“Oh, was it?” Nicole elbowed him. “I’m sure, given the opportunity, she’ll kick your ass all the way under the table again.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” Seth said, flipping through the menu.
“We’re not married yet,” she replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, man, I gotta tell you,” Chad said, leaning over the table. “Marriage doesn’t guarantee she’ll be on your side either. Hate to break it to you.”
Naomi laughed. “If anything, it’s the opposite.” She sipped her wine and sighed. “This is wonderful. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been out for drinks?”
“Roughly fourteen months,” Chad said and pushed his glasses up onto his nose as he peered at the menu.
“You have twins, right?” Tori asked, thanking the waiter for the Long Island iced tea he placed in front of her. “That must be something.”
Naomi snorted. “‘Something’ is a great descriptor. I guess I’m lucky to have had twins in my first pregnancy. Any single baby pregnancies after this will feel like a walk in the park in comparison.”
“Can we make it through the first year before we start talking about more kids?” Chad asked, mopping his brow.
“I’ll have another,” Vince said loudly, pointing to his already-empty drink when the waiter passed by.
Seth caught my gaze and I knew we’d both need to be on Vince watch this evening.
Dinner passed quickly with the conversations and drinks flowing like we got together like this all the time. Inexplicably, it thrilled me that Tori got along so well with my friends’ significant others. At one point, we’d all shifted seats at the long rectangular table so the women were at one end while we were at the other. They talked a lot about Nicole’s impending wedding and Naomi’s experiences working as a farmer before she realized she wasn’t cut out for it. They both did a good job of getting Tori to talk about her life a bit. I tried to be engaged with Seth’s work-related travel stories, but I found myself listening more to the little bits Tori divulged, like the fact that she hadn’t been in a serious relationship since high school, because she usually attracted and pursued the wrong type of guy. I tucked that information away and listened in as she talked about her best friends back in Idaho, but how they were all moving on and settling down—something that Tori wasn’t eager to do herself.
After the checks had been dropped off, the ladies decided to go to the restroom together, leaving the guys alone.
Vince, on his sixth drink, frowned and waved a hand in the direction that the women had disappeared. “Why do girls go to bathrooms in packs? Are they worried about bears? Do women’s rooms have exciting things that men’s rooms don’t?”
“Yeah, they do,” Seth said.
“What?” Vince asked.
“Women.”
“Touché.” Vince tipped his glass toward Seth, causing it to slosh all over the table. “Fuck,” he said, slurping up the alcohol that had covered his hand. “Speaking of women, what’s the deal with you and Tori?”
“Yeah.” Seth leaned back, stretching his legs. “You’ve been pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing.”
I thought of the conversation Tori and I had in the room. “There isn’t a whole thing,” I said. “There’s not much to say.”
Seth laughed first, followed by Chad. “Yeah, okay,” Seth replied. He swallowed the last of his drink and rubbed his chest. “I’ve seen how you look at her. You like like her.”
I couldn’t deny it to them. They wouldn’t believe me even if I wasted my breath. But I didn’t want them to hassle Tori, either. “We’re not serious. She lives in Idaho and I obviously don’t. She’ll go home in a few days and that’ll be the end of it.”
“Bullshit,” Seth said, pinning me with a look. “That’s total bullshit.”
“It’s not,” I said, glancing toward the bathrooms to make sure she wasn’t heading back already. It was obvious we had moved a bit too fast for her comfort. The last thing I wanted to do was make her want to run away. “Yeah, I like her. But it’s a fling.” I stared Seth right into the eyes as I borrowed Tori’s words. “Just a fling. It’ll be over before this week is.”
“Bet you it isn’t,” Seth said.
“Stop,” I said, firmly. I knew Seth meant well—and was teasing me—but Tori would be back any minute and I didn’t want her to hear the guys talking about our relationship, as if we even had one.