Page 11 of One Drink

Chapter 6

Stephanie

I didn’t typicallygo out on a weeknight, but the week started off poorly, and it was only Wednesday. A night out with my girlfriends would be a welcomed treat.

I hadn’t seen or spoken to Jake since Monday morning and I didn’t like it. He gave me the space I asked for, and it irritated me.

I had no right to be irritated when he was giving me exactly what I asked for, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was making a mistake.

I was conflicted and I hated it. One minute I couldn’t stop thinking about the night we shared and desperately wanted a repeat, and the next I wanted to forget it ever happened. What was wrong with me?

Any woman with half a brain could see how great Jake was, so why couldn’t that be enough for me? I had so much baggage when it came to men, dating, and relationships. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t push my issues aside. Who was I kidding? I’ve never tried to work past my issues with my dad. I let them hover at the front of my mind and drive all the decisions I made when it comes to the opposite sex.

“Earth to Steph.” Kate’s voice called out to me.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Zoe and I have been dogging you for the last five minutes and you haven’t responded once.”

I darted my eyes back and forth between them, and they both looked worried.

Zoe frowned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. The next issue goes to print on Friday. You know how stressful that can be.” That wasn’t a lie. Not exactly. The magazine layout was finalized yesterday, but they didn’t know that.

“I’m not buying it,” Zoe piped in. “This”—she waved her hand in air circles around my face— “isn’t work stress. Something else has you distracted and all in a tizz.”

“Tizz.” I deadpanned.

“Yes, tizz. Dissension. Discord. And maybe even frenzy. Something else happened and it has you all worked up, and not in a good way. This is not work stress. Spill.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, but you’re wrong.” Was it really that obvious? I was in worse shape than I thought.

There was no way in hell I could tell them what happened between Jake and me. At least not until I figured out where it was going. If things didn’t work out with Jake, we stood to lose a lot. Kate had been friends with Jake just as long as I had, and Zoe ever since we brought her into our group four years after my dumbass brother broke her heart. We were close friends, and I wasn’t willing to screw that up.

“We’re going to need another round.” Kate waved at the waiter to hook us up. “Maybe a few drinks will wash the frustration out of you. I hate to say this, but Zoe’s right. You’re a mess.”

“Thanks for the honesty. I feel all better now.” I rolled my eyes and swallowed the last of my Very Berry Cosmo. I shouldn’t have ordered it. I should’ve chosen a drink that didn’t go down quite so easily because I was not planning on getting drunk tonight and something told me I was going to need more. But this blueberry and blackberry twist on the martini was my favorite.

“We wouldn’t be your friends if we weren’t honest.” Kate squeezed my hand, and Zoe’s sweet smile made me wish I could take life as easily and carefree as she did. Both Kate and I struggled with distancing ourselves from our careers and taking it all too seriously. While Zoe took her job seriously, she also knew how to compartmentalize and not let her career run her entire life. Kate and I struggled with that. It was one of the reasons we’d been so drawn to her. She was the anchor that kept us firmly planted in our personal lives and made sure we didn’t get lost in the claws of corporate America.

Before I could respond, our next round of drinks arrived, and I quickly drank down half of it. I asked the waiter to keep them coming. Kate and Zoe were relentless, and as much as I tried not to talk about Jake, I knew they’d find a way to drag it out of me. When I looked up, both of them were staring at me.

“I’m not ready to talk about it, okay,” I blurted, and by the time I’d realized what I admitted, it was too late. They could see it wasn’t okay by the sound of my voice.

“Drink up. Maybe that will help you relax.” Kate said.

“Cheers to that!” Zoe held her glass up, and her smile grew. She waved frantically at someone behind me. I turned, and all the air was sucked out of my lungs. Jake walked toward our table, his lips pinched into a fine line, and his typically gray eyes reflected icy blue notes in the bright lights of the bar. He still wore the same charcoal gray suit he wore to the office, only his tie was removed, and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing the sharp angles of his neck.

Damn, he’s sexy.

And he needed to turn right around and walk back out that door. If he joined us, everyone here would know something was wrong between us.

“Ladies.” Robbie Pennington’s voice snapped me out of the frozen state. I was so focused on Jake, I hadn’t noticed his good friend Robbie was with him. I didn’t know Robbie that well, but he and Jake became friends after one of his father’s charity events Robbie managed.

I glanced back at Jake. He smiled, but his eyes remained cold and his stare shot shards of ice right at me. I shivered and gulped the last of my drink.

“What are you two up to tonight?” Kate asked, but I could tell by the way her eyes kept flashing back at me that she knew something was up between Jake and me.