Page 10 of From That Moment

“Let’s not make a scene. More than I already did,” I said as the bartender put our drinks down. Prior held his up and clinked my glass in a weak toast.

“To that sixth blind date,” he said, smiling.

I rolled my eyes and then took a sip of my drink. “Let’s not talk about that. I’m the worst at dating.”

“I’m not the best at it either, though I think I’m learning,” Prior said, his voice casual.

“From what I hear, you and Allison have been together for a few months now. I guess you’re much better at it than you think.”

Prior shrugged.

“Maybe it just takes finding the right person.”

I ignored the clutch in my heart at that. Not that I wanted Prior, because that was a big hell no. It was more that he seemed happy, he had found that person.

And I hadn’t.

Jealousy? Oh, I hated that.

“I may have to give up this whole dating thing.”

Prior’s brows rose. “Maybe you’re waiting for the prince after a bunch of frogs?”

“There’s that whole meme where the prince is dumb and stuck in a tree or something, and the princess needs to go find him. Sometimes I feel like that’s me.”

Prior laughed, shaking his head, and I took another sip of my drink, finally feeling a bit calmer.

Andy hadn’t been good for me from the start. I had a feeling, no…I knew from the bottom of my heart that Myra had no idea of his true nature. Because the guy had seemed sweet, but apparently, he was as cold as a snake.

I would tell Myra, but hopefully, she would know that it wasn’t her fault and I didn’t blame her.

“Thank you for making me laugh,” I said. “I needed this.”

“Anytime.”

I shook my head, pulling myself out of my self-pity. “Wait, why are you here? Are you stalking me?”

“Not at all. I’m here to meet Allison.” He checked his phone. “She should be here any minute now. For her, being on time means being about fifteen minutes late. I’m used to it.”

“That would drive me up the wall,” I said, shaking my head.

“You get used to it.” There was real warmth in his eyes.

Damn, there was that little bit of jealousy again. I must want to be with someone.

We started talking some more about work, and I finally relaxed. And then when a well-manicured hand slid up to Prior’s shoulder, we both jumped.

It wasn’t guilt; more like we had been so into our conversation that we had completely forgotten everyone and everything else.

Crap.

“Prior?” a cool voice asked. “Who’s this?”

And that reminded me that over the past six months they had been together, he’d never once brought Allison to our group meals or activities. We didn’t do them as often as maybe Hazel would have liked, but I hung out with Prior enough.

Weird.

“Hey. This is Paris, a friend of Hazel’s. She had a shitty date, so I was making sure she was okay while I waited for you.”