Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
The coffee starts, and I run to grab my phone, but I don’t bother texting him. Instead, I just call him, but I’m sent straight to voice mail. That irritates me more when I see it’s ten, and I know he’s up.
Me: It’s Vivienne, you left your fish here. Let me know when you’re going to be home so I can have it delivered back to you.
I toss the phone down on the counter, and when the phone rings, I assume it’s him, so I don’t even bother checking the caller ID.
“You better be on your way to get your fish,” I say into the phone and then grab my cup for my coffee.
“What fish?” Karrie asks, laughing.
“I thought you were Mark,” I tell her and close my eyes.
“Really? So Mark came over?” she asks, snickering, and it takes my pissed-off mood to the next level.
“Don’t start,” I hiss. “He wanted to go over a couple of things.”
“I’m taking from the attitude that you didn’t have the happy ending.” She laughs, and then I hear her sip her drink.
“He wants to be friends,” I tell her. “He came over with coffee to discuss us being friends.”
“You can’t be friends with him,” she says right away.
“Merci,” I say. “I told him that, but he disagrees.”
“Of course, he does,” she says. “But until you’re over him, you can’t be friends with him.”
I stop making my coffee and snap at her. “I am over him.” I’m hoping she doesn’t call me on anything, but she’s Karrie, and she knows me better than I know myself.
“Bullshit,” she says to me. “You are not over him at all.” I roll my eyes and take a sip of the hot coffee. “When you saw him, how did you feel?”
“Horny and wet,” I tell her the truth.
“I mean you, not your vagina,” she groans.
“I felt nothing,” I lie to her, and she doesn’t say anything. “Okay, fine. I felt happy to see him, but it’s just because I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“You felt happy to see him,” she repeats what I just said. “And the reason you felt like that is because you missed him.”
“Karrie,” I say her name. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m trying to help,” she says softly. “But unless you admit that you liked him …”
“Of course, I liked him,” I say, sitting on the couch. The stinging of tears hits my eyes, but I blink them away fast. “That isn’t the issue here.”
“You never let anyone in the way you let him in,” she points out. “You never let anyone close enough to like them before, so …?”
“How long before this feeling goes away?” I ask.
“Well, let’s see. I’ve loved Matthew for what twelve years, so I’m thinking never.” She laughs, and I groan. “But maybe being friends with him will help.”
“Yes, because spending more time with someone I like is going to help the feelings go away.” I exhale loudly.
“You never know,” she says. “Maybe you need to put him in the friend zone to get him out of the like zone.”
“I don’t want him in any of my zones,” I tell her. “I want it to be a no-Mark zone.”
“You need to be in control of this,” Karrie says, her voice going louder. “You need to be the one in charge of this, so if he wants to be friends, you be friends with him and make sure he stays in that zone.”
“But what if I can’t just be friends with him?” I ask softly.
“Then I think you guys need to talk about it,” Karrie says. “You are the most honest person I know. You need to be honest with him also.”
“I do,” I tell her, knowing I have to.
“I mean, what is the worst thing that can happen?” she asks, and I stop myself before I answer her. The beeping noise lets me look at my phone, and I see that it’s Mark.
“It’s him,” I tell her, and she laughs. “I’m breaking up with you,” I tell her and then disconnect going to the other line. “Allo,” I answer.
“Vivienne,” he says like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “How are you?” I want to punch him in his balls. Two can play this game.
“Mark,” I say with my fake voice. “I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
“Great actually,” he says, and I want to ask him why. Is he great because he banged someone last night? Is he great because he has a date? My stomach feels like it’s swishing around. “Just finished my workout and I got your message.”
“Yes,” I say sweetly. “You forgot the fish, so I would like to get that back to you.”
“Um, let me check my calendar,” he says, and I sit up. “I’m booked today.”
“You know what? I was just thinking maybe we should have dinner,” I tell him. “I was thinking about what you said last night.”