maybe eating her emotions was. Crap. Either way, it all came down to her mouth. And thanks to her amazing metabolism, only her verbal vomit was getting her in trouble these days. Why couldn’t she be more like her little sister?
Yes, Cin was perfect. She had their father’s Mediterranean coloring and long, thick, dark hair. She had a perfect hourglass figure. And she always knew what to say. Always. She never had to waste time regretting her words or anything else for that matter. Plus, she was the perfect daughter, wholly content to work with her parents until she married and popped out the first grandchild. Judging from the way she was working the party, Cin planned to do that sooner, rather than later. Cammie shook her head in disgust.
“Listen, I have watched you in action at roughly 117 parties since you hit puberty. At each and every one of those events, you managed to find some female to hook up with.” She was about to continue, but he interrupted.
“One hundred and seventeen? I’d like to know where you get these numbers. That can’t possibly be right.” He started counting on his hands while she smirked at him. It was obvious that he was serious. She had hit a nerve. Ah, but she was serious, too.
“You know, if I’m off at all…it’s by maybe three.” She sighed. He counted. A hand waved from the end of the bar. “I’ll be back. You know, chances are your smart phone has a calculator if you think that would speed up the process.”
It only took her a few moments to pass the gentleman at the end of the bar a few bottles of an imported beer. For some reason, there was always some jerk who wanted to know if they carried Heineken and hinted, if not said outright, that he’d like to grab her heiney. And this guy…was one of those so she wasted no time getting back to Adam. He had taken her advice. He had his calculator out and was talking to himself. Every once in a while, he would smile, suggesting that the memory of the moment wasn’t so bad.
“What number are you on now, champ?” She teased him as she washed a couple of glasses and put them away.
“Eighty-seven,” he said seriously.
“And how many years to still factor in?” She poured some shots of Goldschlager and passed them to the server who requested them. Too many of those and this party would get completely out of hand.
“Just six…” He tapped a few more numbers into the phone. “Well, this can’t be right.”
Laughing, she nodded, “Oh, it can be.” She leaned toward him. “Let me see.”
Thirty was supposed to be this banner year. Now it was looking like a huge wake up call. He had discovered earlier in the day he had no meaningful relationships, as evidenced by the fact that this was his party and other than Sam, Haley, and now the bartender, no one had even spoken to him. They were enjoying the free food, the free booze, the nice music. The loft had never looked better…except maybe for that time with the one girl who came home with him from. Well, crap. One more name he had forgotten. There was something about this bartender.
“So, do we know each other? Have we ever been properly introduced?” He was really starting to feel badly about his life. On the bright side, at least he had over half his life to be better. This woman was better.
“No,” she said, biting on the inside of her cheek. “We’ve never really met.” She was laughing at him. He could tell. That’s what the cheek biting was about.
“Are you sure? There is something very familiar about you. We never…?” He decided to use his tried and true method of recognition. He squinted at her. Then he looked at her with one eye open.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t believe you. You have just a hint of bitter that usually only comes from a one night stand with me…in my experience.” He gave her a challenging look.
“Don’t you mean your vast experience? Seriously. What’s the tally?” She wiped the counter, walked a few feet away, passed out a couple of sodas and then returned to him.
“I don’t think the tally matters,” he said straightening. “I think that you have made your point.” He wanted to stay and talk to her, but he was already feeling low enough. He