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“Nope.”
“I always thought I made friends pretty easily.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. You absolutely do. Ten minutes in a new bar, you have three friends, which I love about you. But that doesn’t mean you let them know the real you.”
I downed the last wine. “Hmm. I guess that’s fair.”
“Which is why the Erik thing is hitting so hard. You let him all the way in and got burned because of it. I just hope the experience doesn’t sour you.”
“Fat chance of that. I’m not doing the love thing anytime soon. It fucking sucks.”
“Or can also be the best feeling in the world.”
Charlee would know. She and Lucas had been on cloud nine ever since getting back together. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Sorry to bring up Erik. I’m a bad wingwoman.”
“You are the ultimate wingwoman,” I argued as Charlee looked down at her phone. Picking it up, she read, presumably, a text, and then looked at me.
Strangely.
“What?”
Charlee glanced back down at her phone and then up again. “What did you say you and Nate talked about earlier?”
“Charlee,” I said. “You have a weird look on your face. What is it?” Then, realizing I didn’t answer her question, I added, “Nothing special. Just some small talk.”
Small talk that made me curious enough to look on social media for him, but Nate was like a ghost. Who had zero social media? I mean, he was an army sniper, but I didn’t think that meant you had to go off the grid. Even Lucas had some social media, though he didn’t use it much.
“Interesting.”
“Charlee?” I prompted.
“Lucas just texted me. Said Nate was asking about you.”
That was interesting. “What did he say exactly?”
“Just, ‘Nate is asking about Zoe.’ Remember, he’s a guy. Not a lot of details.”
“Right. Do you know anything else about him? How old he is? If he’s married?”
“I feel like he’s our age, and Lucas didn’t mention a wife, so I don’t think he’s married. Should I ask?”
I was about to say yes when I realized it didn’t matter. The last thing I needed was another relationship, especially of the long-distance variety. The guy was stationed halfway across the world after all.
“Nah. It’s not important.”
Charlee continued to watch me as if trying to determine if I was serious or not. I was deadly serious. Love sucked. Zero stars. Did not recommend.
Nate and I were a long way from love but still. Best not chance it. I’d told him I’d let him know about the winery, but after that I’d call it a day. End the convo. Let him fight terrorists— thank God for the men and women of our military—while I nursed a broken heart with more wine.
Speaking of. I held up my glass. “Empty,” I said.
Charlee laughed. “Let’s remedy that.”
CHAPTER FOUR
nate
