11. Chapter Ten London
Chapter Ten: London
I won’t lie and say that part of me isn’t relieved to hear that Gloria’s date is over as I drive to Scoop, Scoop, and Scoop Some More. It’s a local ice cream parlour that’s been frequented by celebrities from Naoya Sugawa to Prince Kostas of Dorapolis.
As I step into the brightly coloured business, I spy Gloria standing by the counter, in line behind a bunch of families with kids. I make a beeline for her. “Hey, Ria. Your date ended early. What happened?”
She sighs. “I don’t even know. I had to catch an Uber here just to get away from him.”
My jaw tightens at her words. “Are you okay?”
Did this Lindon guy hurt her? Did he insult her?
“Nothing. Don’t go all caveman on me.” She laughs weakly.
“It wasn’t nothing.” I study her features. “You look upset. What did he do?”
“The date was going fine. Then I told him I got a text from you. All of a sudden he accused me of being a harlot, just because I’m a woman who happens to be friends with a man. I mean, how insane is that?”
Rage fills me at her words. “He sounds like a jerk.”
“Right?” She tries to smile, but it falls flat.
“Anyways, I left right after that because I didn’t want to hear his crazy accusations of how just because a man and a woman are friends means one of them must have feelings for the other.
Or just because a woman has male friends means she’s sleeping with them. Ugh.”
“That’s absurd. I mean, you and I are friends and we’ve never had feelings for each other.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we came to get ice cream,” I say. “You know, so you can cool down .”
She groans but lets out a giggle. “That’s your worst pun to date.”
“Maybe, but it got you to laugh.” I smile, unable to resist her peals of laughter. It’s the lightest, purest sound that brings me such inexplicable joy.
“Yeah, yeah.” Gloria rolls her eyes as the family with three toddlers finishes ordering and it’s our turn. She takes out her wallet. “What do you want? It’ll be my treat since I invited you here.”
“No,” I say automatically. I didn’t get a lot from my father, but I did learn that a man should never let a woman pay. “I’ll get it.”
“Why?” She quirks an eyebrow at me. “Like I said, I’m the one who asked you to come here.”
“Yes, but…” I scramble to think of an answer. Then I recognize the girl scooping ice cream behind the counter. “My ex-girlfriend works here and I need her to think that I’m here on a date with you.”
Gloria sighs and puts her wallet away. “One of these days you’ll realize the error of your ways and settle down with a nice girl.”
“Well, I’ll do that if you win the bet.” To seal the charade as we step up to the counter to order, I put my hand on the small of Gloria’s back.
I’m totally unprepared for the cascade of emotions that floods me when I do so.
She looks even more gorgeous than usual. I just wish it wasn’t for some jerk.
“What can I get for you?” The girl working behind the counter briefly meets my gaze, but I don’t think she recognizes me, to my relief.
When I said she was my ‘ex-girlfriend’, what I really meant is we went on one date that ended when she found out I was a tax lawyer.
Apparently she hates tax lawyers because she’s an accounting student.
“I’ll have a scoop of chocolate peanut butter with Reese’s pieces in a waffle cone,” I say.
“And you?” She turns to Gloria.
“I’ll have the mint chocolate chip in a cup, please.”
I pay for our ice cream, then step to the side to wait for our orders. “You know that tastes like toothpaste, right?”
“Oh, please. How would you know what it tastes like? You swear you’ll try some of mine whenever I get mint chocolate chip, but you never do.”
That’s because I’d rather taste it on your lips .
“Well today, I’ll be brave and I’ll try some. And you can have a bite of mine.” I know she’ll have more than one bite. As we get our ice creams and walk over to an empty table, I hand her my cone and pull a pack of Lactaid pills from my pocket.
“Deal,” she says.
After I take the Lactaid, we sit down at our table.
“So, do you have any other dates lined up?” It feels masochistic to ask, considering I just spent thirty seconds doing a victory dance when I found out she had ended her date with Lindon, but I have to know.
Gloria glances at her phone. “I’m going axe-throwing with a guy named Rob later this week.”
“Axe-throwing?” I repeat.
“What? Can’t you picture me throwing an axe?” she protests.
“Don’t you use a food processor to mince your garlic because you hate chopping it?”
“Mincing garlic with a blender is just more efficient. It’s not about my knife skills. And I’m throwing an axe, not chopping logs with it. ”
I chuckle. “Did any of these guys let you give your input into the date before they decided what you were going to do?”
She shrugs. “Well, not really, but…”
“But what?” I prod, irritated by my own desire to know more about these guys who are taking her out.
“ But , I don’t want to be some high-maintenance girl who is controlling or dissatisfied with everything a guy does for her.” She takes a spoonful of her ice cream.
“You think telling a guy that you don’t like French restaurants or axe-throwing means you’re high maintenance?” I ask as peanut butter ice cream drips down my fingers.
Instead of replying, Gloria wipes the ice cream off my knuckles with a napkin. It should feel maternal. Or overbearing. Instead, every nerve ending in my body lights on fire at the caress of her hand against mine.
“I thought men liked women who are easygoing and chill.”
“You’re allowed to have an opinion. In fact, I like it when you speak your mind,” I say without thinking.
Oh, crap. Is she going to think that I’m saying that because I like her?
“I mean, not that my preferences count. But, still. If a guy doesn’t value your opinion and thinks you’re annoying when you voice it, he doesn’t deserve you. ”
Gloria blinks at me. “Thanks, London.”
Then she picks up the extra spoon she snagged and digs it into her bowl before extending it to me. “Now, are you going to try my ice cream or not?”
Grabbing the spoon, I swallow the mint ice cream. It’s cold and leaves my tongue tingling, but not in an unpleasant way, and tinged with sweetness from the chocolate. Then, of course, I choke on one of the chocolate chips and almost hack up a lung.
When I finish coughing, Gloria gives me a concerned look and smacks me on the back. “Are you… okay? ”
I give her a thumbs-up. A thumbs-up . Because apparently I’ve been losing my mind lately. Did I fall off a horse and get a concussion without realizing it? Because that’s the only explanation I can think of for what I just did.
“All good,” I say weakly. “Sorry about that.”
She giggles. “Can I have a bite of yours?”
I offer her the ice cream and she takes a spoonful.
“Gloria, I didn’t expect to see you here! It’s been ages.” An Asian girl, who looks vaguely familiar, appears at our table.
“Sasha! It has been forever, hasn’t it?” Gloria gets up from the table and hugs her. “I’m sorry I haven’t really kept in touch since I quit knitting club. I just never could get the hang of casting off.”
Sasha laughs. “It’s okay, knitting definitely isn’t for everyone. I didn’t mean to interrupt your date, I just saw you here and wanted to say hi!”
“It’s not a date,” I say at the same time that Gloria says, “You’re not interrupting.”
They technically mean the same thing, right? Sasha isn’t interrupting, because this isn’t a date?
“This is my friend and coworker, London.” Gloria says, gesturing to me.
“It’s nice to meet a friend of Gloria’s,” I say. “I was starting to think she had no life outside of the office.”
“Right, because you guys are lawyers.” Sasha nods. “What law firm do you guys work at again?”
“McMann and Ma,” Gloria says.
Sasha’s dark eyes widen. “I just went on the worst date of my life last weekend with a guy who works there. Please don’t tell me you’re coworkers with Giorgio.”
Gloria and I glance at each other and I bite down on my lip to keep from bursting out laughing.
“ You’re the mini golf date?” Gloria says through giggles .
“He told you about that?” Sasha groans. “That’s what I get for going on a dating app.”
“Amen,” Gloria says, lifting her ice cream in a mock toast.
“Well, I have to get going, but Gloria, let’s catch up sometime!”
“Yes, let’s get coffee. I’ll text you!” Gloria says as Sasha walks toward a table with an older woman who looks like her mother.
As we finish our ice cream, I can’t help but wish that I had been the one to take her on a date instead. That Sasha’s assumption about us was correct.
But of course, I can’t.
While I drive her to her car, which is parked at a cafe near her apartment, I gather up the courage to ask her. “Do you want to help me babysit my nieces this Saturday? I’m taking them to their horseback riding lessons.”
Gloria tilts her head to one side. “I’ve never met them before. Wouldn’t it be weird if I showed up? Does your brother even trust me to watch them?”
“You’d be with me. And it’s not like we’ll be doing any heavy lifting—they have an instructor, so they just need someone to supervise and bring them to and from. Brooklyn and his wife had their wedding anniversary last week, so I think they’d still appreciate some alone time away from their kids.”
“Aw, that’s sweet of you to do that for them.” Gloria puts her hand on my forearm as we stop in front of my car. “Sure, I’d love to do that. I’ve never been horseback riding. Wait, have you been horseback riding?”
“Once or twice,” I say.
“Is this the part where you tell me that on the weekends, you wear flannel shirts and steal big city girls from their high-powered, financial executive fiancés?”
When I stare blankly back at her, she continues. “You know, like a cheesy movie. He’s the lumberjack who owns a struggling Christmas tree farm and she’s a marketing genius who’s in town to help her ailing grandmother… ”
“I am definitely not a lumberjack who owns a Christmas tree farm, but if I did, it wouldn’t be struggling.”
She laughs. “Oh, because you’re so great at Christmas tree farming and you have lumberjack muscles?”
As if to illustrate her point, her hand moves up my forearm and squeezes my bicep. I swear her breath hitches as she does so.
“Maybe I do. Are you volunteering to come watch me chop wood?”
Her laugh is more strained this time and she drops her hand from me like she’s been burned. Maybe I’m imagining things. She probably thinks I’m weird. “I think we can start with the horseback riding and work our way up to wood chopping. You know, after I try axe-throwing.”
We get into my car and I take her back to hers. As I watch her get into her vehicle and drive away, I wish this hadn’t been the end of her date with some other guy. I wish it had been been the end of ours .