“I’ll be there.”
Stella grasped her wrist. “I know you will. And I love you for that, considering how insane with work you are right now.”
Carolina laughed. “Well, my insanity is coming up, but I always have time for you.”
The waiter brought their food and they sat and ate. Stella dove into her salad just as eagerly as Carolina did.
“Are you eating well?”
Stella nodded. “Yes. I have to. I’m burning calories like crazy. I’d die if I didn’t replenish. How about you?”
“Trying to. Edward and Tierra ride me worse than my parents about eating. One or the other of them is always fetching me food. It’s unlikely I’m going to starve to death.”
“I’ll be sure to thank them both next time I see them.” Stella stopped to take a sip of tea, then looked at her. “And how about hot guy Drew? Seen him lately?”
She popped a crouton into her mouth and shook her head. “Not since that night in the bar. How about hot guy Trick? How did that go?”
Stella grinned. “That went very well. And he is very hot. But like you, I don’t have a lot of time for hot men in my life, and he’s had several road games. But we have done some long-distance sexting.”
“That sounds fun.”
“It has been. And it relieves some of that excess tension. He’s a great guy.”
Carolina studied her. “You like him.”
Stella shrugged. “As much as I can like any guy. He’s good in the sack, and I might want to do him again.”
“You try so hard to make it seem like he doesn’t matter.”
“Please. We only had one night. And you’re avoiding the subject of you and Drew. How did that go after we left?”
“I went to his place.”
Stella laid her fork down. “And?”
“And I . . . left the next morning.”
Stella’s eyes widened. “Ohhh, so you slept with him. Yay. You needed to get laid.”
“I really did.”
“Anything since then?”
“Nothing at all. I actually left before he woke up. And I’ve been so busy I haven’t had any time to talk to him. Plus, he hasn’t called me.”
“So, you walked out on him without a word. Good for you.”
She loved Stella’s smug smile. “You know I didn’t plan to dump him. I had this . . . well, this is going to sound bizarre, but when I got up that morning, he looked so beautiful sprawled out on the bed, I was inspired to draw him just like that. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my drawing pad with me, so I dashed out of his place, raced home and sketched that image I had of him before I could lose the visual.”
Stella just stared at her.
“I know. I told you it was bizarre.”
“No, I’m just thinking. So you weren’t out to get revenge on him for dumping you in college.”
“No. Of course not.”
“Not consciously, anyway. But maybe subconsciously?”
Carolina took another bite of salad, studying Stella. Finally, she waved her fork at her friend. “I think you have a vindictive streak in you.”
Stella laughed. “You think?”
“I still think some guy broke your heart and you never got revenge.”
“And you think I’m projecting my need for revenge onto you.”
“Yes.”
Stella laughed. “Trust me. If I wanted revenge, I’d go get it for myself. I just think Drew did you wrong, and I figured you took your opportunity to get him back.”
“I wasn’t out to get him back. What happened between us just . . . happened.”
“And then you ran out on him and haven’t spoken to him again. So what does that mean?”
Sometimes her best friend irritated the crap out of her. “It doesn’t mean anything, other than we’ve both been busy.”
“Or, it means that you got exactly what you wanted from him, and now you have no more use for him.”
Frustrated, she shook her head. “That’s not what it means at all.”
“So you do want to see him again.”
“I didn’t say that, either.”
“So you’re done with him.”
She laid her head in her hands. “You make me crazy, Stella.”
“It’s a particular talent of mine.”
Carolina lifted her head. “It just happened between us. It didn’t really mean anything other than we slept together, had one night together, and now it’s probably over. Except I am using him as a model for my line, so I guess I’ll be seeing him again.”
Stella leaned back and sipped her tea. “And how do you feel about that?”
Carolina let out a sigh. “Stella, spending a lunch hour with you is a lot like talking to a therapist.”
“So, you do feel something for him,” Stella said with another victorious smile.
“You’re a giant pain in my ass.”
“That’s what best friends are for.”
TWO WEEKS OF ALMOST NONSTOP ROAD GAMES WERE taking their toll on Drew. They’d had one series of home games, but it seemed as if he’d blinked and they were back on the damn road again.
He was cranky. They’d lost three games and he wanted nothing more than to get back to the Garden and the home crowd again. This new season wasn’t starting out the way anyone on the team expected, and if they didn’t turn it around soon, it was going to be a dismal one.
Even worse, after practice today he’d found a voice mail on his phone from Carolina. Using her most professional voice, she’d asked him about meeting with her. Not to see him personally, but to get together to meet about her line.
There wasn’t a single word or phrase she’d used in that voice mail that had been personal in nature. It was like that night they’d shared hadn’t even happened. Couple that with the disappearing act she’d pulled, and his lousy mood had increased, if that was even possible.
“You practicing your scowl for the game tonight?”
His gaze shot up and he glared at Trick. “What?”
“Hey, that’s an even better one. You should try that one on Vancouver tonight.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Trick shut the door to his locker. “Man, you’re grumpy. You need to get laid.”
“Fuck you, Trick.”
Trick just laughed. “That mood has got to do with a woman. A certain pretty brunette I met at the bar a couple weeks ago?”
“I don’t want to talk about Carolina.”
“So it is her.” Trick took a seat on the bench next to Drew. “Did she dump you?”
“No, she didn’t dump me. Well, maybe. I don’t really know.”
“You don’t know? What the hell, man? Has it been that long since you’ve been given the boot by a woman you can’t tell when you’ve been dumped?”
“Actually, I’ve never been dumped.”
Trick let out a snort. “Every guy has been kicked to the curb at least once. You either didn’t recognize it or didn’t care. And now you have, and you do care, so you don’t know what the hell to do. Like now, with the hot brunette.”
“Her name is Carolina.”
“That’s right. Carolina. So Carolina dumped you.”
Maybe she had. He’d never been with a woman he liked enough to care whether she wanted to see him again or not. He searched his memory to try and remember if any of the women he’d dated in the past had ever given him any signals about not wanting to see him again.
Maybe there had been a few in his past, and he just hadn’t read the signals. Nothing like being self-aware.
But with Carolina, he had no idea. He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, Trick. With the road trip, I haven’t had a chance to talk to her. But she does want to see me. She left me a voice mail.”
“That’s a good sign then, right?”
“It’s about the modeling thing for her fashion line.”