Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Drea
When Cara called me last week to invite me to a wine tasting, I was all for it. She had come up with the idea to get Blair a bottle of wine to celebrate the book signing.
She didn’t need to know that I had already planned on having Blair open something else on that night. She could enjoy the wine while I enjoyed her.
Between getting ready for the signing, running the store, and adding Blair to my to-do list, I was looking forward to a relaxing night.
When I walked into Queer Quarters, I headed for the bar and ordered a whiskey while I waited.
“Do you want a refill?” Rylee asked. Rylee, who was Mackenzie’s best friend, was also the barista at Brewed Awakening.
I laughed. “God, no. I’m here for the wine tasting. If I mix my drinks too much, I’ll be crawling out of here! I’m just waiting for Cara. She wants to get a bottle for Blair to congratulate her on the book signing, so I’m helping out.”
“Oh, Cara wants to get her a bottle?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up!”
“What?” She shrugged innocently. “I think it’s cute you want to do something nice for your girlfriend.”
“Aren’t there other patrons you could be bothering?” I adored Rylee, but I didn’t want to talk about Blair with the chance Cara could walk in at any second.
She smirked. “Funny how you didn’t deny she’s your girlfriend. But actually, I do need to check on my other customers, so you got lucky this time. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Of course, love. Thanks.” I let out a massive sigh of relief when she walked away. I wasn’t ready to label what we had yet, especially not without talking to Blair about it first.
It was crazy to think about how much things had changed since two years ago.
I celebrated my best friend’s birthday. I went through a breakup while she had gotten back into a relationship.
She got engaged while I stayed single and worked in the store.
Blair came into my life and completely turned things around for me.
My best friend was married, and my other best friend was thinking about children.
Marriage and kids were never on any list I had, except for one of the things I would never do, but being with Blair has made me reevaluate some of my previous opinions on things.
And now here we were, a few months after we’d started working together again, happy and getting ready for a big accomplishment for Blair. I was finally in a good place in life and I was happy, really happy.
I had been waiting only five minutes when a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts. “Hey, doll!” Cara slid into the barstool next to me with a hug.
“Hey, love. You’re right on time. I just got done with my drink.”
She sat down and ordered a gin and tonic and we spent a few minutes catching up on life.
“I really needed this tonight. It’s been non-stop work between my other clients, and you and Blair… speaking of Blair, you know she still hasn’t told me who she’s been seeing? I’m starting to wonder why she won’t tell me. It’s not like I would judge her. Has she said anything to you?”
I choked on my drink, the contents coming out of my mouth and nose and spraying onto the bar top. That was the last thing I was expecting her to bring up, and something inside my chest cracked at the hurt in her voice.
“No, she hasn’t said anything, but we aren’t that close. I wouldn’t worry about it. Maybe it’s just not that serious? I don’t know.”
I hoped she would buy the lie. She had no reason to believe I was remotely involved with Blair.
She shrugged. “I guess. I just want her to be happy, you know? Hopefully she’ll tell me some day.”
She looked down at her drink, and I wondered if she could feel the guilt radiating off me. I hated hiding this from her, especially seeing how hurt she was by Blair not telling her something so important about her life. If Fallon did the same thing, I couldn’t imagine how broken I would have felt.
I nodded and took another long sip of my drink. “Speaking of, how’s your dating life going?” I needed to shift the topic of conversation anywhere besides Blair, and I genuinely wanted to know what was going on in Cara’s life.
“You know how it is, going on dates but never dating. I still have hope, though. Someday I’m sure my person will show up and sweep me off my feet.”
“Don’t worry, they will. You’re amazing and anyone would be lucky to have you!”
The host of the wine tasting came around and brought us all a tray with half a dozen tiny cups. Each cup was accompanied by a label, indicating the name of the wine.
They introduced themselves and told us a little about their winery and what they did there. It was really interesting to hear about, and I made a mental note to take Blair sometime. She wasn’t really a big drinker, but it still sounded like something romantic for us to do together.
Cara and I started swirling and smelling the wine as if we had the slightest clue what to look for. We really just wanted to have an excuse to drink and catch up, as well as find something to give to Blair as a celebration for the book signing.
“What about you? I haven’t heard any of your crazy forgotten dildo stories in a while. Are you seeing anyone?” Cara asked. If I had been drinking anything, I would have choked again.
I hated lying to her just as much as Blair did, but I’d made a promise, so I laughed and put a blanket over the truth. “Oh, you know me. Work keeps me busy.”
She gasped. “Good! I have someone I think you will like!
I groaned. I should’ve seen this coming. This was my payback for setting her up with Fallon, I was sure of it. “I don’t know, Cara. I’m really busy with the store, and I’m supposed to be celibate, remember?”
It didn’t matter that that orgasmic boat had sailed a long time ago, and if I had my way, after experiencing sex with Blair, I would never be celibate again.
She scoffed, taking another drink. “You don’t have to have sex to go on dates, Drea. You’ve been so busy with the store that you need to take time for yourself, and I have a few friends I think would be good for you. My friend Kelsie is—”
“Cara, please stop. I’m not interested, okay? Can we talk about something else?”
What I really wanted to say was, I’m sorry, Cara, I can’t go out with any of your friends. I am with Blair and she is the only one I want.
But of course, I couldn’t say that, so I had to hope she would take my word and just leave well enough alone.
“But why not? You’re the queen of dating. It’s so weird for you to be single. Just go on one date. What could it hurt?”
Clearly that wasn’t happening. At this point the wine was mixing with the whiskey from earlier, and it was starting to affect my nerves and I was getting frustrated, so my voice raised a little. “Because, Cara, I don’t want to go out with anyone, okay? Just drop it!”
“Why? Give me one good reason why you won’t even consider—”
“Because I’m sleeping with Blair!”
Cara’s drunken smile fell, and she became dangerously quiet.
Shit, shit, fuck, shit!
She slowly sat her drink down and cleared her throat. I was in so much trouble. Fuck!
“I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked. She folded her hands and placed them on the table. I wasn’t sure why the move terrified me. Maybe because she looked like a very pissed mob boss.
“I mean… I…” I stammered, trying to find the words.
I sighed in defeat. Having said the words I wasn’t supposed to say, there was no point in trying to take them back. “I can’t go out with anyone because I’ve been seeing Blair.”
“You and Blair?” She shook her head and let out an incredulous laugh. “Not my Blair. You hate her. You have made that perfectly clear to me time and time again. You’ve made my job so insanely fucking difficult for years because of this fact. I just don’t understand. You’re seeing that Blair?”
I sighed. “I don’t know another Blair, do you? Yes, Cara.”
She scoffed. “You have no right to get an attitude about this, Drea. If anyone is going to be upset, it’s going to be me! I literally just asked you if you knew anything about who she was seeing, and you sat there and blatantly lied to me?! How long has this been going on?”
I bit my lip, not wanting to be honest. I was not in a clear headspace to be having this conversation. “That doesn’t matter. Let’s just take the wine and go—”
“You lying directly to my face doesn’t matter? Are you serious right now? Do you just not care about anyone else’s feelings anymore or what?”
“Cara, I—”
“How long have you been sleeping with my client, Drea?!”
“I’m sorry, I don’t really see how that is any of your business. We are both adults, and she is more than your client, Cara. She is your best friend.”
“You may be adults, but you and my ‘best friend’ are hiding things from me and fucking with my business. How long?!”
“For months! Is that what you want to hear? I have been making your precious client come anywhere I get the chance. In my office, on her couch, against her door, even in her pool. I was the one naked in her bed the night you showed up. Those clothes all over her living room floor? Yeah, those were mine. She was probably making me come as you were pulling up, actually. Is there anything else you would like to know? Do you want to know what kind of strap I used when I fucked her against my desk? Do you want to know the sounds she makes as she begs for me to make her come?”
Okay, so maybe I didn’t need to go that far.
I knew I should’ve stayed home. I should have made some excuse as to why I couldn’t come out tonight, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
This altercation was bound to happen one way or another.
Perhaps not in a drunken admission and not that vulgar, but it was too late to take it back now.
“Wow, really classy! That’s exactly why you two being together is a terrible idea!”
“And what is that supposed to mean?!”