Page 22 of Moments in Ink

“Are you doing okay? You’re usually a lot snarkier before I get you to go out with me.”

“I just woke up. Leave me alone.”

“Now that’s the Meredith I know and love.”

“Asshole,” I said, laughing. I was standing naked in my bathroom, my hair wet, and a smile on my lips.

I wished that Aaron and I had been right for each other. He was such a great friend, and always made me laugh. We weren’t suited. It would’ve been easier if we were.

The fact that Zia’s face filtered through my mind at that instant worried me. But it shouldn’t. Zia and I would end up friends, like Aaron and I had.

That’s what I was good at—making friends after hiding for so long.

I couldn’t let myself fall any more than I already had.

“Where do you want to meet?”

“How about we do a brunch thing instead of lunch? We can go to the Boulder Bean.”

“I love that place. They have great pastries.”

“And sandwiches. We can mix it all up. A friend of a friend owns the place.”

“A friend of a friend?” I asked.

“A friend of a friend of someone in the family, who might also be a friend of the friend. I don’t know. I’m very confused.”

“You have confusedmebeyond confusion,” I said, laughing.

“Either way, I know the person now, and we’ve adopted her into our family.”

“You can’t just adopt people into your family whenever you feel like it,” I said.

“We adopted you, didn’t we?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“One day, you will be a Montgomery. And you won’t even realize it happened. You’ll only be signing a check, and oh my gosh, where did that new last name come from?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re ridiculous. Why hasn’t anyone caught you yet?”

There was silence on the line for a minute, and I was afraid that I had fucked up.

“You know I don’t like to get pinned down,” he teased.

“Sure, whatever you say.” I knew Aaron wanted love, romance, and a future, only he hadn’t found it yet. Anyone who caught him would be blessed, indeed.

“Anyway, I’ll see you at brunch today?” Aaron said, and I let out a sigh.

“See you then.”

I hung up, looked at myself in the mirror, and figured I should probably take my time to do my hair and makeup since I had a date with Zia tonight, too.

A date with a woman I’d promised myself wouldn’t be serious. And yet, it seemed it was getting too serious.

I was going to brunch with Aaron later, and that wasn’t serious at all. We were only friends. Friends that had slept together once and wouldn’t do it again. And Zia and I were friends that were currently sleeping together, but when that ended, we wouldn’t do it again either, and hopefully, we would remain friends.

I didn’t need serious. Somehow, if I found serious, I knew I would ruin it all.