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“Yeah,” I say. “It’s been good. But let’s not kid ourselves, you guys are busy too.”
Wallace wipes a hand across his face. “You’re telling me. We have more clients than we can handle right now.”
“And Anna’s album is in the final phase of mixing,” Frankie says. “All hands on deck.”
“What exactly have you been doing?” Wallace asks. “Or, should I say, who have you been doing?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t started it yet.”
The two of them share a look. A very skeptical look. “Really?” Frankie asks.
“Really,” I say.
Wallace is already smiling. “Tia said that she keeps seeing you with the same girl. I told her that it couldn’t be true, but it is. You’ve got a girlfriend.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t, really. I met her when I went to Nashville for that birthday trip. Turns out that she lives in Eastborough. So we have…an arrangement.”
Frankie’s grin is so wide he could fit a watermelon inside there. “Does your new arrangement involve a lot of sex?”
I stare both of them down. “It might.”
“Does it involve her staying at your house?” Wallace asks.
My body goes cold, and I don’t say anything. I just stare them down, waiting for them to get to the fucking point. Wallace finally shakes his head. “We’re just messing with you, man. This is good. I’m happy for you. Now you don’t have to do the pledge after all.”
“Yeah,” Frankie says. “I’m not going to let you forget it for a while, but it’s about time you had someone that makes you happy.”
I don’t break my promises.
They’re still talking, but those words are echoing in my head. I was going to apologize to them, to tell them that I was an ass for trying to force them into something, but no. It’s not right. Ever since I was seventeen, I’ve kept my promise. It’s the one thing that keeps me going. It’s the one thing that separates me from being a piece of shit like my dad.
I keep my promises, and I’ve promised myself that I would take this pledge seriously for over a decade. The allure of good sex lured me away from my purpose, but I have to do this. I’m going to do this. Because I can. Because I have to. Because I don’t fucking walk back on anything I say that I’m going to do.
“I’m still doing it,” I say, cutting off whatever Wallace is saying about the fact that I’m being domesticated.
“What?”
“I’m still doing the pledge,” I say. “I’m going to start tomorrow.”
Their faces both look blank. “Okay,” Frankie says slowly. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is,” I say.
Wallace clears his throat. “What about…what’s her name? You didn’t tell us.”
“Diamond?”
“Yeah,” he says. “What about Diamond?”
“Nothing but sex,” I say, even though there’s a twisting in my gut at the lie. “It’s time that ended.”
Both Wallace and Frankie look uncomfortable, shifting on their bar stools. They were so relieved when they thought I’d changed my mind. But that’s what separates me from them. I keep my promises.
“I have to go.”
I grab my keys and jump in my truck before they have a chance to say goodbye. In my kitchen, I retrieve the giant wall calendar with the words ‘Dirty Thirty’ printed at the top and I hang it on the wall again. Where it should be. I took it down since the project was on hold.
Good. There’s a sense of settling that I feel. This is the path I need to be on. I keep my promises. No matter what.
14
Diamond
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yes,” my realtor’s voice says on the other end of the phone. “It’s a good offer, and if you can’t come up with a counter offer by tomorrow, it’s gone. I’m sorry.”
Shit. “All right. I’ll call you back.”
I hang up and resist the urge to throw my phone against the wall. Shit. Shit. Shit. Someone’s trying to buy my building. I’ve been asking my parents for the money, but they keep putting me off. Obviously, I’ll have to ask them again more forcefully this time.
Unlocking my phone again, I dial Glenn. It feels like the most natural thing in the world, because right now it is. Just thinking about him sends a warm glow through my chest and stomach. I’m protective of that little glow because I’ve been here before.
It’s the same glow that I felt with Alex, when I was so in love with him that I couldn’t breathe. Right before everything fell apart.
Glenn isn’t Alex. The two situations aren’t the same. I know that. I don’t have any other sisters that can steal my boyfriends. But it’s too new and too precious for me to be anything other than afraid. But I need to tell him that I’m going to be late. We have dinner reservations. An early dinner, but now I need to go see my mother.
