Page 59 of Living La Vida Mocha
“Nah, just had drinks.”
“So it wasn’t that big a deal then.”
“Big enough.”
I drew circles on my notepad as she whined. “So then, who’s Silas?”
“So get this.” Her voice jumped half an octave. “As I’m sitting there feeling all weirded out over the bizarre nature of the breakup, I watched as this other guy got dumped by his girlfriend. She tossed her water glass at him. Feeling bad, I handed him my napkin and saidtough night for couples, eh?and he started laughing. Next thing I know the two of us are sharing a tray of nachos and a bottle of chianti.”
“That’s a super weird combo.”
“That’s what I said.” The mock surprise was ripe on the tip of her tongue. “And that’s what Silas said too, but you know what, it was perfect. We stayed for the whole evening until the server told us it was time for them to close down. Cara, I shut down a restaurant.”
“That’s a first.” A bar, nope, she’d done that several times over, but a restaurant, that had to be a new one.
“The next day, we met after work, and we talked all night long again. He’s so funny and personable and just unlike any guy I’ve dated before. He’s just so…” Her voice faded away.
“Perfect?”
“Not even close.” I could also picture her shaking her head and waving a hand through the air. “He hates cats and dogs, and he loves country music. Blech.” Two of Amanda’s pet peeves.
She was a cat person, through and through, and if not for all her allergies, no doubt there would be a dozen pets in her place. But country music? That was usually a hard pass on any guy. This one clearly had something special to offer.
“When are you going out again?”
“Well, he’s here. Actually, I’m at his place. He lives a few blocks from the law court building.”
That was a pretty nice part of Red Deer, with ample trails and parks and the winding Red Deer river just footsteps away.
“We’ve seen each other every day after work since we had our mutual breakups. He’s so easy to talk to, and we get along so well. It feels like we’ve known each other forever.”
I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. “Amanda, I am truly happy for you. You sound so over the moon.”
“You have no idea. Or…” She paused. “Maybe you do?”
“Well, I’m not madly in love,” or in lust, like I was thinking was a true possibility with Amanda. “But Carter and I have talked and really worked things out. We’re officially seeing each other again.”
“Why do I hear hesitation in your voice?”
“There’s none of that. We’re both all in. He’s, well… he’s,” but I couldn’t say it. I didn’t think it was my place to blurt out his condition, not even to my best friend. “We’re working on resolving our past demons, so it means we’re erring on the side of caution.”
She laughed. “That’s a first for you. How slow are you talking here?”
“Slow and swoony, like a fresh start but better because we know each other. We had a great heart-to-heart on Thursday morning, and last night we went to this Tree Lighting Ceremony in the park.”
“And after all that romantic fun, then what?” Was she perched on the edge of her seat waiting for hot and sweaty details that never happened?
“No.” It hadn’t even been a thought that crossed our minds, well, maybe not his because he’d been a perfect gentleman. “We laid together on the couch and watched two old episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, but mostly, we talked. We’re catching up on a lot of things. We’re in a good place right now.”
“Oh wow. You are taking it slow with just talking. But why?”
“There’s a lot on his plate, and there’s a lot on mine.”
“Yeah right, like what?”
“I’m working at the flower shop and, Stanley put me in charge of running their Grinch Tree workshop.”
He’d even asked at work if it was okay to run two more workshops early next week since there was a high demand.