Sally rolled her eyes.
“Jesus, Max! Can you stop being a paranoid New Yorker for
five minutes? Amy is really sweet! You’ll like her.”
Max gave her a look which clearly indicated that he was not buying what Sally was selling but Sally was grateful that for the moment, he seemed willing to drop the subject.
“I am soooooo super sorry,” she repeated for the trillionth-and-one time. “Do you hate me?”
She really was worried about this. She didn’t want to lose Max from her world, not because Fate had briefly created a perfect storm in her life of being entrusted with a huge secret while simultaneously meeting a fabulous woman she definitely wanted to keep seeing.
Max huffed and looked at her sternly.
“Stop worrying about silly shit like that,” he told her gruffly. “You’re annoying but I could never hate you.”
“Yay!” Sally skipped over to him, giving him a hug. Keeping him wrapped in her arms, she looked at him. They were the same height when Sally was wearing flats as she was now and so she was able to meet his eyes directly. She said, “Aren’t you at least happy that I apparently have a girlfriend now?”
“Well, it will be nice for me to have someone else to share the burden of putting up with you.”
“Oh, shut up! You love me.”
“I kind of like you; that’s as far as I’ll go.”
It was their usual banter and it made Sally feel relieved. Just as she released Max from her grasp, her phone chirped.
Looking forward to later! See you at 2!!
“Shit!” Sally exclaimed. Ainsley.
“What’s wrong now?” Max asked.
Sally looked at her watch.
“Fuck, I have to leave. I have a blind date in less than ninety minutes!” She gathered up her purse.
“A blind date? With another woman? Jesus, Sal!”
“It’s not like that,” Sally insisted, heading towards the front door. “My Mom…”
“Oh.”
Sally knew Max understood. He had listened to enough of her tales about her mother’s matchmaking attempts.
“Just don’t go telling her about Jillian Ashley also!” Max called out as Sally exited the house.
***
At five minutes to two o’clock, pleased that she was early, Sally approached the entrance to the bar Ainsley had chosen. It was a laid-back, chill-vibe kind of place, fronting the beach, with a mid-century tropical décor aesthetic.
She had considered canceling this silly fix-up thing. She hadn’t even bothered changing her clothes after rushing home from Max’s to prepare. All she had done was apply some makeup—some mascara and a little eyeshadow—made sure Lena had some food and then left, figuring that her current outfit of denim shorts, pink tank and flip-flops was suitable enough. After all, she had just had an amazing night with Amy and wanted to take the time to explore having a relationship with her. That’s who she wanted to be with right now, not here in Solana Beach about to meet some snooty doctor from Mount Olympus named Ainsley.
Opening the door to the bar, Sally rolled her eyes again at how pretentious that name was. She didn’t care if earlier today, Ainsley had saved some little kid’s life by performing some kind of radical emergency surgery. Good on her. But there was no way Sally was going to enjoy spending more than five minutes with someone named—
“Sally?”
Sally turned at the sound of her name.
Holy Jesus!