After All - Romancing Manhattan

“Okay, Nora and I will leave the office at six and pick you up,” Sienna says, making notes. “Will you be ready?”

“I’m more than ready,” London assures us. “My credit card is already weeping with joy.”

I feel my eyes go wide. What did I just get myself into?

“Oh my God, this is good,” Sienna says as she bites into a soft pretzel. We didn’t want to stop for dinner, so we grabbed something quick, planning to get a real meal when we’re finished spending all the money in the world.

Well, that’s their plan. I, however, don’t plan to spend too much.

That plan is thwarted, however, two hours and four heavy shopping bags later.

“I bought two new pairs of shoes,” I mutter in shock. “Three dresses and a suit.”

“And don’t forget that new Chanel eye shadow,” London reminds me. “It’s going to be killer with your brown eyes.”

My credit card is weeping in agony, and you know what? I’m not sorry. Not sorry in the least.

I’ve known both these women since they found their men, and from a professional aspect, I like them very much.

But spending time with them as friends? It might be the best time I’ve ever had.

I don’t have many female friends. Not because I don’t get along well with women, but because I work 90 percent of the time. And when I don’t work, I still help Carter out. Christopher befriended me.

And today has shown me that friendship is something I’ve been craving. Girl talk. Laughter. Shopping for ridiculously expensive shoes just because they’re pretty.

“Are you okay?” Sienna asks me. “London, I think she’s shell-shocked.”

“I know I am,” I admit with a laugh. “But in a great way. I don’t think I’ve ever shopped like this before.”

“We need to make this a regular thing,” London says as she shifts her own bags from one hand to two. “And it’s not over yet. What do you girls say instead of going out for dinner, we grab takeout and go back to Nora’s place to look at our goodies?”

“Why my apartment?” I ask in surprise.

“No boys there,” Sienna reminds me. “Girl talk is better when no boys are involved.”

“That’s why it’s called girl talk,” London adds with a wink. “What do you think?”

“I’m game,” I agree, excited to spend more time with them both. I see why Quinn and Finn are so in love with these girls. They’re fun and smart. Easy to be with.

I’m happy for all four of them all over again.

“Holy shit,” Sienna says, a dirty martini with three olives in her hand, as she stares at my wall of shoes. “Shoes.”

“I have a thing for them,” I say and sip my own martini. “It’s really more of an obsession.”

“I never used to care about shoes,” Sienna says as she continues to look. “I had the same dull pair that I wore with everything.”

“What happened?”

“Quinn,” she says simply. “He bought me a pair of Louboutins, and there was no going back.”

“I splurge on my shoes,” I admit. “I like the designer brands. And I wear them, so I don’t feel like it’s a waste.”

“Let me try them on.” Sienna spins to me, excitement dancing in her eyes. “Please?”

“You want to try on my . . . shoes?”

“You might as well let her,” London says as she peruses my suits. “She’ll just badger you until you let her.”

“I will not,” Sienna says with a dignified sniff. “Okay, I will. Pleeeease?”

“Sure.” I laugh and sit on my bed, sip my drink, and dig into the bags of treasures I bought today. “I forgot about this necklace.”

It’s a silver chain with a simple butterfly pendant. It has teal wings.

“Look!” Sienna walks out of the closet in a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos. They’re covered in crystals. “We’re the same size!”

“Uh-oh,” London says with a laugh. “She may never leave.”

“Quinn will come looking for me sooner or later.”

Sienna disappears back into the closet, and London pours us all another martini.

“So you and Carter,” she says with a grin. “Spill it.”

“Spill what?”

“The sex,” Sienna calls out from the closet. “Tell us about the sex.”

I feel my cheeks flush as I take another sip of my drink and reach for a box of brand-new heels. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about our sex life.”

“Why?” London asks. “You’re banging him, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“No buts,” London says with a shake of the head. “I mean, unless you enjoy that sort of thing.”

This drink is going straight to my head. I snort, and Sienna lets out a loud laugh in the closet. “No, I don’t think I do.”

“Actually, I want you to start from the beginning,” Sienna says, carrying out an armful of shoes to try on. “How did this come about?”

And so, for the next twenty minutes, I tell them about my history with Carter, working for him forever, and how things started to change.