“So, how have you been doing?” Tim asks. “You know, after everything that’s happened?”
The way he says it makes me feel like I’ve been in an accident or something. Like there was an incident. I wonder if people in the office have been talking about me, feeling sorry for me. I want to crawl under the table and hide.
“Okay, I suppose. It’s been a hard adjustment for me and the kids, but I’m slowly getting used to the perils of being single,” I reply, slightly sarcastically.
“How old are your kids?”
“Seventeen and seven.”
He bites into a roll. “Seventeen?” he repeats, with his mouth full of bread. “Damn. I didn’t realize your daughter was that old.”
I nod and sip my wine. “Yes, I had her right out of high school.” I’m not sure when seventeen became an age that was considered old.
“I don’t have any kids,” he says, taking another roll from the basket in the center of our table. “I can’t imagine having a teenager right now at my age, though.”
“I’m surprised you’re not married.” I wonder why a man in his mid-thirties isn’t married, and to the best of my knowledge, never has been. Maybe that’s a red flag that he’s just a player, or just not a good catch.
He laughs. “Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors floating around the office that I’m gay.” Yeah, or that.
“Are you?”
He almost chokes on his bread, throwing his head back laughing. “Ivy, I can assure you, I am not gay. I just haven’t met a woman I felt like I could stay committed to for the rest of my life.” He takes a sip of his beer. “If it happens, it happens. If not, I’m totally fine just dating and having a good time. The last thing I want is to get married and then end up having an affair because I wasn’t ready to give up variety.”
I blink at him from across the table. “Yeah, that variety is a bitch.”
He nearly spits his drink out. “Shit, Ivy, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I catch his eyes ogling my chest again.
“You’ve had my interest for a long time, though, so who knows what could happen. Maybe you’ll be the one to catch me.”
Um. No. I gaze around the restaurant, hoping the waitress will show up with our food soon, and I do a double take when I see Lukas standing at the bar, laughing with a group of people. A gorgeous girl with long blonde hair is standing next to him, laughing with him, her hand on his arm. Oh my God. I gulp half my drink as he turns and his eyes lock on mine, as if he could feel me looking at him. Dammit.
I have no right to feel jealous, but I do. Again. He didn’t waste any time finding someone else to spend time with tonight, now did he? And here I thought he actually really liked me.
“I’m starving. I hope our food gets here soon,” Tim announces.
“Me too. I haven’t eaten all day,” I answer vaguely, smoothing my napkin on my lap.