Page 31 of Thank you, Next
Alex stayed quiet until they walked into the house. From outside, they’d seen that it was full of people—adult people, chatting and drinking champagne and nibbling on passed hors d’oeuvres.
When had they gone from wild clubbing to sedate parties with appetizers that you didn’t just pull out of a bag?
“Don’t get dazzled by James’s charm and catch feelings for him. That way lies madness.” Jane must have taken her silence for something other than what it was.
“No danger of that happening. I mean, I like him. But I don’t have feelings for him anymore.” Alex shook her head. “He was so much fun, but he could never sit still. Like he was always anxious to move on to the next thing.”
“Honestly, I think you could use some of that energy right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think that you should consider moving forward into an unknown future instead of spending all this time revisiting the past.”
Jane was doubting her now, too? “I thought you were supportive of this whole thing.”
“I was, but then you got all quiet and pensive. This should be the best time of your life. You have so many options and possibilities. Why would you want to spend so much time talking to guys who weren’t the ones for you?”
“Because I’m curious about why I wasn’t the one for them. I need to know what mistakes I made so that I can avoid making them in the future.” And just maybe excavating old shit was part of her DNA. That’s what her mother did for a living, after all. How would she understand her past and be able to move forward if she didn’t look at all the mistakes she’d made? If she didn’t spread them out on a plastic tarp, examine them closely, document them, and file them away?
“There is one guy from your past that I think you should be interested in.” Jane inclined her head toward Will, who was talking to Lana and not paying attention to anyone else. He wasn’t flirting with her, and that filled Alex with relief for some reason.
“Will doesn’t want to be a part of my future. Trust me.”
“Why not?” Part of what made Jane good at her job was that she took rejection as a personal challenge rather than a flat-out no. If the answer wasn’t what she wanted the first time, she pushed harder or went at the problem from a different direction. Alex didn’t have the words to tell her that Will wasn’t a challenge, that his whole essence was a giant, unequivocal no. “He certainly doesn’t look at you like you’re a part of the past. And I don’t think he’d be picking you up at the dentist or trailing you all over the city if he didn’t care about you a whole lot.”
“He only cares because of Lexi.”
Jane grabbed a glass of champagne and a seltzer off a tray and handed the champagne to Alex. “Okay, whatever you say.”
Her friend didn’t believe her at all. Alex didn’t know how to explain that this wasn’t a case of “the lady doth protest too much” but a fully litigated piece of her history. They’d never talked about it after it had happened, but Will had been clear.
His answer wouldn’t change just because her pants feelings for him had reawakened with a vengeance. She started to doubt agreeing to have him tag along when she talked to her exes. He wanted her to be safe, even though his overprotectiveness was completely misguided.
She just wanted to be around him.
She took a swallow of champagne and chanced another glance in his direction. Someone else had approached them, and she recognized his friend Charlee.
•••
What are you doing here?” Charlee slapped Will on his back. They looked great tonight, dressed in something other than chef’s whites. They were wearing a black dress and heels and neon pink eyeliner.
“What are you doing here?” Because of their profession, it was so strange to see another chef out on a Saturday night doing anything other than working a catering job. Sure, some chefs went out after their shifts to bars that were open late and drank and partied. But that had never been Will’s deal. And he didn’t think it was Charlee’s.
“I’m trying to get a brief heaux phase in before the restaurant opens and I don’t have time for anything but work.”
That made sense. Will should probably do the same, but he knew he wouldn’t. He looked back at Alex, who was still deep in conversation with Jane.
Charlee’s gaze followed his. “I suppose she explains your presence.”
“Shut up.” Will didn’t want to talk about Alex in front of Lana, but it was too late when he saw the look on Alex’s friend’s face. “Charlee, this is Lana. Lana, this is Charlee. They’re my chef de cuisine at the new restaurant.”
Charlee took Lana’s hand. “Charmed, I’m sure. I’m also Will’s only true friend. He actually got me in the divorce.”
Lana smiled at Charlee. “Well, clearly he got the only friend that mattered.” She drained her champagne and grabbed another. “Luckily, I would get all of my husband’s friends in a divorce. They rely on me for dating advice. I’m a therapist. And I’m not planning on a divorce.”
If Will had his druthers, he’d back out of that conversation. He had no intention of entertaining dating advice from Alex’s friend. He probably could have used Lana’s take before his marriage fell apart. He wondered what she would have thought about April calling him a “taciturn ogre with a God complex.”
“You’d probably have a more productive heaux phase than this one if you did get divorced,” Charlee said, pointing at Will. “I mean, I don’t know you, but you are totally hot.”