I shrugged. “Maybe he just doesn’t need the validation of his peers over everything little thing he does.”
She grabbed her wine again, visibly tense.
“Don’t jump to conclusions. Just give this a chance. Keep an open mind. Trust him.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You know how hard that is for me. All the clues of infidelity were right in front of me, but I blindly trusted him and ignored every one of those signs—”
“Not the same situation, alright?”
She took another deep breath.
“Think about what we do know about Dax. He’s a great guy. Don’t focus on all these little things. And honestly, you just started to date. You can’t expect him to show all his cards, just as he wouldn’t expect you to show all yours.”
She stared at me, still resistant, but at least listening to me. “I do really like him…”
“I do too. Just let this go. Give it time.”
She grabbed her glass and took a drink. “Alright. I’ll give it time.” She set the glass down and scooted to the edge of the booth. “I’m going to take a piss.”
“Such a lady…”
She left, and I drank alone, looking out the window.
A moment later, the voice that echoed in my mind reached my ears. “Hey.”
I turned, seeing Denise with her purse strap across her chest, her blond hair in curls. “Hey.” I cleared my throat, my heart suddenly racing because her appearance was so unexpected. Carson didn’t tell me that she would be joining us.
She scooted into the booth and helped herself to Carson’s wine.
“I can get you something at the bar.”
“No thanks. I already told the waitress. She’ll be out any minute.” She sat across from me, wearing a pretty summer dress. Her lips were painted red and her eyelashes were thick. She had a softer voice than Carson, because she was softer in every aspect.
“How are you?” I never knew how to talk to her. She made me nervous, which was a first. Women never made me nervous. I could make jokes, carry on a conversation, be charming. But all that went out the window with Denise.
“Good. Had a long shift last night, so I slept in pretty late.”
“How’d that go?”
“We were slammed,” she said. “There was a pretty bad accident with a lot of casualties.”
“That’s terrible.”
She shrugged. “I’m used to it. But there are times when it gets to me.” She turned to the waitress when she brought her cosmo. “Thanks, honey.” She placed Carson’s drink to the side then drank from her glass. “What’s up with you?”
It’d been months since I’d met Denise, and I was afraid I already waited too long. She probably saw me as a friend at this point. But I couldn’t just go for it and hurt Kat. We hadn’t been broken up very long, and it would just be awkward for her if Denise and I started seeing each other. I’d already tried to forget about Denise, seeing other girls, but it never worked. Sometimes I thought about asking her out in the hope she would reject me and I would have closure to move on. But it seemed pretty weird to ask out someone and hope it wouldn’t work out. Very disingenuous. “Carson was telling me about Dax.”
“Oh good. She’s seeing that hunk again.”
“Yeah. But she’s getting a weird vibe from him.”
“In what way?” She took a sip then licked her lips when she was finished.
Ugh. I hated watching her drink or eat. Fucking distracting. “His apartment is pretty bare, it didn’t seem like he was going to work today, stuff like that.”
“Sounds a bit shady…”
“I think Dax deserves the benefit of the doubt. I’ve been hanging out with him a lot, and he seems like a good guy.”
“But what do you really know about him?”
“Well, he’s got a lot of friends. Assholes don’t have a lot of friends.”
She gave a loud laugh. “My high school bully was the most popular bitch on that campus. Your assumption is false.”
“Guess that’s true. But I still think Dax is a good guy.”
“Can’t you look into him?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want Carson to sabotage this relationship before it even starts.”
“But I don’t want my sister to get hurt again. Getting punked twice in a row…she would never recover.”
I didn’t want her to get hurt either. She was like a sister to me. I’d do anything for her. “I think she should give it more time.”
She drank from her glass again. “Yeah, let’s hope for the best.”
I drank from my beer and looked out the window so I wouldn’t stare at her too much.
“Kat told me she really likes Nathan. I guess they have a lot in common.”
I turned back to her. “Oh, that’s great.”
She grabbed her cocktail straw and stirred her drink. “Is that weird for you?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. It’s good that she’s getting out there. She’s a great girl. Anyone would be lucky to have her.” There was nothing wrong with Kat. She was perfect…until Denise walked in.
“It seems like you’re totally over her. But I guess that makes sense…since you were the one who ended it.”
“Yeah, I’ve moved on.” I didn’t want to be harsh toward Kat, but when Denise put me on the spot like this, I wanted her to know there was no attachment to my ex, that I was completely unencumbered.
“What happened?” Denise asked. “If you don’t mind me asking. When Kat told me about it, she said it was sudden.”
Did she really have no idea? I admired Carson for keeping her word and not sharing my secret. It was a strong sign of loyalty, to lie to her sister and her best friend. It really put her in a tough spot, to have Kat share her feelings, while Carson didn’t say a thing. “I just realized she wasn’t the right person for me, and I didn’t want to waste her time anymore.”
She nodded. “That must have been hard, but you did the right thing. Better than being in a relationship when your heart isn’t really in it. That’s worse, if you ask me.”
“Yeah…”
Carson returned from the bathroom. “Hey, girl.” She hugged her sister before she took a seat. Then she stared at her drink, her eyebrow raised. “Hmm, that’s not my lipstick.” She turned to her sister, giving her a look full of accusation.
Denise rolled her eyes and pushed her cosmo to Carson.
Carson grabbed it and took a drink. “That’s right, bitch.”
I walked into the bar with Matt.
“Ooh, he looks good in black.”
I eyed Jeremy. “Yeah…sure.”
“Sorry, I forgot you only have the hots for Dax.” He gave me a playful nudge in the side as he moved forward.
I rolled my eyes.
Dax was there, sitting at the table with his typical scotch.
When we approached, they all got up and greeted us.
I shook Dax’s hand. “Hey, man.”
He patted me on the back. “Am I the best matchmaker ever? I’ve got Matt and Jeremy giggling like schoolgirls, and Kat and Nathan seem to really like each other.”