“Go on,” she encouraged.
The only thing that came to mind was Sienna beating the shit out of my McLaren, but that didn’t feel like the right thing to share.
When I didn’t say anything, Janie leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I don’t want things to be weird between us, Max. I know we have history, but if we’re going to work together, we need to find a way to connect like we used to. I want to be your friend.”
“So do I.”
“Then tell me something bat-shit crazy so we can break the ice and get it over with.”
So be it. “My crazy ex-girlfriend took a baseball bat to my McLaren a couple of months ago,” I said, hoping that was crazy enough to satiate Janie’s appetite.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Are you serious? Your McLaren? Isn’t that car like—”
“Three hundred thousand dollars? Yeah. It was.”
“What did you do?”
I shrugged. “I agreed not to press charges if she got the help she needed.”
Janie giggled.
“Is something about that funny to you?” I asked.
Janie covered her mouth and tried to contain her laughter. She failed. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed, waving a hand and bowing her head as her shoulders shook with laughter. “I don’t mean to laugh. It’s not funny. It’s just… I definitely feel better knowing I’m not one of the craziest women you’ve dated.”
“You don’t fall on the crazy spectrum at all.”
“Not even just a little bit?” She lifted a hand and held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.
“Well,” I said, pausing for dramatic effect, “the way you eat macaroni is a little insane.”
Janie snickered. “I like to make it last as long as possible, okay? It’s my favorite food group. Eating it one noodle at a time ensures I don’t scarf down an entire bowl in sixty seconds.”
I stared blankly at her. “Insane.”
“Okay, okay,” she said, holding up her hands innocently. “I’ll give you that one. But at least the way I eat my macaroni doesn’t hurt anyone. Or their cars. Did you cry?”
“Over what?”
“When she trashed your car?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, I didn’t cry over a car.”
“I would’ve.”
“You cry when you get within a foot of an animal adoption center.”
“Because they need homes, Max,” Janie said, the humor out of her voice now. “Why would you bring that up right now?”
“I thought it was relevant.”
She scowled at me but let it go. “So, what happened with this ex of yours?”
“Nothing,” I lied.
I certainly wasn’t going to say, hey, Janie, don’t worry about me but it turns out that psycho ex of mine is actually carrying my unborn child, so, yeah. Fun times. I’d hardly accepted it myself. I wasn’t going to go around sharing it with anybody.
“So what’s your thing?” I asked.
“My thing?”
“I told you something crazy that happened to me this year. What was something that happened to you?”
Janie sipped her water and eyed me over the rim. She had a sly smile playing on her lips. “Are you ready for this?”
“Lay it on me.”
She leaned forward like she was sharing top secret information with me. Her eyes darted around before settling on me and a giggle escaped her that was, in my humble opinion, the cutest sound I’d ever heard. “Easton called me two months ago,” she whispered.
“Easton? Playboy, athlete, Casanova Easton?”
“That’s the one,” she said. “He asked me out.”
“No,” I breathed.
She giggled again and nodded dramatically. “Yes. I couldn’t believe it. But he called me up out of the blue, said he was in the big apple and looking for a local to show him a good time, and asked if I wanted to go out for dinner and a show with him and see where it led. He said I looked great in my bridesmaid dress at Piper and Wyatt’s wedding.”
“You looked better than great. You looked stunning.” The words fell from my lips before I realized I’d said them.
Janie and I both froze.
She recovered first and sat up a little straighter in her chair. “Yes, well, those words coming from Easton were a lot less charming than they are coming from you.”
“Naturally. He’s Easton.”
She smiled. “He was persistent.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him no, of course. He’s not my type. Besides, how bad would it look for me to start dating through the guys Piper turned down? That’s not a good look on a best friend in any scenario.”
Ouch. Was that how she saw me now? As one of the guys Piper didn’t want?
“Fair enough,” I said.
Our food arrived just in time to spare me from this particular part of the conversation. Janie and I had both ordered the same thing and she leaned over her meal as steam rose from the bowl.
“This looks amazing,” she gushed. “I’m so hungry. I didn’t eat anything this morning because I was so nervous for my first day. The nerves were for nothing in the end. You always manage to put me at ease no matter what.”
She did the same for me. In fact, she had no idea how much of a relief her company was this morning. I’d been twisted up in knots over this thing with Sienna until Janie arrived with her big smile and sexy black dress.
We enjoyed our meal together, and conversation shifted to safer, easier subjects. We talked about Piper and Wyatt a lot. They were common ground for us both and we were so happy for them that it was easy to discuss them becoming parents without either of us feeling bitter.
Although I was a bit envious.
Piper was having a baby with the man of her dreams. Wyatt was having a baby with the woman I believed for a time was the woman of my dreams. And I was having a baby with a psychopath who thought pummeling my car was a good way to settle an argument.
“So this ex of yours,” Janie said as she picked at the remnants in her bowl. “What’s she like aside from obvious anger management issues?”
“Blonde,” I said.
Janie giggled. “That’s the best you have? Blonde?”
I shrugged. How did one describe Sienna properly? “She’s beautiful in a manipulative kind of way. The outer layer is welcoming and bubbly, but as soon as you start to get to know her, you realize who she really is.”
“And who is that?”
“A snake,” I said simply.
Janie whistled. “Dramatic. Good thing it’s over between you two then, huh?”
“Yeah,” I grunted. “Good thing.”
Janie crossed one leg over the other and eyed me from across the table. “Hey, Max?”
“Yes?”
“You can talk to me, you know.”
Shit. Was it that obvious that I felt like I was being ripped in half?
“I know,” I said.
She nodded like she was satisfied with the answer. “Good.”
I swallowed. “I’ve missed you terribly, Janie.”
She froze as she reached for her glass of water.