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TEN YEARS LATER…

Chapter 1

I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to tonight - the food was going to be wonderful but Jen’s birthday dinners were always so joyless. She pretended to like the gifts we gave her but she was not very good at it. She’d long since dropped her public face around me. She reserved that for newcomers, acquaintances - tonight she’d be in the presence of unknown company so I was hopeful that we could all be civil and enjoy ourselves a bit.

Despite everything we’d been through since high school I’d somehow managed to be civil towards her. We were far from BFFs but we did exchange an occasional email every now and again, mostly about Kent..

Several years after college I met a terrific guy, and we dated for a couple of years. He moved away for work and I stayed behind without him. The relationship with him proved to me that I could love someone despite the trampling my heart had taken in my youth. A year later I met Dave at one of my wedding gigs. He flirted with me shamelessly and because he was so funny, intelligent and charming, I gave in. It probably hadn’t hurt that he was extremely hot.

Tonight marked two months since Dave and I started dating and this was the first time I decided to let him meet any of my friends. If he could survive Jen and Kent, then he could survive anyone.

I inhaled deeply and expelled my breath slowly, letting the tension and anxiety leave me before I stepped out of the cab to greet my uber-handsome date, Dave. I tugged on the bottom of my hot pink hem, pulling it closer to my knees. I flashed Dave a reassuring smile as I took the arm he held out to me. He looked yummy in his sleek dark blue Calvin Klein suit. His crisp white shirt was flashing beneath and matched his perfect, straight, white teeth.

He bent down slightly to whisper against my ear, “You look stunning. Do your panties match your shoes?”

I looked down at my black high heels, scoffed and then laughed softly. I squeezed his bicep and gave him a sideways glance, trying to remain coy. “If you’re a good boy, maybe you’ll find out. So tell me again, who are we meeting for dinner?”

He rubbed his nose into my pulled back hair, kissed the top of my head and then groaned. We’d practiced their names at least a dozen times already. “Jen and Kent, your two old high school friends.”

I grinned at him and grabbed his tie, pulling him down for a quick kiss.

“That’s right. And what topics are we avoiding tonight?” I asked.