The waiter smiled. “No,” he said. “You definitely don’t.”
“Good, I’m glad we got that straightened out,” she said. “I was just about to pounce on you. But you know…I might pounce regardless.”
“Salmon,” I blurted out. “I’ll have the salmon.”
Melody shot me an irritated glance, but I smiled and ignored her. “And a glass of the Merlot, please.”
“Very good, ma-uh…very good, miss,” the waiter said, with a pointed glance towards Melody. “And for you?”
She gave him a little wink. “Since you’re not on the menu, I’ll have to go with the mushroom risotto,” she said. “But just so you know, I intend to order something to go.”
The waiter walked away looking exceptionally pleased, and I rolled my eyes at Melody. “That was subtle.”
“You should know by now that subtlety is not my strong suit.”
“Apparently, neither is demureness.”
She snorted. “When did a demure woman ever get anything done in this day and age,” she said dismissively.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in a relationship?” I demanded.
“Oh…that,” Melody said, sounding annoyed. “That’s over.”
“What?” I said incredulously. “You and Fred are done?”
“As of this morning,” she nodded.
“What happened?”
She shrugged. “Things just fizzled out. Even while we were having sex this morning, I felt the chemistry disappear into thin air.”
“You told me three weeks ago that you thought he might be the one.”
“That was three weeks ago.”
I laughed. “I really should have known better.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that I’ve been in California for five months now. I’ve known you for almost all of those months, and in that time, you’ve had two different boyfriends, both of which you claimed were your soul mate.”
“I believed it at the time,” Melody said defensively.
“Okay, I can understand you saying that the first time around,” I said. “But every guy you meet can’t be the one?”
“They’re not. They’re all guys who have the potential to become ‘the one,’” she explained. “I give them all the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong.”
“Do you honestly believe that?” I asked curiously.
“What?”
“That there is such a thing as ‘the one?’”
“Of course, I believe it,” she said with certainty. “I believe there’s a perfect match out there for every single one of us.”
I frowned. “What about men and women who’ve been married multiple times and claim to have loved all their spouses?”
“You can have more than one soul mate,” she said easily. “You just have to be lucky.”