him a “shut up and be grateful” lecture somehow without ever mentioning my name or speaking to me directly. Any hope I’d had about things going back to normal because of the cat induced, Aw, crashed and burned.
It was now Friday, and I’d just sent Lex the name and meeting place for her date. She replied with a that damn K, leaving me staring at one letter as though it had been an entire novel written in a different language.
Things she probably meant:
Okay.
Sure.
Cool.
Things I was terrified she meant:
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Want to come over for some whiskey?
I had a sex dream about you last night.
Things I hoped she meant:
Okay.
Sure.
Cool.
Things I was secretly—and not at all willing to admit to myself—hoping she meant:
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Want to come over for some whiskey?
I had a sex dream about you last night.
Fucking fuck, what the hell was wrong with me?
She put me out of my misery when the next text came through with the details for my date. I spent an exorbitant amount of time formulating the perfect response.
Me: K
Yep. That was it. Shoot me. Just shoot me.
I arrived at Bogart’s, a classy little small plate, martini bar that I was positive I was going to hate at seven sharp. No point in delaying the inevitable. I couldn’t imagine that Kate would be any different than the other Betty Crocker preschool-teacher types Lex had chosen for me. The sooner we got it started, the sooner I could get it over with.
And then what? I’d go home—alone. Maybe I could get there in time to FaceTime my seven-year-old son, who had more of a social life than I did. Then I could spend the rest of the night approving Hud Construction time cards before going to sleep and waking up in the morning to go to work where, every other weekend, I forced an eighty-four-year-old woman to come in on Saturday because growing a business was hard work, when in reality I was avoiding the fact that I had no fucking life when Lauren had my son.
And worst of all, deep down, I knew without a shadow of a doubt all I really wanted was to blow this fucking date, head to Huey’s, and sit in a booth, talking and laughing with Lex until the sun came up and quite possibly long after that.
Fuck.
“Hudson?” a woman called.
I tugged at the open throat of my button-down and sucked in a sharp breath before turning to face her. And then I froze.
Familiar blue eyes collided with mine and a warm smile curled my lips. “Oh. My. God.”
“Hi,” she whispered, her grin matching my own.
Lex was not fucking around with this cat condo anymore; that crazy woman had pulled out the big guns.
Kate Marlow, with all her flowing, blond hair and her low-cut bikini, had been the object of my obsession every summer of my college life. Her family lived in Hilton Head, so when Cal, Lex, Lauren, and I would spend time at the beach house, she was always around.
And always ignoring me.
Brenden and Lex did their best to run wingman for me, but summer after summer, Kate wouldn’t so much as give me the time of day. After Jack came along, my priorities shifted and I no longer had the freedom to spend my summers lounging in the sun, chasing the uncatchable woman.
But seven years later, there she stood in a martini bar that suddenly made a lot more sense. Lex hadn’t picked that restaurant with my tastes involved. This was for Kate.
I let out a loud laugh and extended a hand, but she batted it away, pulling me in for a hug instead.
“Wow, it’s so great to see you again,” she said, releasing me without stepping away. She patted my chest teasingly. “I see you haven’t given up on the gym.”
I chuckled. “Well, you look pretty amazing yourself. How in the world did Lex convince you to drive up for the night?”
“Oh, I didn’t drive up. I live here now.”
“Since when?”
She shrugged. “Few weeks. I took a job at an architecture firm down in Buckhead. Alexis keeps up with me on LinkedIn, so she messaged me as soon as my feet hit Georgia soil.”
I narrowed my eyes. That didn’t sound right at all. Lex on Facebook? Possibly. Instagram? Likely. Crazy cat lady chat boards? One hundred percent. But LinkedIn? And the fact that she had never mentioned that Kate had moved to town was all so very…interesting.
“An architect, huh?”
“Oh, don’t