Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Translation: do it.
I picture the broody, intense hockey star with the chiseled jaw and cool eyes that never stray when he talks to you. The team’s been on a long road trip, so I haven’t seen him since that Friday night. But I vividly remember him here on the porch, under the midnight stars, with that cocky grin, saying, “I’m just that good.”
What happens if he says no to being my plus-one? It would be embarrassing for a minute, but we don’t spend that much time together at work.
But what happens if he says yes?
My heartbeat does something strange. Something wild it hasn’t done in a couple of weeks. It speeds up.
“I’ll ask him,” I say.
“Do it tomorrow,” Caroline says. “We have a picnic coming up for the wedding party. Fresh Face wants to show off outdoor makeup. I want to show off how well everything’s going, including how well you’re doing.”
She leaves, taking the mug—and presumably, the rest of the sympathy—with her.
* * *
The next thing I do is write a list of possible outcomes in my Notes, Complaints, and Existential Crises notebook, then call an emergency meeting of my girlfriends, requesting their presence for Project Plus-One.
Mabel’s the first to respond.
Mabel: Get your sweet ass up to Cozy Valley because for this type of meeting I need to ply you all with cake.
Clementine works down the street from Mabel’s bakery, so she’s game.
Clem: I love it when you make things easy for me.
I touch up my makeup, toss on a light red cardigan, and hustle to the bus stop where I catch the next one out of town. Less than an hour later, I hop off the bus in Cozy Valley across from The Cheesery on Main Street, with its chalkboard sign featuring a drawing of Cupid shooting a heart through a block of Gouda. The air is crisp in mid-February but it’s not too cold. As I turn onto Mabel’s block, my gaze strays briefly down the street and beyond into the hills of this quirky, artsy small town.
Lake lives here on his family’s equine therapy ranch that their older brother runs. Is he tending to a horse, or doing ranch stuff right now? The team just returned last night from their road trip, so it’s possible.
But I push him out of my mind as much as I can. Best to focus on my mission.
I pick up the pace, marching toward the pink brick bakery with the Afternoon Delight sign on the garage windows of the former fire station.
Clementine’s already inside, her blonde hair cinched in a long ponytail and she’s laughing at something with Mabel. Heart-shaped cookies fill the display case, alongside red, white, and pink cakes for the holiday. My baker friend gestures for me to join them at the counter, sliding a red sugar cookie my way in the shape of a heart.
“Sweets help everything make sense,” she declares.
“Truer words,” Clementine puts in. “Now, tell us the ten million iterations you’ve outlined for this plus-one wedding project.”
And all of them include your brother.
I take a bite, then lay out the why and the what of Caroline’s directive, before I turn to Clementine. “And she wants me to ask Lake to be my plus-one,” I say, with an apologetic smile.
She snorts. “Really? That’s weird.”
“It is?”
“I mean, he’s weird. Brothers are weird,” she says with a shudder.
“Is it weird that she wants me to ask him though?”
Clementine points at me. “No, it’s weird that you’re looking all apologetic. It doesn’t bother me if you ask him.”
My shoulders relax. “Oh, good.”
She tilts her head. “Did you really think I’d be all don’t go after my brother?”
“No. But also, I don’t trust my judgment anymore,” I admit.
“Don’t let your asshole ex get you down,” Mabel huffs. “Jameson’s picture’s going up on a wall of exes, and we can throw darts at it.”
Clementine gives a sympathetic smile. “I will hit the bull’s-eye so hard every day. Also, I kind of can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with your sister’s instinct. Lake would be a good plus-one since he doesn’t talk that much. He’d just show up and growl.”
“I don’t mind a good growl from Corbin,” Mabel puts in, with the secret smile of a happily coupled-up woman who gets good growl on the regular from her man.
“We know,” Clementine and I tell her.
“And you do need a plus-one,” Clementine adds, pointing at me. “You can’t show up to a high-profile wedding without one.”
I return to the page in my notebook where I’ve listed potential opportunities to ask him. “I’ll do it tomorrow before the game.”
Mabel reaches into the display case, grabs a vanilla cupcake with pink frosting, and puts it in a box. “Give him this. It’s his favorite.”
Clementine beams proudly at Mabel. “Oh dude, good call. He loves free food.”