mature.
Fine. You want to leave
things the way they are?
Have it your way.
Hunter:
Does Jon know you’re
sending these texts?
NOT TODAY SATAN:
Don’t be a jerk, Hunter.
Hunter:
I’ll take that as a no.
Bye, Esme.
Chapter 33
The Palace of Fine Arts had never failed Esme before, but it was a day of firsts, apparently. After getting snubbed at the fire station, she’d needed a place to cool down before heading back home to work. Unfortunately, she’d only grown more upset since arriving.
She needed answers.
This morning after she woke up and started her morning run, she’d noticed she had one less FitBit friend. From there, all Esme had to do was click on the other apps she and Hunter shared in common to find out he’d removed himself from everything else as well. He was invisible on everything but Facebook, which was probably only because Hunter hadn’t been on that site for a couple of years. He probably forgot he even had an account.
But on everything else, she was blocked.
Esme could no longer track his location when he was called to a fire or verify that he was okay by watching his updating steps. She could no longer see his daily run or ping him to check in after a particular heinous call that made the radios go crazy.
Part of her didn’t want to admit that she’d visited the Palace in hopes that fate would draw Hunter to the same spot and they would serendipitously meet up. Jon couldn’t be mad if she and Hunter accidentally crossed paths from time to time, right?
But they hadn’t. Hunter was nowhere to be seen and the rotunda held no inspiration for Esme today.
What a mess.
She kept going over the situation again and again in her mind, wondering where it had all fallen apart. Jon’s jealousy? Not addressing Hunter’s concern the moment he brought it to her? Something else?
All she knew was that this wasn’t the foot she wanted to start her engagement off on and definitely not the terms she wanted to get married under. Everything had been so good before Jon met Hunter.
How could introducing two people change so much?
As she strolled the path around the lake, Esme spotted Miss Pearl’s Kissing Cookies cart and sent her a wave. The tiny woman waved back and, even though Esme was totally up for some comfort eating, she knew better than to ask for a cookie. There was no one to kiss today, and she didn’t really feel like puckering up anyhow.
No comfort eating for her until she got home.
Esme kept walking, one foot in front of the other, while her mind seemed to mull over everything and nothing all at once, until she nearly walked into the pint-sized cookie lady.
“You look sad,” the woman said with no preamble. She had no accent this time, like the first time Esme met her, and it caught Esme by surprise.
“Just…thinking, I guess,” she said, surprised at the thoughtful look in the woman’s eyes as she watched her.
Miss Pearl gestured toward a nearby bench. “Need to talk about it?”
“Oh, no,” Esme said quickly. “I’ll be fine.”
The little woman arched a skeptical eyebrow in response.
“Maybe,” Esme amended and the cookie lady needed no other encouragement to take a seat on the bench.
Esme joined her.
“So tell me what is bothering you,” Miss Pearl said, giving Esme her full attention. “I’ve seen you twice here before. The first time you got engaged and threw away my cookie. The second time you were here with a friend and declared my cookies sublime. Now you are here with no man, only a frown. Sounds like you’ve had a busy few weeks.”
“You could say that,” Esme agreed with a little laugh.
“So what is the problem?” the woman asked and Esme was shocked to realize that she wanted to answer. She wanted to tell this cookie vendor everything.
But, of course, she couldn’t do that.
“I just lost my best friend,” Esme said instead. “The blonde guy I was here with the second time.”
Miss Pearl nodded. “The handsome fireman.”
How did she know Hunter was a fireman?
“Your blond friend comes here often,” the little woman added.
Oh. Well, that made sense. Esme cleared her throat and continued. “My fiancé sees him as a threat and asked me to cut back on my contact with him.”
Miss Pearl nodded sagely. “Your fiancé sees that your connection with Hunter is stronger than he has with you. Jealousy is not an unusual reaction.”
The response didn’t really sit right with Esme, but she didn’t know how to refute it either.
“Often we decide what we want without stopping to ask if it is what is truly best for us,” the little woman mused. “We may enjoy cookies, but if we eat them every day we can become unhealthy and overweight.”
“Not you,” Esme joked, looking over the petite lady. “I don’t know how you do it with how good your cookies taste, but you’re tiny.”
A knowing smile tugged at the corner of Miss Pearl’s lips. “Nosy busybodies are naturally fit.”
That got a laugh out of Esme. “Well, sometimes the world needs nosy busybodies, doesn’t it?”
“Sometimes,” Miss Pearl agreed. “Do you know what this nosy busybody sees when she looks at you?”
Esme shook her head.
“A woman who will be healthy and happy with one man and a cookie monster with the other.”
Esme considered that and realized the woman might be right. With Hunter, Esme had been a cookie hog, but with Jon she’d had the self control to say no to the empty calories.
Unfortunately, realizing that didn’t make her feel even the slightest bit better. She hadn’t slept at all last night, Hunter’s words looping through her mind and making it spin to the point where she’d wished she’s had an off switch.
He loved her.
The mere thought made her hands sweat and her heart pound and her head lose its compass. She had no idea how to process that revelation after so many years of him blowing her off. All she knew was that the thought of being with Hunter made her feel like a deer in headlights while being with Jon felt good…or had felt good, up until recently.
When she thought about it logically, she and Jon really were compatible. They never fought, they liked all the same things, and they even felt lazy on the same days. She’d never dated someone so perfect for her, and yet somehow that had all disappeared after introducing Hunter to Jon.
How did she and Jon get back to that happy place?
“I need to find a way for them to get along,” Esme muttered more to herself than to Miss Pearl. In truth, she’d forgotten the woman was even there.
“Oh, that will never happen,” Miss Pearl said without apology. “You have one man who loves you and one who wants to possess you. Two such men will never get along. They will war until the end of time. Believe me. I have seen it many times.”
“But how can I keep them both?”
Miss Pearl eyed her thoughtfully. “Maybe the question you should be asking yourself is whether you really want to keep both of them.”
“Of course I do!”
Again, the skeptical brow raised.
“I mean it,” Esme said. “I do.”
“I see,” the little woman said in such a way that Esme wondered what the woman was actually seeing. Whatever it was, Esme wasn’t sure she was comfortable with it.
“They’re both so great,” Esme said helplessly as Miss Pearl studied her.
“You know what I think you need?” the little woman said at last. “Distance. Perspective. I think it’s time for a business trip that will get you away from both men so you can see them both more clearly.”
The thought of getting away sent a wave of relief coursing through Esme even as she pushed the thought away. “That would be nice, but that’s not really how my industry works. I don’t
get to pick when I take a business trip. Trips only really happen when I have a client in crisis.”
“Interesting,” was all Miss Pearl had to say about that.
“But getting away would be good,” Esme agreed. “Maybe a girls’ trip to Tahoe or Vegas or something.”
“Too short,” Miss Pearl said with a shake of her head. “You need time to give you perspective.”
“Jon won’t like that,” Esme said before realizing the words came out of her.
“Well, this wouldn’t be a trip about doing what Jon wants,” Miss Pearl said. “This would be a trip for letting you step back from your life to see all the things you want.”
The woman made a good point. The trip would never happen, of course, but it was a nice thought.
Miss Pearl was about to say something else when a couple walked up to her cookie cart and pulled out their wallets. Whatever she was about to say was replaced with, “Remember what I said,” before she scurried back to her cart.
Esme thought the little woman might come back and join her on the bench again, but as a queue formed in front of the cart, Esme realized waiting was a lost cause and stood again.
Maybe she should look into taking a little trip… a weekend trip.
Esme started back toward her car, mentally reviewing possibilities when her phone rang in her purse. Pulling it out, she checked the caller ID and saw it was one of her clients in Washington DC.
“Hello, Roger,” she said as she picked up.
“Esme,” the man on the other side of the line said, his tone strained. “We have a problem. How soon can you be in DC?”
Esme stopped in place, her eyes glancing back at Miss Pearl standing at the cookie cart. It had to be a coincidence.
“When do you need me there?”
“Two days ago would be great, but I’ll try to make do with tomorrow morning.”
Esme doubled her pace to her car. “Let me check flights and I’ll get right back to you.”
“I already had my secretary do that,” Roger replied. “We’ll pay for the flight, of course. I’ll have her send you the options. Let her know which one you can make and we’ll send you a ticket and confirmation.”
“Sounds good,” Esme said, pulling out her keys. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, Esme. This means the world.”
She smiled. “It’s what you pay me for, Roger. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Chapter 34
Hunter hated bars. Everyone was so happy and chatty. And cuddly. The choice to take a booth over a table was currently coming back to bite Hunter as Daryl and Kambri nestled into each other and pressed kisses to each other’s lips every time one of them said something cute…which was about every ten seconds by Hunter’s estimation. He knew they’d invited him along because they thought he needed to get out, but Hunter was pretty third-wheel sensitive at the moment.
He didn’t need to be any couple’s plus-one. Not today. Not for a while.
Tapping his finger against the side of his glass, Hunter eyed the exit and tried to decide whether he was feeling polite enough to think up an excuse to leave, or if he should just take off. It wasn’t like Daryl and Kambri would notice. Not really. They were way too into each other.
He was about to stand and give his friends the short version of an exit speech when a hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
“Hunter?” a familiar voice said from behind him.
When Hunter turned, he had to blink before he recognized the woman behind him. Her black hair was styled in flawless curls and her makeup was much more contoured than he was used to seeing. Then there was the dress she was wearing. He knew better than to look at her figure for as long as he wanted to, choosing instead to keep his gaze on her chocolate eyes. “Shauna?”
She beamed in response, not looking at all like the overworked social worker he knew her to be. “I’ve never seen you here before.”
“I’ve never come here before,” he said, standing.
Shauna immediately stepped back and wrapped her arm around a man who was dressed far too casually to pass as her date, but Hunter decided to trust her body language and assume that he was.
“This is Aaron, my boyfriend,” she said with a big smile.
Hunter held out his hand. “Good to meet you, man. I’m Hunter. Shauna and I work together.”
The other man took his hand, squeezing much harder than necessary as they shook. “Good to meet you, Hunter. Shauna’s never mentioned you.”
“That’s not surprising. We don’t see each other all that much.”
“Hunter volunteers at a boxing gym,” Shauna filled in. “Sometimes some of the kids I work with end up working out there.”
When Aaron didn’t look happy at the news, Hunter decided the introductions were over. It was definitely time to go.
“Anyway,” Shauna said brightly. “We were on the other side of the room and I was trying to decide if I was really seeing you or not, and Aaron asked who I was looking at. So here we are.”
Hunter pulled out his wallet. “Well, you caught me right as I was leaving. But hey, it was good to see you.”
“Yeah?” Aaron said in a tone that didn’t make Hunter feel very accommodating. “Where are you headed?”
Hunter glanced up at the man and did his best not to scowl. “Pretty sure that’s none of your business, man.”
Shauna’s smile faltered. If Hunter didn’t know any better, he would have thought he saw a bit of panic in her eyes.
Aaron stepped forward. “What? You don’t want Shauna to know you’ve got women on the side?”
“Aaron,” Shauna hissed. “It’s not like that and you know it.” Then she glanced up at Hunter. “Sorry. I should have cut him off a few drinks ago. He gets like this sometimes.”
Sometimes? Why did Hunter get the impression that was an understatement?
Behind him, Hunter felt Daryl slide out of the booth and stand behind him, creating a wall of solidarity.
“Hey, Shauna,” Daryl said. “Everything okay here?”
“It’s fine,” she said in a tone that indicated that it definitely wasn’t.
“You know what pisses me off?” Aaron said, stepping forward. “Going out with my girl and watching her ogle another man. That really pisses me off.”
Hunter couldn’t help himself. “Then maybe you should up your game from a Lacoste polo and ten-year-old sneakers. There isn’t a man in this bar who doesn’t look better than you right now. Don’t blame Shauna when you’re not even trying.”
When the man cranked his arm back to go for a punch, Daryl was suddenly between them, pushing them apart.
“You need to back off,” Daryl said to Aaron before glaring at Hunter. “And you need to shut up.”
But Hunter was too busy watching Shauna’s reaction to pay attention to his friend. She looked embarrassed—like she should have seen this coming and stopped it. Her reaction made Hunter certain that this wasn’t the first time Aaron had lost it like this.
When Daryl pushed Hunter back towards the booth, he went with it. “What is it with women I know and their territorial boyfriends? I work with Shauna, Aaron. That’s it!”
“And you really expect me to believe that?” Aaron snarled.
“Uh, yeah,” was the only response Hunter could think of as Shauna got her man under control and led him toward the exit.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed over her shoulder before she disappeared and Hunter was left dumbstruck.
Shauna was literally trained to spot and address abuse on a professional level, but from what he could tell she was standing in a minefield of it when it came to her personal life. Her boyfriend was a powder keg looking for an excuse to blow. How did a gorgeous woman like Shauna hook up with a controlling man and convince herself she was in love?
It made zero sense.
“You okay, man?” Daryl said to Hunter, still standing next to him in solidarity.
<
br /> “Yeah,” Hunter said, fighting to get his breathing back to normal. “But we need to get that dude’s address. If a fire ever happens at his home, we’re going to take the long way to his front door.”
“Copy that,” Daryl said as they watched Aaron and Shauna walk down the sidewalk through the windows.
“I don’t get chicks,” Hunter said when they disappeared. “How can she go home with that dude? What in the world does she see in him?”
“I don’t know,” Daryl said over his thoughts. “But nothing good is happening there. He’s not a very stable guy.”
“And Shauna has a soft spot for special cases,” Hunter mused. Out of the blue, he thought of Miss Pearl’s cookies and wondered how they would taste to Shauna after kissing Aaron. Probably like a runny duck turd.
“Someone should talk to her,” Kambri said, speaking for the first time since the mess started.
“Mmhmm,” Hunter grunted his agreement before realizing Kambri meant him. “Wait, me?”
“You know her,” Daryl said in solidarity with his girlfriend.
“Barely.”
Daryl wrapped his arm around Kambri and she happily leaned into his chest. It was a sharp contrast to the dynamic between Shauna and Aaron. Daryl and Kambri might be nauseating together, but it was in the best way.
“You know Shauna better than me,” Daryl said.
“Which is why you should be the one to talk to her,” Hunter argued. “You have the more objective eye in this. If I say something, she or her boyfriend might think I’m butting in because I’m making a move. Things will only escalate.”
It was like he was channeling Esme all of a sudden. He’d managed to go the entire evening without thinking about her—kind of—and now he was talking like her and subconsciously comparing Aaron’s behavior with Jon’s.
“You might have a point,” Daryl conceded. “Fine. Next time Shauna’s at the gym, let me know. I’ll talk to her.”
Hunter nodded. “Until then, I think I’m done having fun for the night.”
“We’ve got the tab, man,” Daryl said, waving him off. “Take off. Stay out of trouble.”
King of the Friend Zone (Power of the Matchmaker) Page 17