James stood, rising to his full height of just five-foot seven inches. He was big, round, grey-bearded. Smiling beneath his mustache, he looked like Santa Claus with his arms held out.
“If anyone needs one it’s you,” he grinned merrily. “Hug away.”
Twenty-One
HOLLY
I spent the rest of Monday shopping… and avoiding Donovan’s text messages. I’d called the front desk at Crunch Time to cancel my training appointment, which was pretty cowardly all things considered.
Between my whirlwind weekend and what had happened at work, I really just wanted time for myself. Shopping was twice as hard without a car. I’d had to lug everything home on the bus with me, or in the case of bigger items, arrange for them to be shipped. My better clients would probably reimburse me for the cost. But some, I knew, would question why I was suddenly charging shipping when I never had before.
And it wasn’t just Donovan I was ignoring… it was Brody and Lincoln too. After responding sweetly to their initial messages, I’d gone totally cold when it came to answering subsequent texts.
“Meet me,” Jocelyn’s voicemail had warned sternly. “Or DIE.”
It was the one part of my day that made me laugh. I’d listened to the message twice already, chuckling each time, before texting her to invite her over for dinner.
Dinner consisted of Chinese take-out. I’d always thought the #1 Best Kitchen was a hilariously redundant name, but considering how good their shrimp fried rice was, maybe not.
In the comfort of my little apartment, we unpacked everything together. Jocelyn waited until our drinks were poured, and the sleeves were off our eggrolls. I was surprised she even gave me that long.
“Alright,” she said flatly. “OUT with it!”
I smiled back at her innocently from my end of the couch. “Out with what?”
“You know Goddamn well what I’m talking about!” she said. “Your date on Saturday. Your meeting with Lincoln yesterday. What the hell happened to you today that you somehow got out of work early. All of it.”
“So you wanna know about my date, huh?” I asked.
“Hell yes.”
I grinned evilly as she took the bait. “Which one?”
It took a few seconds for my words to sink in. When they finally did, Jocelyn threw a packet of duck sauce at me.
“Bitch, you’d better start talking!”
She reached for the mustard. I laughed and held up my hand defensively. “Okay, okay…” I said. “I’ll start the from beginning.”
“With Donovan,” she said.
“With Brody,” I shot back.
My friend’s eyes went ridiculously wide. She dropped her eggroll onto her plate.
“Brody?” she repeated. “Who the hell is Brody?”
“The super-cute guy from my psych class who took me out Friday.”
I had to admit, I was enjoying this. Usually I was the one living vicariously through her. It was nice to have the tables turned for once.
“Now do you understand why I didn’t call you back?”
Jocelyn nodded like a robot, her mouth still slightly open.
“Good,” I grinned, picking up my plastic fork. “Now, I’ll start from the beginning…”
I told her everything, from the moment my bag was snatched on Friday afternoon, to the minute the cab dropped me off Sunday night. Jocelyn listened intently as I went over every date, every kiss, every dripping detail. By the time I’d finished, neither one of us had even touched our food.