Chapter 6 #2
“She really does want to stir shit up,” Finley said.
“I don’t like that. It makes me feel like people don’t have a right to privacy and a personal life.
If Trent had an affair, I would be crushed.
I wouldn’t want to read about it in the newspaper.
Just because he is a business owner, it doesn’t mean everyone should have access to every minute of our lives. ”
“I agree,” I told her. “I wanted to write about Natalie and Omar’s wedding because I think it’s a great story.
A feel-good kind of thing. The town’s mayor is getting married.
In a place like MacKellar Cove, we don’t have a lot of scandals or major news stories, which I like, and a personal interest kind of thing is what people want to read about. Gretchen doesn’t really get it.”
“Gretchen? Oh, I think I know her,” Blake said, her eyes going wide. “Mid-fifties, white. Brunette bob with zero gray. Clear-frame glasses, perfectly arched eyebrows, red lipstick, and always dressed like she’s ready for a business meeting?”
I nodded. “Sounds like her.”
“She comes into Cracked every week. Sits in my section most of the time. I tried to introduce myself and get to know her, but never got past her first name. I don’t think she likes me,” Blake said with a wince.
“She doesn’t like anyone,” I told her. “She is good at her job, but I think she sees coming here as a punishment. At first, with everything going on around Omar and Levine and Erik publishing stories without fact-checking, I think she thought it would be a good assignment, but she’s bored.”
“She needs to get laid,” Elise said. Known as the one who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, Elise always said people needed to get laid.
I couldn’t really argue with her on that one, though. Gretchen didn’t talk to people, so my guess was she hadn’t had sex in even longer than me. Which was saying something.
“Ooh, Casey, you should tell her Omar and I were matched on Book Boyfriends Wanted. That we didn’t like each other, but we were matched. I ran away from him,” Natalie confessed.
“No, you didn’t,” I gasped.
Natalie nodded and looked at Daisy, her best friend.
“She did. We came here for book club the next night. That was when she realized he’d messaged her… how many times?” Daisy asked with a smirk that said she knew the answer.
“Thirteen times,” Natalie said with a wince. “I freaked out, okay. He was sort of my boss, and I knew he didn’t like me, and when he was the one I was matched with, I just ran.”
“What did he say?” I asked, knowing I was the only one who didn’t know the story.
“Well, before we met, I made him promise he wouldn’t walk out as soon as I got there. Then I did that, and he called me out on it.”
“Wow. Listen, none of this is on the record, but that would make a great story about how you two met. It would be good to put with the article about you being the woman in the picture.”
The collective gasp around the room said no one else knew Natalie told me to run that in a story.
“I told her about it,” Natalie defended. “Omar is sick of people asking if I’m jealous of the woman in the photo and if that woman is going to come back and cause problems for us. I told Casey to do a story about it.”
“Are you sure about that?” Finley asked.
“I trust Casey. And if we tell the whole story, with matching and all that, maybe it’ll help other people who are on the fence about signing up for Book Boyfriends Wanted.
Like Gretchen. Not that I would really want to meet someone from there just for sex, but maybe it’ll lead to more for her like it did for all…
most all of us.” Natalie flashed me a sympathetic smile.
“I think it’s a great app to meet people for sex,” Elise said. “I did that all the time before Colin and I got together. Hell, it’s how Colin and I got together.”
“What?” Daisy asked. “Are you kidding?”
Elise snorted. “No. Not even a little. I pissed off Karissa and Hudson all the time.”
“Why?” Daisy asked, glancing at Karissa, who’d been quiet so far.
“Because I wanted my app to be used to create connections. To find the person you’re meant to be with. Not for hookups. There are enough apps out there for that,” Karissa said.
“And Hudson was pissed because I would always meet people at O’Kelley’s. I knew he would make sure I was safe when I was there. And he would know who I left with if I wasn’t there,” Elise explained.
“That’s smart,” I told her.
“Thank you!” Elise cried. “Finally, someone who gets it. You’re single. Are you living it up with the app? Wait, are you on Book Boyfriends Wanted?”
“I am on it, but living it up… not so much,” I confessed.
“Why not? If I were still single, I’d be hooking up with as many men as possible,” Elise said.
“Same,” Willow agreed.
“I don’t think I would,” Natalie countered. “I never felt like I could relax and enjoy casual sex.”
“If you’re looking for something serious, then yeah, it’s not easy to enjoy it. I was never looking for that. I had no intention of ever getting into another committed relationship,” Elise said with a shiver.
“But then Colin swept you off your feet,” Blake said with a grin.
Elise snorted. “More like he waited me out until I got my head out of my ass and realized how amazing he is.”
“Which is what you needed to be swept off your feet,” Blake said.
Elise wrinkled her nose. “True. I was stubborn.”
“You were wounded. Emotionally,” Chelsea, Elise’s cousin, said. “You didn’t know how to trust a man after what happened.”
“No, I didn’t. I could screw them senseless, but if they even thought about something serious, I would run screaming. Until Colin.” Elise trailed off with a dreamy smile that made my heart squeeze.
Did I want that? A part of me said I did, but I wasn’t sure. Kyle was less than great as a husband, and the sex was the only part of being married I ever missed.
“As the one who’s only ever been with one man in my entire life,” Melody began, “I don’t have a point of reference, but sex has definitely gotten better over time.”
“I agree with that,” Blake said. “Sex with Ian was better than with William from day one, but over the years, it’s only improved.
We have more of a connection. It’s not just sex for the sake of sex.
There are days when I’m exhausted and feel like I can barely keep my head up, but he’s there for me to rub my feet and take care of things at home to ease my burden, and when we finally get into bed, that partnership continues. Everything about it is better.”
The others around the room nodded, adding their own stories to the conversation.
I sat back and listened, feeling like I had nothing to contribute. Not just because I was single, but because sex with Kyle was good, but it was for the sake of sex. It was the only link we shared over time. We got married because of sex. We stayed together as long as we did because of sex.
And when it came down to it, we both knew we couldn’t survive in a marriage that was only about sex.
I enjoyed sex, but sex was an act. It was a momentary connection. It wasn’t something that made me want to spend the rest of my life with someone. No matter how many of the women in the group said it brought them closer to their significant others.
I just wanted an orgasm or two. I could get that from anyone. I didn’t need more than one night.