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Chapter one
Reagan
"Okay, we have another pair of shoes. A couple of hats…what is this? Batman boxer shorts?" Lucy listed off as she handed them to me.
I threw the shoes and the hats in a box and then snatched the boxers from her hand. "Actually, those are mine."
She looked at me questioningly. "Do I want to know?"
"If you must know, they're very comfortable…and I happen to like Batman. It's no big deal," I said, as I began to tape up the now full box.
"How come I never knew about this? Wait a minute…which Batman?" she asked, and once again, I remembered why Lucy was my best friend. She was very serious about finding out which iteration of Batman was my favorite and not just making fun of me for having boxer shorts with a comic book character all over them.
"The OG, of course," I looked at her like she was crazy.
"Adam West? From the sixties TV show?" she asked incredulously.
I nearly dropped my boxer shorts on the floor. "I misspoke, the second OG," I corrected.
"I'm not sure how I feel about this development, but that's the most animated that I've seen you since you and Brian broke up," she said, then immediately grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up his name again."
I shook my head. "There's no need for any of that. It's not like I lost some great love of my life. We just weren't working."
"I know that, but there is this other sadness about you. What else is going on, Reagan?" Lucy asked.
I averted my gaze. "Nothing, nothing, I promise. Brian and I gave it a shot, we even tried cohabitating. It just wasn't working. Of course, I would've preferred he would've kept his dick in his pants until we'd decided for certain it wasn't working."
Lucy made a face. "He didn't…"
"He did," I confirmed. "He and I have been having conversation after conversation about how our relationship wasn't quite what either one of us was expecting, but we weren't officially broken up. That was, until I caught him…on my couch."
"Gross," Lucy said, jumping up from her spot on the couch. "Warn a girl first."
I rolled my eyes. "It has been dry cleaned to the hilt, don't worry."
"Yeah, well, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll just sit over here," she said, moving to one of the chairs next to the couch. "Are you sure you're okay, Reagan?"
I gave her my brightest smile. "Right as rain. I don't need somebody who's not right for me bringing me down. It sucks to have to start over again, but at least I don't have to try to put up a good face on everything for him. That was exhausting."
She looked at me sympathetically. I could tell she wasn't buying it, but I could also tell that, for the moment, she was not going to press any harder. "What time is he supposed to come by to pick this stuff up?" she asked.
"Oh, no, I don't want him in my place anymore, so I told him I would drop this off at Adam's place," I explained.
"Adam's place? His best friend? Isn't this the same guy you told me about who made you want to beat your head against the wall?" she asked dubiously.
"He is…quite the charmer," I said dryly. "Luckily, I won't have to deal with him much, other than dropping off this box since Brian is staying with him for now. Brian promised me that he would be out tonight, so we won't have to pretend to do the sorrowful goodbye bullshit. With any luck, Adam will be out, too, and I can just dump off this box of crap on the doorstep."
"I'm not sure what I should say here. Do you want to celebrate? We can have a break-up party," Lucy suggested.
I laughed. My best friends, Lucy and Amy, were forever finding any excuse to have a girls' night or a party, not that we really needed an excuse. Although, over the last few years, it had been more just me and Lucy since Amy was over on the West Coast, though she would usually make an appearance through a Zoom call.
"As much as I appreciate it, it's not that big of a thing. I'm going to drop the box off, and then, I'm going to move on with my life. It's as simple as that," I assured her.
"Where does Adam live? I can drop it off for you on my way home," she offered helpfully. That was Lucy for you, always willing to do whatever possible to spare somebody's pain.
"He lives in the opposite direction that you're going in. It's no big deal, Lucy. Besides, you don't want to be late for your big date night with the hubby," I said, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
Even after a couple of years of marriage, Lucy still blushed deeply and then proceeded to launch into her trademark oversharing. "I know, I'm so excited. We've been trying Tantric sex. Did you know that the female body is capable of having a thirty-minute orgasm?"
