“So, talk to me,” Claire starts.
“I ran into Graham today,” I say. “Literally.”
“Oh yeah? He seems to be popping up everywhere,” she grumbles.
“Seems it. And there was a super embarrassing scene where my purse popped open and all sorts of junk fell out.”
“But not his junk?” she asks, her face serious.
“No! But there were tampons and pepper spray rolling around. Oh, and I had fortune cookie slips sticking to my ass like labels of shame.”
“And you had your battery operated devices buzzing about?”
“No. Those always stay home. Cannot risk being mugged.”
She starts to laugh.
“But Graham helped me pick it all up.”
“Probably the nicest thing he’s done all year,” she mumbles. “Mark it on the calendar. May never happen again in this lifetime.”
Okay, what gives? “What is so bad about him again? Other than his mood swings?”
“I have just heard that he is a hit-em-and-quit-em type of person. And there’s a rumor…”
I give her a look.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not a big fan of rumors. But a good source—that is not Tracy—said that he started dating one of the agency girls and then broke her heart. And then she left and supposedly had to go to a facility. To get over him.”
“Ugh, that sounds horrible,” I say. “Maybe it was just that though. Rumors.”
“Maybe,” she says absently.
I take a sip of the imitation hot cocoa. “I Googled him.”
“Oh. My. Gosh.”
“What?”
“You like him, don’t you!”
“Intrigued, Claire. That’s it.”
“You lie worth shit. Your voice literally rises an octave higher when you lie.”
I slump down into my pillow. “You just think it does.”
“Find out anything interesting?” she pries.
I shrug. “Not really.”
We sit in silence for a bit and just focus on the warm drink. It’s nice to just relax on a weeknight.
Claire turns to me suddenly. “Back to biz. If he asked you on a date, would you go?”
I am not sure what I would do. Both Graham and Claire warned me away. I do not need drama. “I’m not interested in having a Russell-like encore.”
“Speaking of the d-bag, I saw him today at the coffee house looking as smarmy as ever.”