One of the Guys (11 page)

           
Max took a step closer. “It doesn’t
just have to be about hooking up, you know.” he said. “I’ve told you that
before.”

           
“Not tonight, Max,” Kate said. “Go
to the Sand Bar with the guys and have fun, okay?”

           
Max pouted. “Is everything okay?”

           
“Is what okay?” Kate asked, biting
the corner of her lip. She was tired. She didn’t want to deal with this right
now.

           
“Everything.
Me. You.
Are we all right?”

           
“Yes, we’re fine. Why?”

           
Max looked hurt. “Because the past
couple times I’ve tried to… hook up, you haven’t been interested. You keep
blowing me off.”

           
Kate sighed. This was her chance to
let Max know that their arrangement was no longer going to work. However, she
didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “It’s complicated. I don’t know what I want
anymore.”

           
For a moment, Max looked like he was
going to say something, but he closed his mouth and held up his hands. “Okay.
Fine.
Sorry for bugging you. Good night.”

           
Kate could see that she’d pissed him
off. “Hey, Max,” she said, leaning against the door. “I’m sorry.”

           
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,”
he said over his shoulder. He got into his car and drove away without saying
anything else, not even goodbye.

Kate
closed the door and locked it and then headed to her room. She
flopped
onto the bed on her stomach and buried her face in
the pillow, wishing she knew what the deal with Max was. When they’d first
gotten together, they were strictly supposed to be friends with benefits. She
was the one who worried about getting her feelings hurt and getting in over her
head, but so far, she’d managed to be the only one who kept up her end of the
bargain. Max always seemed to want to complicate things.
  

She
should’ve just put an end to things right then and there, but she hated to see
him upset. She also didn’t know how to end things without explaining about
Chris. She wasn’t even sure what to say about Chris.

*

When
Kate returned from the office the following morning, she found Lucy sitting in
a lounge chair out by the pool with a magazine in her lap and a cup of coffee
on the ground next to her. Kate propped her sunglasses on top of her head and
waved hello. She went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for
herself
, and then joined Lucy outside. “What’s up?” she
asked, kicking off her sandals and stretching out on the lounge chair.

Lucy
closed her magazine. “Not much. How was the poker game last night?”

“I
lost,” she said. She took a sip of coffee and then set her cup on the table in
between them. “Jackson told us his news last night.”

Lucy
nodded,
squinting
her eyes. Kate peered at her, trying
to tell if she was squinting in the sunlight, or if she was trying not to cry. “I
thought he might.”

“It’s
good news, right?” Kate asked. “I mean, that’s all over and done with now. You
can finally put all that stuff behind you.”

Lucy
took a deep breath. “I know. I know I should be happy. But when I stop to think
about it… I’m happy that someone’s marriage ended. That it failed.
Because of me.
That’s terrible.”

“Not
because of
you
. Their marriage failed
because it wasn’t meant to work out. You guys are the ones that are supposed to
be together.”

“That’s
what Jackson said,” Lucy said. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged
them. “It was bad enough when we were sneaking around to see each other. I’d
never cheated on anybody before.
Neither had Jackson.
We’re
not like that.”

“But
you don’t have to worry about that now. You have Jackson!
 
He’s not going anywhere.”

This
brought a smile to Lucy’s face. “I know. I just don’t want to make a big deal
out of it. Like you said, it’s over. I keep trying to tell myself that their
marriage didn’t have anything to do with me. And I guess I don’t want to have
anything to do with the details of their divorce, either. I just want us to
move on.”

“That’s
all that Jackson wants, too,” Kate said. “He wanted me to talk to you to make
sure you were okay with everything.”

“We
never talked about her.
His wife.
I never really
talked about Matt with Jackson, either. It was like we didn’t want to ruin what
we had by dealing with reality – the fact that he had a wife and that I was supposed
to be getting married. So we just never talked about it. I guess that’s why I
had a hard time talking about any of the divorce stuff with him. We never
talked about them when they were together… So I didn’t want to talk about them
now.”

“That
makes sense,” Kate said. “But you know that Jackson is crazy in love with you,
right?”
 

Lucy
beamed. She nodded and stretched back out on the lounge, folding her hands
behind her head. “Yeah,” she sighed.

“You’re
lucky,” Kate remarked.

Lucy
didn’t say anything for awhile. Finally, she asked, “How’s Chris?”

“He
didn’t want to come home with me last night. Said he doesn’t want to move too
fast and complicate things. So I don’t know if we’re dating…
Or
if we’re just… friends?”
 
She
thought about being unable to end her friends-with-benefits arrangement with
Max and decided to not mention Max’s visit last night.

“Well,
it’s not like you need to go rushing into anything,” Lucy admonished.

“He
said he just wanted to have fun. That’s what I want, too.”

“Yes,
you want to have fun. But you also want to settle down. I know you, Kate. You’re
getting tired of all this crap.”

“What
crap?”

“Dating.
Trying to figure out these guys.
Am I right?”

Kate
groaned. “I guess. But it’s not like I want to turn around and get married
tomorrow. I just want… a boyfriend. I want somebody like Jackson.”

“Well,
you can’t have Jackson. He’s mine,” Lucy grinned.

“You
know what I mean. I want someone that can be my best friend. But that I can do
all the other stuff with. I want someone that I don’t have to go through all
the stupid first dates and first times with. I want someone… comfortable.”

“Is
Chris like that?”

“I
don’t know. He might be.
Maybe.”

“What
about Max?” Lucy asked with a sly grin.

“Max
is just a friend,” Kate said.

“
Mmmhmmm
,” Lucy said, getting up and going into the house
for a refill.

Kate
pulled her sunglasses off the top of her head and plopped them on her nose. She
folded her arms across her chest, trying to sort things out. She didn’t know
where things were going to go with Chris. Yes, they were taking things slowly
and seeing where they would lead. Hopefully they would lead to Kate having a
steady boyfriend for holiday dinners and family functions.

And
then there was Max. The whole friends with benefits thing had worked great when
they first arranged it months ago. Kate had a sexy guy who was interested in
her – at least for a few hours – but she could still go about her search for a
decent boyfriend. Max was great – he was incredibly good looking, the sex was
great, and he always liked to cuddle. Even though he was the one who brought it
up from time to time, she just wasn’t sure if a serious relationship with him
would really last. And now that Kate was semi-involved with Chris, it wasn’t
like she could have Max just showing up on her doorstep at two o’clock in the
morning whenever he felt it. She didn’t know what to do.

*

“Bride
Ideas, this is Kate. How can I help you?”

“Kate,
it’s
Jackson.”

“Hey.
What’s going on?” she asked, saving the file she was working on and shutting her
computer down for the night.

“Do
you have any plans after work?” he asked.

Kate
straightened a stack of bridal magazines and scooped up some loose paperclips. “I
was just getting ready to leave,” she said, dropping the paperclips into their
little ceramic bowl. “You have something in mind?”

“Can
you meet me at Vintage in half an hour?” he asked.

“Sure,”
Kate said. “I’ll see you then.”
 
She hung
up the phone. Vintage was a smoky wine bar located just a few blocks from her
office. Since she was already done with her work, she decided to leave a little
early and walk there. She shouldered her bag and turned off the lights. Julia
was out at a cake tasting so she made sure to lock up before heading down the
street.

The tables
outside on the sidewalk were already taken when she arrived at Vintage, so she
headed inside, where it wasn’t nearly as busy. Only a few patrons were dotted
around the little tables, and there was only one person sitting at the bar. Max.

He
was reading something on his phone. A glass of red wine sat in front of him. Kate
walked up, perched on the stool next to him, and hung her purse on the back. She
crossed her legs and smoothed her skirt across her knees. Max turned to see who
had joined him just as she reached for his wineglass. She brought it to her
lips, smiled, and took a sip. “Get your own,” he laughed, taking the glass from
her. “Can she have a glass, please?” Max called to the bartender.

“What
are you doing here?” Kate asked. She thanked the bartender as he poured her
glass of wine.

“Waiting
for Jackson.”

“Oh?
 
Me, too.”
 
Kate said.

“You
know what this is, right?” Max asked.

Kate
took a sip of her wine. “He just called a couple minutes ago and asked if I
could meet him.”

“Yeah.
His divorce is final…”

Kate
studied Max’s face, puzzled.
“Um, yeah.”

“So
now he’s probably going to tell us that he’s going to propose.”

Kate
gasped. “You think?”

Max
shrugged. “You heard him the other night. Talking about how he wanted to marry
Lucy, he should’ve married Lucy…
 
Now
that he’s divorced, he probably can’t wait to pop the question.”

Kate
placed her fingertips on the base of her wine glass and slowly turned it. Max
was probably right.

Lucy
was going to get married. She was going to lose Lucy. It was bad enough after
college when Lucy had decided to stay in Miami with Matt instead of coming home.
They’d always been close, but things weren’t exactly the same when they lived
so far apart. And now, if she got married… they wouldn’t have anything in common
anymore. Lucy would be Mrs. Jackson Parker and Kate would be… still single.
Still
Miss
Kate Thompson.

“There
he is. Ten bucks says I’m right,” Max said, getting to his feet. He moved to
the next stool so that Jackson could sit in between them.

Jackson
was talking to someone on the phone, and as he approached, Kate could tell by
the tone of his voice that it was Lucy. He said goodbye and hung up, slipping
the phone into his pocket. “Hey,” he said, fist-bumping Max and then bending to
give Kate a polite kiss on the cheek. He sat down on the stool in between them
and ordered a glass of wine. He loosened his tie a little.

“So,
I asked you both to meet me here because you’re two of my best friends.
Next to Lucy, of course.
And Lucy’s the real reason why we’re
here,” he said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, black
velvet box. He placed it on the bar in front of him.

Kate
looked across Jackson and caught Max’s eye. He winked at her. Kate looked at
the box and then at Jackson. He nodded. She reached for the box, opened it, and
gasped.

“Do
you think it’s big enough?”

“Big
enough?”
Kate asked. “Are you crazy?”
 
She took the ring out of the box and slipped
it on her left ring finger. She splayed her fingers and held her hand out in
front of her. Max let out a whistle as they admired the emerald cut-diamond and
the diamond-studded band it rested on. “Carat and a half?” she asked.

“One
and three-quarter carats total weight.”
Jackson smiled
proudly. “Is it okay?”

“Are
you kidding?
 
It’s gorgeous.”
 
She slid it off her finger and carefully
placed it back in the box. Jackson put it back in his pocket and Kate threw her
arms around him. “Congratulations,” she whispered. The next thing she knew, she
had tears in her eyes.