“Okay, so no Montgomerys or Bradys. I think there are probably a few other single men that our guys might know, though,” Dakota said, looking down at her pad of paper.
“How about we draw the line at people not related to the Bradys? Your men can know of them,” I said, knowing a headache would be coming along at any moment. That, of course, made me think of Nate, and I pressed my lips together. I couldn’t believe that he’d gotten so hurt, and I had no idea. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he’d had major life moments without me, but the idea that he’d almost died from what sounded like a horrible accident, and I’d never even known, made me feel something that I wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with.
“That’s a good caveat,” Paris added. “Mostly because the guys seem to know a lot of people. And we don’t want to cut off the entire Boulder area because of your arbitrary rules.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know if you’re making fun of me or agreeing with my rules,” I said slowly.
Paris shrugged, looking at her big planner and the notebook she had stuck in there with some magnetic clip thing that I didn’t understand. The woman had gone full tilt into the planner world, and I had a feeling if Paris ever changed her career, she could probably have a planner empire.
“It can be both.” Paris smiled.
That made me laugh. “I went on one date. I guess that counts for something.”
“Of course, it counts,” Dakota said.
“You and Hazel didn’t have to go on multiple dates with different people.”
“Ours were special circumstances,” Hazel added. “Plus, I never actually met the guy I was supposed to go on a date with.”
“He’s a great guy,” Paris said, and we all looked at her. She shrugged. “What? He is.”
“However, since he’s currently back with his ex-wife, we don’t need to add him to any of my lists.”
“True. I was just thinking of the what-ifs…” Paris trailed off, and Hazel snorted.
“You mean what if I had gone on a date with that man? Then I wouldn’t be with Cross, most likely. And that means you wouldn’t be with Prior, and Dakota wouldn’t be with Macon. But sure, let’s think about what would have happened if I’d gone on a date with…what’s his name?”
“It doesn’t matter. And I don’t like that.” Dakota paused. “You being the first one to meet a Brady brother changed everything.”
The hot tea splashed over the side of my cup, and I cursed.
“Are you okay?” Dakota asked, helping me clean up my spill.
Paris gave me a weird look. “You’re never sloppy. What’s wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head, ignoring her. They didn’t need to dive into why I felt guilty. Maybe Nate and I had been wrong. Perhaps we should tell them the truth about our past. But what good would it do? I wasn’t sure it would do any good, other than to maybe keep some of this guilt off my shoulders. Or perhaps it would stress me out more than I already was and give me even more guilt. It wasn’t as if Nate and I were going to pick up where we left off. So, it didn’t matter what our past was. And we weren’t lying. Not really. We were simply keeping part of the truth out of our daily conversations.
“Anyway, while Nate is a wonderful person, we’re not going on another date,” I said, trying not to trip over my words. I still hated him, even if I was forced to spend time with him. He had broken my trust and had changed the way I thought of myself. So, no, I would never be his number one fan. And I never wanted to go out on another date with him.
“I can’t believe Nate was a dud.”
“Is it Nate or Nathaniel?” Paris asked. “I’ve always wanted to know, and it just never came up.”
“It’s actually Nathan.” I froze as the other women looked at me.
“How do you know that?” Hazel asked, studying me closely. I did my best to look nonchalant.
“You made me go on a date with the man. I picked up on a couple things.”
“It looks like the two of you talked, at least.” Dakota shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t too bad.”
“For a woman who pushed away from the idea of dating more than any of us did,” I began, “you sure are pushy now.”
“You pushed just as hard to get me to go in that direction,” Dakota said tightly, even though her tone was still sweet.
“Maybe. And I won’t say I regret it because look how happy you guys are. But perhaps I didn’t need to push that hard.”
Paris snorted. “You’re only saying that because you’re on the other side now.”
“That is the truth.” I laughed. “However, Nate and I are just friends.” I swallowed hard at the lie and hoped the others didn’t notice.
Dakota nodded. “That’s fine. As long as you can get along while we’re hanging out with the group. We will find you the perfect someone. And when Nate finds someone for himself, we can expand our group.”
I ignored the slight twinge of jealousy at that thought. I did not want to go out on a date with Nate. I did not want to be jealous of him finding romance with someone else. I might feel a twinge of jealousy, but that didn’t make it real. It was probably indigestion.
“I still can’t believe you set us up and lied to both of us.”
“It wasn’t a lie,” Paris said quickly.
“It sure as hell felt like one,” I argued.
“It wasn’t,” Hazel said. “Nate needs to get out, too. I think the brothers are starting to feel sorry for him. Mostly because he’s always been the most connected of the bunch to women and their feelings.”
I froze, wondering what she meant by that. “Excuse me?” I asked.
Once again, Hazel studied me, giving me a weird look. “He’s Arden’s twin. He’s always understood her differently. Better. At least, that’s what Cross told me. And from what I’ve seen when they interact, he’s always understood women a bit more than the rest of them. They’ve all said so, too.”
I had fallen for that, hadn’t I? The lure of how he seemed to understand everything that I was thinking. Even if it had been a lie. If he had truly understood me, he wouldn’t have said the words he did.
I let out a breath. “Okay, who’s next?”
“You sound eager all of a sudden.”
I ignored the curiosity in Paris’s words.
“Let’s get it over with,” I said.
“Now that’s the Myra we know and love.”
I was ready for my next step. Because the more I tried, the farther away I could get from Nate. And in the end, that was all that mattered.
“Brian, what is it that you do again?” I asked, looking across the table at the man in front of me. I took a sip of my club soda and lime, wishing it was wine. But I planned to have a glass of wine with dinner, so I didn’t want more than one while out with a person I had never met before.
Everything was a bit scary because I was on a date with a stranger.
I hadn’t thought too much about it before during my dinner with Nate. But now that I knew I would never be on a date with him again, any sense of familiarity was gone.