Page 70 of Controlled Burn
“Ezra will be here any minute. Jude was stuck at work, so he’ll be a little later, but he’s coming.”
Our server came over, and we placed our orders for our drinks. I got the same thing I always did, a Campfire Old Fashioned. Livvy got a Sangria, and Toby, being Toby, ordered something new on their menu called a Kinky Rockstar.
“What on earth is that?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but it sounds fun.” He grinned and winked at me like the idiot he was.
“Should we order for Ezra since we all know he’s gonna get a wine spritzer?” Joey asked.
“No,” Livy said. “Because if we do, he’ll want something else for the first time ever. That’s just the crazy way my life works.”
That didn’t sound like my normal upbeat friend. Something must be going on with her, and that made me wonder if maybe that was why she’d wanted us to all get together tonight.
I turned and studied her for a minute before deciding she did look a little off tonight. “What’s up, Liv?”
“Nothing really.” She shrugged. “I—”
“Hey, guys,” Ezra walked up just as the server came back with our drinks, and he turned to her. “Oh, hi! Can I get a wine spritzer, please?”
“Told you,” Joey said.
“Yes, you did.” She let out a sigh.
“Now what were you saying?”
She sighed. “Do you remember the guy at work that I said wanted to go out with me?”
“Yeah, Ted, right?” Toby said. “The one with the horrible pickup lines?”
“Yeah, Ted. He’s dating some girl in accounting.”
“Are we missing something here? Did you want to date him?”
“Good heavens, no. He’s totally not my type.”
“Okay, then why are you upset?” Joey asked.
“I don’t know. I was just used to him being there. You know. Now he’s always talking about how great she is and what they’re doing this weekend, and it’s so weird.”
I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, on some level, she actually did want Ted or else she wouldn’t be so upset, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.
“Oh well, c’est la vie,” she said, holding up her glass for a toast. “Here’s to being single, right?”
“To being single,” Toby and Ezra said, lifting their glasses. I shrugged but didn’t lift my glass.
“Fake Daddies don’t count my friend. Lift your glass with us,” Livy said.
“It’s not really quite so fake anymore.” I winced as I realized that I’d been so caught up in Keith that it wasn’t just that I hadn’t seen my friends. I hadn’t even told them about our relationship change.
“Okay, tell us everything,” Toby said.
“And we mean everything,” Livy agreed.
“Especially the Daddy parts,” Ezra added. “Is it like in the books?”
My cheeks heated, and I knew I was blushing like a sixteen-year-old virgin, but these were my friends, so it was okay. I bit my lower lip and shook my head. “It’s even better.”
“Okay, now you have to elaborate. Better how?” Toby set his glass down on the table and leaned forward like he was expecting me to say something important.