“Got a boyfriend?” Mike asked.
I felt myself blush, but hoped the soft lighting hid it. I thought of Chad, the asshole. “I have an ex-husband and that's enough.”
“You can't let one guy ruin it for you.” Mike pointed at me. “You're young, smart, beautiful. Maybe it's the guys in New York. What are they called, metrosexual?” He took a swig of his beer. “What does that mean anyway?”
Cara and I laughed.
“I'd think Sam Kane is looking for a partner,” Mike commented.
I stared at him, wide eyed. “A partner?”
“You're both attorneys. I'm sure you could easily find clients here instead of a big firm that only allows you to sleep.”
Mike was a rancher and while his hours catered to livestock and chores, his pace of life was vastly different than mine. There was no commute to work. No rush hour. No overtime or deadlines. No IM's, no texts from upset bosses, no overloaded inbox. Just big skies and cows.
“Katie thought you meant a different kind of partner,” Cara clarified, her mouth turning up into a grin.
Mike looked at his wife confused for a moment, then understanding dawned. “I vouch for Sam, Katie.”
“Good to know,” I mumbled, taking a sip of my drink. Elaine wanted me to have wild monkey sex. Cara was clearly matchmaking, and Mike was a job recruiter. I hadn't even seen Sam since I was twelve and it was like my friends were a committee that gave me a rubber stamp approval to work with, and more importantly, fuck Sam Kane.
“Sorry, I'm late.” An attractive guy with blond hair came over to the table, leaned in and kissed Cara. On the mouth. Was that a hint of tongue? And she let him. No, and Mike let him.
What. The. Hell?
My drink was halfway to my mouth and I froze, my eyes going from New Guy to Cara to Mike and back.
New Guy whispered something in Cara's ear and she looked up at him adoringly, as if he were… Mike.
Mike nudged Cara with his elbow and all three of them turned to stare at me.
“I told you she didn't remember,” Mike said.
Cara laughed. “Katie, you should see your face!”
I flushed and felt like I was left out of some kind of joke.
“Um… yeah, well—”
New Guy shook his head. “I'm Tyler, Cara's other husband.”
Mike and Cara slid over to make room for Tyler in the booth. He moved in beside them, Cara wedged happily in the middle. One dark, one fair, one red head.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, and took a big swig of my drink. I waved down the waitress and gave her the signal for another round.
Cara laughed and cocked her head to the side. “You really don't remember, do you?”
“What? That you have two husbands?” I leaned in and whispered the last, afraid someone around us would hear. “I would have remembered if you told me, I promise.”
Mike shook his head. “You don't remember that Cara has two husbands or that most women around here do?”
“Most women don't—” I opened my mouth to disagree, but closed it. Frowning, I looked around the bar, then past it to the families seated farther away in the restaurant. There were a lot of tables with a woman, kids, and—two men. Not every table, but enough to make me swallow. Hard. Holy shit. I glanced at Cara and her men again. “But Cara, your parents—”
“You remember my mom, obviously, and my dad, Paul.”
I nodded, for I'd played at their house often, had lunch. Cara's dad even fixed my b
ike chain once. Charlie had bought a red cruiser bike for me that last summer.