“Have you been here before?” she asks, hanging her purse off of the back of her chair.
“Once or twice.”
“Okay. Well, um. What’s good?”
“Everything,” I answer, without looking up from my menu.
“Right.” She huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“What?”
“Listen, Samson, let me be frank with you, okay?”
I nod for her to continue.
“It’s clear you’re not interested in me, and while I’m sure you’re a great guy, the feeling’s mutual.”
“Then why are you here?”
Maria smiles. “Same reason as you, I suppose.”
“A well-meaning but meddling family friend?”
She lifts her hand and flicks her wrist. “Close enough.”
“We can just call it a night,” I offer.
“Oh, hell no. You’re buying me dinner.”
I laugh. “Bossy, aren’t ya?”
She nods. “My girlfriend certainly agrees.”
My eyes widen and Maria grins.
“Oh, yes. Strictly chickly.”
“Then why are you here… with me?”
Maria shrugs. “Like you say, well-meaning and meddlesome. My aunt—God love her—thinks I need a big, strong man to take care of me. She means well, but she’s a little old-fashioned. I can take of myself, thank you very much.”
“How long have you and your girlfriend been together?”
“Four years.”
“How’s she feel about this?” I gesture in the space between us.
Maria grimaces. “She’s not my aunt’s biggest fan, but she… she’s patient. What about you? How’d you end up here?”
“Best friend’s mom.”
“You’re single?”
I shrug. “It’s complicated.”
Our waiter comes by, effectively ending our conversation. Or so I thought, because the second we order, Maria pounces. “Tell me about this complication.”
I hesitate. How do I even begin to explain Stella? I’m saved from replying when my phone buzzes on the tabletop with an incoming text.
I glance at my phone, swallowing roughly when I see Stella’s name.
“Who is she?” Maria asks.
“What?”
“I said, who is she? I know that look and it’s about a girl. Is it your complication?”
I blink slowly and nod, wondering if she’s really intuitive or if I’m as transparent as glass.
“Are you gonna read the text or not?”
“I don’t know.” I glare at my phone like it’s a rattlesnake ready to strike. “Last I checked, she wasn’t speaking to me, so I doubt it says anything good.”
“Did you do something?”
“Stupid?” I wanna bristle, but she’s partially right, so I shrug instead. “Well, you won’t know if she’s still mad unless you check the text.”
When I still don’t make a move to grab my phone, Maria heaves out a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll tell you something, Samson. Girls don’t like to play games—if you want her, go after her. If you don’t, let her go.”
I scrub a hand over my face and groan, wondering how in the hell my blind date turned into a therapy session. “I want her more than I want my next breath.”
Maria smiles. “Then check your phone, dumbass.”
I take a deep breath and then grab my phone, pressing my thumb into the screen to unlock it. I pull up her message and my heart practically stalls in my chest. “What the fuck…” I whisper to myself, my eyes memorizing every single detail about the image on my screen.
“What? What is it?” Maria asks.
I lower my gaze down to my screen and then back toward the woman across from me. “It’s a picture,” I mutter, feeling strangely possessive, like it’s an image meant for my eyes only. Which is absurd, given that she’s at a party.
“Of what?”
I clench my jaw and force a swallow. “Of her. At a party.”
Maria’s green eyes shine. “Show me!”
I turn my phone around and pass it to Maria. Her eyes widen when she takes in Stella and her painted-on jeans and skin-tight turtleneck. She whistles low under her breath and asks, “How old is she?”
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from saying something rude. I should have known this was coming. With one innocent question, she’s managed to dredge up the issue that got Stella and me into this whole mess to start with.
Sensing my train of thought, Maria holds up her hands in front of her. “Hey, no judgment here.”
“She’s eighteen.”
I wait for some kind of shitty remark but she just shrugs and smiles softly. “Love is love.”
“What do I do?” I prop my elbows on the table and drop my head into my hands.
“I can’t really answer that without knowing a little more about y’all.” She tips her head to the side. “Y’all’s history.”
“I’m best friends with her older brother, have been my whole life. She started off as just his annoying kid sister, but one day, something changed. I started seeing her as more, and eventually we were more. The plan was to tell Orion—her brother—that were together the night of her eighteenth birthday.”
She hums under her breath. “Guessing things didn’t go according to plan?”
“You could say that. I got too into my own head and started thinking being with me was holding her back, so… I left.”