About That Fling (12 page)

She tried to think of a good reason not to share a meal with her ex-fiancé at their old haunt on this cheerless two-year milestone, but all she could come up with was, “Um.”

Sean nodded, taking that as concession, so he took her hand as well. Jenna let him lead her to a booth near the back, far away from the karaoke stage. She was numb enough that she almost didn’t notice it was the same booth they’d been sitting at when they had their first date five years ago.

“You want the usual?” he asked, and Jenna nodded, figuring it was easier than trying to remember complex words like
pepperoni
and
olive
.

She glanced toward the bar. “Split a half carafe of their house red?”

“Coming right up.”

She started to open her wallet, but he waved her off and headed for the counter. Okay then. She put her wallet away and tried to calm her nerves. She wasn’t nervous about seeing him again, at least not that way. She didn’t still love him. She wasn’t even sure she liked him all that much, but she was surprised to realize the resentments had cooled and the sadness had ebbed, leaving behind something that felt like—

Like what, exactly? Numbness? A sense that she should be feeling something—anything—but really she just wanted to paste a smile in place and plow through the awkwardness as quickly as possible.

Was this what closure felt like?

“Here you go,” Sean said, dropping into the chair next to her and handing her a glass of red wine. “Pizza will be up in a few. So how have you been, Jenna?”

“Good,” she said, taking a tentative sip. “Aunt Gertie is healthy and happy. Work’s going great.”

“Work,” he said, nodding as he pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and set it on the table beside his own glass. “That’s great. You’re still at the hospital?”

“Yes. Did I hear you changed to a different accounting firm?”

“Yeah, I’m with Grover and Frank now. It’s really great. They’ve got an office right on the river.”

Jenna watched as his fingers slid over the power button on his phone. His eyes were still on hers, but she could tell his brain was already wandering through his in-box.

“Must be nice working that close to home,” she said.

“Actually, I moved. I’m over in Lake Oswego now. The commute is a bitch, but I love the new house. The views are great.”

“Great,” she said, doing a mental head-slap at the fact that two educated people couldn’t seem to come up with a better adjective than
great
. “I’m very happy for you.”

His phone vibrated, and she watched his gaze flick away to read the message. He moved his eyes back to hers an instant later, doing a perfect impression of a man connected to the conversation. “You still living in the old place and walking to work all the time?”

“Yes. I love having a little bit of fresh air and exercise at the beginning and end of each day.”

“Uh-huh.” His eyes flicked back to the screen, though he left the phone flat on the table, tucked behind his wineglass. At least he was trying to be discreet about it. At least she no longer cared, no longer felt the urge to reach across the table and grab his cell phone so she could beat him over the head with it. His inability to carry on a conversation without checking his goddamn phone every ten seconds was no longer her concern.

Was it someone else’s? She tried to decide if she cared. She didn’t, at least not in the sense that it bothered her if some other woman was now sharing his bed, his life, his dreams.

He tapped a couple words on the phone, and Jenna had to admit it still grated on her nerves. She took a deep breath, remembering the tip Adam had offered in mediation about breathing before speaking. She did it a few more times for good measure.

“So you like the new job?”

“What’s that?” He looked up at her, his hand still poised on the phone.

“Your job. You like the new place you’re working?”

“Yes, definitely. Much more challenging. The pay’s better, too.”

His phone buzzed with the sound of an incoming text message, and Sean looked down at it. He nodded absently, then reached for the device and began typing out a message with his thumbs.

Jenna took another sip of wine and glanced around the restaurant. Was it only a couple years ago this had been their old stomping ground? Funny how much her life had changed since she’d been Sean’s fiancée, since they’d been planning a future together and—

“Will you excuse me a sec?” he asked, interrupting her thoughts. “I just need to check on the pizza.”

He needed to make a phone call, she guessed, but Jenna just nodded and watched him walk away. She looked at her watch and wondered how long she had to make polite conversation with him before she could safely go home and put on her pajamas and watch trashy TV. An hour? Forty-five minutes?

She slid off her chair, catching Sean’s eye and gesturing to the far corner of the restaurant to let him know she was going to the bathroom. He was fiddling with his phone, but he gave her a thumbs-up as she moved through the crowd, picking her way past bistro tables strewn with beer mugs and half-eaten pizzas.

As she neared the restrooms, she took one last glance at Sean. He had his phone pressed to his ear, and was making a hurry-up gesture with his hand. Jenna suppressed an eye roll, shaking her head as she pivoted fast and marched around the corner.

“Ooof!”

She crashed into a wall with a fleeting thought of who changed the layout of the restaurant. Belatedly, she realized it wasn’t a wall at all. Not one made of bricks or wood, anyway.

She put her hands out to catch herself, pressing her palms against the chest she’d spent too much time staring at in a photograph lately. She looked up into those green eyes and lost her breath.

“Hello, Jenna.”

If thinking about Jenna on a random Friday evening was enough to conjure her up and have her fall into his arms, Adam figured he should probably spend more time imagining himself winning the lottery.

It wasn’t random, dumbass. You came here hoping you’d run into her.

Not literally, though. “Whoa there,” he said, catching her by the shoulders and setting her upright. Mistake. A surge of electricity fizzed through his fingers and up his arms, leaving him eager to touch more of her. All of her.

“Adam,” she gasped, looking flustered. She stared at her own hands, looking like she was trying desperately to figure out how they’d ended up pressed against his chest. Adam didn’t care, he just wanted them to stay there.

Instead she pried her hands away and took a step back. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was planning to take a leak, then order a pizza. Pretty much the normal things you do when you’re walking to the bathroom at a pizza parlor.”

“No, I mean
here
—I mean—never mind.”

“You told me Rigatelli’s was the best. I wanted to check it out for myself.”

“Right. The karaoke doesn’t start for another hour.”

“I didn’t come for the karaoke.”

He let the words hang there for a moment, wondering if she’d read into that or just assume he meant the pizza. He wasn’t sure himself.

She glanced over her shoulder at a table in the corner where a dark-haired guy with the build of an NFL linebacker sat hunched over a table, fiddling with his phone. Adam studied the guy for a moment, then looked at Jenna.

“Ah, I get it. You’re on a date. Don’t worry, Jenna. I’m not planning to make a scene. Well, not unless you want me to.”

“No, it’s not that. Not a date, that is.” She blew out a breath and glanced over her shoulder again. “It’s just my ex-fiancé. We sort of ran into each other, and it’s kind of a significant date in our history, so it sorta morphed into dinner together.” She shrugged and gave a look like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Or maybe Adam was reading too much into it. “Anyway, the whole thing feels really awkward, you know?”

Adam nodded, oddly relieved to discover she could relate to the sort of ex weirdness he’d been dealing with all week. “Ah, the joys of unexpected fraternization with an ex. Is there anything more awkward?”

Jenna gave a funny sort of half smile and looked thoughtful. “How about singing along with Vanilla Ice and realizing your car windows are down?”

“Good point. Or how about when a waiter tells you to have a good meal and you reply, ‘You, too!
’
”

She was smiling for real now, and he watched her shoulders relax. He ached to touch them again, but settled for shoving his hands in his pockets.

“What about pushing a door and then realizing it says ‘pull’ in big red letters?” she offered.

“Having a coughing fit in the middle of a meeting when you choke on your tea?”

“Watching a movie with your elderly aunt and discovering there’s a really graphic sex scene.”

“Ha! How about answering a question you think a stranger just asked you and then it turns out he’s just talking on his Bluetooth?”

“Awkward,” she agreed. “Been there, done that. Once with a woman having a conversation on the other side of the bathroom stall. I kept answering questions she was asking, thinking ‘this is kind of weird, but maybe she’s just friendly.’ She finally put the call on hold and told me to cut it out.”

Adam laughed and leaned against the wall, really enjoying himself now. “That’s a good one. Definitely ex-fraternization level of awkwardness. How about splashing your crotch at a drinking fountain and feeling compelled to explain to everyone that you didn’t really pee yourself?”

“Oooh, good one. What about smiling at someone who’s checking you out in a bar, and then realizing they’re looking at the person behind you?”

“I’ve done that a time or two,” he admitted. “Once I was on the opposite end of it though, and a girl standing near the one I was making eyes at thought I was flirting with her. She came over to my table and introduced herself.”

“What did you do?”

He shrugged. “Bought her a drink, talked to her for an hour, and walked her home. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Geez, you really are a standup guy.”

“Or a wuss. I suppose it’s all about perspective. Okay, how about saying goodbye to someone you’ve been talking to and then realizing you’re walking the same direction?”

“Yeah, definitely awkward.” Jenna seemed to hesitate a moment, then leaned back against the wall beside him, their shoulders touching companionably. “How about when a car stops to let you cross the street and you start jogging to be polite, but then realize you’re giving him a jiggle show?”

Adam laughed and did his best not to look at her chest. “You win. I don’t think I’ve ever given anyone a jiggle show. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

She smiled and took a deep breath before glancing back toward the dining room. Toward the linebacker. When she turned to Adam again, the smile had faded a little. “Thanks, Adam. I needed that. I should probably get back.”

“Don’t you have to pee?”

“Not really. I just needed an excuse to get up and walk around.”

“Fair enough. Also, for the record, if I could rewind and strike that last question from the record, I’d do it. In the future, I’ll do a better job of making conversation that doesn’t involve inquiring about someone’s bathroom habits.”

She smiled again, but it wasn’t reaching her eyes anymore. They’d flickered again to the table in the corner, and Adam wondered whether she was eager to get back to the guy or eager to end this conversation.

“I should probably let you go,” he said. “If the ex awkwardness gets to you, you can always pull the fire alarm.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” Jenna sighed and ran her hands over her hair. “It’s okay, really. He’s a good guy, and probably exactly who I ought to be hanging out with tonight.”

Something in her tone made Adam lose the urge to joke. “How do you mean?”

“Nothing. Forget it. It’s been nice talking to you, Adam.”

“Likewise,” he said, stepping aside to let her pass. She stood there for a moment with her hands at her sides, looking a little lost. When she moved, it was in the direction of the bathroom.

“I guess I’ll go after all.”

“Good plan,” he said.

He turned and walked into the men’s room before any other idiotic utterances could pass his lips. He took care of business quickly, then washed his hands while looking in the mirror and giving himself a silent pep talk about not lusting after women he had no business pursuing. She’d made it clear that wasn’t in the cards for them. There was no point giving it any further thought.

He left the men’s room and headed for the front counter, happy to discover the pizza he’d ordered was ready to go. If he’d had it delivered instead of walking four blocks from his hotel, he never would have seen Jenna. He tried to decide if that was a good thing.

The pizza box was warm and fragrant and bigger than it had any right to be, considering he was a guy who planned to eat it alone in front of the television in his hotel room on a Friday night. He tucked it against his chest and headed for the door, but he couldn’t resist the urge to look back at the corner table.

Jenna had rejoined her ex. Whatever they were talking about looked intimate, and their heads were bent close together. Even from this distance, Adam saw something tender and wistful in her eyes. When the guy reached out and put his hand on Jenna’s, she didn’t pull away.