia says as a statement but she raises her eyebrows in my direction as if it’s a question, “it’s the fact that he’s reading something you asked him to. I’m assuming you asked him to.”
I shake my head, a weirdly proud smile on my face. “Nope, I didn’t even have to ask.”
“So, when are you going to propose?” Andee asks.
She’s joking but says it with a straight face, just like she usually does.
I laugh. “I’m not joking, I don’t know how that man has lived to forty-five without being locked down but you better get to locking or he’ll be swept away by someone else. ” Okay, so she’s not joking.
“Andee, they’ve only been dating for like a month.” Lydia says.
“Jonathon claimed he was going to marry me within a few months of meeting me. We weren’t even dating,” Mia says.
“You were twelve, that doesn’t count,” I argue.
“One could argue that it counts even more,” Kenzie says.
“Name one thing you’ve done that you said you would do when you were twelve,” Lydia challenges. I point in Lydia’s direction as if she’s just proven my point.
“I said I’d never dye my hair,” Kenzie says proudly.
“Oh please, did you completely forget about junior year?” I ask.
Kenzie purses her lips, “I did, in fact, forget about that momentary lapse of judgement.”
“My point is, I’m not going to be the one to propose. Nor am I even thinking about that right now. I am simply enjoying the fact that I scored the hottest neighbor out there that just so happens to be able to give me multiple orgasms.” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“Well, just don’t let him around any hotties is all I’m saying,” Andee says.
“Noted. So how’s your new guy, Lydia?” I say, attempting to change the subject.
Lydia takes a huge bite out of her fritter and shakes her head, she tries to keep it at bay but the smallest curvature of her lips appears which causes her to blush a furious shade of red and then she covers her mouth with her hand and begins to laugh.
“Oh, that sounds promising,” Andee says. She and Lydia have been friends the longest out of all of us. Even without that longevity though, we can all tell that Lydia’s hiding something good. The thing with Lydia though is that she’ll tell us in her own good time.
Kenzie comes to Lydia’s rescue though with an announcement. “I’m thinking about deleting my dating apps.” This brings a gasp so sharp that the room stays silent while we all process.
Kenzie is the sweetest of all of us. She’s such a hopeless romantic that she is almost too in love with the idea of love.
We love that about her but I admit that it does sort of make her naive in the way that she can’t always see the color red on the flags these men wave around.
She jumps at the chance of a date with the guys from these apps because she longs to be loved and accepted.
Because of that, we require that she share her location with us at all times.
We have a Kenzie protocol where she has to tell at least one of us when she has a date at all times.
There’s even a rotation schedule. And while we all have her location, Lydia is the only one left on the response team because of proximity reasons.
“Did you find someone?” Mia asks. She looks around the table at the rest of us, waiting for someone to confirm that her most recent date went well enough to prompt this.
We all mimic her and wait for someone to speak up.
When no one does, we all stare at Kenzie.
With this out of character announcement I see things in Kenzie that I’ve been missing.
The hope inside her eyes isn’t as bright as it usually is.
Her hair is up in a messy bun, a style that Kenzie rarely chooses.
Out of all of us, Kenzie is the one who takes the most pride in her appearance.
She’s been an expert in makeup since high school and has perfected her own look.
A look that appears natural and effortless, although we all know better.
Today, she has the bare minimum amount of makeup on.
All signs point to a feeling of defeat rather than finding someone she wants to dive into a relationship with.
Kenzie shakes her head as she stares longingly into the German chocolate donut on the plate in front of her.
It only has one bite missing, while the rest of us have almost devoured our choice of dessert.
She plucks a piece of coconut off the top and lets out a sad sigh.
“I just think I’m done. I think that maybe,” again, she takes a piece of coconut off the donut and we wait for her to continue, “maybe there just isn’t anyone out there for me. ”
“Oh honey, you of all people know that’s not true,” Lydia says.
“No, I don’t. Guys, I’ve been dating for decades.
Decades. And I’ve not so much as even come close to the idea of marriage.
Not one man has stuck around long enough for me to think he’s going to propose.
Sure, I’ve thought a lot of men could have been “the one”,” she puts airquotes around the words.
Her voice is mocking and she rolls her eyes as if the idea is utter nonsense.
I lock eyes with Mia, a look of concern in both of our expressions as we listen to something we never thought we’d hear from Kenzie.
“And every single one of them let me down. None of them even pretended to think that I was the one for them.” She doesn’t use air quotes this time.
The confession seems to take a lot out of her and her shoulders sag as the realization she’s verbalized for the first time sinks in.
“I would like to remind you that I was with the wrong guy for ten years. Ten years. And I can be honest with myself now but when we got married, I thought he was the one. Not confidently, not with the amount of assurance that I should have, but I did. I married that man thinking he was the best I could do. And it took a series of unfortunate events for me to finally wake up and see that he wasn’t.
At all. He wasn’t “the one” nor was he the best I could do. ”
“And, you found Dennis without trying,” I add. Dennis is actually “the one” for Andee, we all know it. He’s kind and thoughtful and I can confidently say that on his worst day he’s leaps and bounds a better man than Carson ever was.
“That’s right, I did,” Andee says. “I found him when I had lost all hope in men.”
“Maybe that’s what’s going on with you Kenzie, maybe you need to be brought to a low where you’re just about to give up before the universe says here you go and hands you a man wrapped up in a pretty bow.” I say.
Something like a glimmer of that usually bright burning hope flashes in her green eyes and she asks me, “Were you at a low when you met Jake?”
I take a bite of my enormous cinnamon roll and use it as a stalling tactic before I answer.
The last thing I want to do is strip Kenzie of her hope for love.
Even though I’ve been known to be a cynic for years and admittedly the first one to tease Kenzie for her blind optimism about love, Kenzie just isn’t the same without it.
I think about the last few years of my dating history.
I’ve had some dates, a few one night stands but regardless of whether I was able to face it at the time, I was married to my work.
Dates were to blow off steam, not to find the love of my life.
Maybe I’ve been at a low for years and just didn’t realize it.
“You know what, I think I was,” I say.
“So, he’s your Dennis?” Kenzie asks with just a touch more glimmer in her eyes.
I shrug, trying to appear nonchalant but there’s a slight flutter in my chest confirming that she’s right. “Maybe,” is all I say.