“Ding, ding, ding,” she said. “Johnny, tell her what she’s won!”
I did not need her pointed and correct sarcasm right now.
“Wait. Before we go any further, did you change out of whatever you put on this morning?” she asked.
I crossed my arms over my hoodie, as if she could see me. “Why would I change?”
“To hang out with Marco Kimball? You should put on a ball gown and a sash.”
This was the opposite of helpful.
She let out a dramatic sigh. “The only other time I’ve seen someone lie this much and this badly, it was me to myself. And as the author of several cries for help, I know one when I hear it. Tell me the truth, Anna. You want that sexy beast of a man, don’t you?”
I balled up my free hand. “I may or may not be in the midst of a hormonal Chernobyl,” I finally admitted.
She let out a whoop so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear.
“I knew it!” she crowed.
“Just a second,” I said. “I didn’t say I had feelings for him. Just that he’s attractive and that I acknowledge that very objective fact.”
“Anna, mi amiga, I have just one ducking word to say to you.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Kaboom.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“What is kaboom supposed to mean?” I asked.
“I told you this was going to blow up in your face. While I very much enjoy being right, you know gloating’s not a good look on me.”
“Nothing has blown up. I’m just saying I’m having a typical reaction to seeing a half-naked man—”
“Half-naked?” she shrieked. “What? When? How? Which half?”
“Which half? Do you really think he was Winnie-the-Poohing it with a shirt on and nothing else?”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
Neither would I.
I tried to shake that thought out of my head. There was nothing good that could come from this conversation because Catalina did not need to be encouraged. Or me, for that matter. “It doesn’t matter because I’m still in love with Craig.”
She moaned loudly. “Just admit the truth. You like Marco.”
“This is entirely a hormonal thing,” I said. “He’s unnervingly handsome, and I’m responding to that.”
“Or your body is just being more honest than the rest of you.”
There was some kind of internal chemical compound at work here that could easily explain my attraction to Marco. Too bad I hadn’t been paying closer attention in my college biology courses. Whatever it was, I wished I could examine it and distinguish all the elements. I’d study it, distill it, bottle it, and make a billion dollars.
I wondered if it would be wise to tell her that I found myself thinking about Marco all the time lately. So much so that he was edging Craig out of my brain entirely, and that concerned me. I couldn’t let him push Craig out of my heart, too.
“Whatever it is, I’m feeling a little out of control over here. I don’t know how to explain any of this,” I admitted.
There was a long pause, and then she said, “You mean other than his hotness and kindness and hotness and intelligence? Because I’ve got to tell you, Anna, that would do it for most women. Myself included.”
I didn’t want to be pathetic like this. Marco had made it very clear that he was not interested in me. “How can I be in love with one man and be this attracted to another?”
“Have I never told you about the time when I dated Aidan and Hayden? At least Marco and Craig don’t rhyme. That story didn’t end well, by the way. But the point is, it is possible. I think it’s even possible to be in love with two people at the same time. You’d just have to figure out which one you couldn’t live without.”
I actually found myself seriously considering her statement and couldn’t believe that my brain had to even question which brother to pick. Craig. It was obviously Craig. Not having a good comeback, I said, “You do know you said ‘hotness’ twice, right?”
“Marco is twice as hot as other people.”
“And the other words were stuff you threw in because all you care about is that he’s hot?” I teased.
“Let me just say that it’s a good thing I’m into Zhen now.”
I found myself starting to declare, You can date Marco, but I choked after the first syllable. Like my body wouldn’t let me say it. So I settled on, “Yeah, definitely. But I think this attraction thing is due to me not having dated anyone in so long. Like I’m in heat or something.”
“That sounds excellent to me.”
“It’s not.” It was making everything difficult. Especially given Marco’s friends-only vibes toward me.
“You’re single; he’s single,” she offered. “I say go for it.”
“You’re forgetting about Craig.” He was the entire reason I was doing any of this.
“I’m trying to forget about him. I wish you would, too.” She cleared her throat and then said, “Anna, I haven’t wanted to tell you this, but I think you should move on from Craig. He is bad news.”
“Not this again.”
“I’ve done my research. Conducted surveys of the employees, did a deep dive on social media, and my conclusion is sound. He’s a bad guy. He only cares about himself. He’s a serial cheater who hooks up with women and never calls them again.”
She sounded so sincere that it was hard to dismiss her words. “He’s about to get married.”
“You think cheaters don’t get married?”
“No, I have to think that any self-respecting woman wouldn’t marry a man who was cheating on her.”
“Some women don’t care,” she countered.
I remembered Marco’s dim view of marriage and knew he’d agree with her.
Catalina kept talking. “There are even rumors that he’s the father of Tammy’s baby!”
“Tammy from accounting? The married one who wouldn’t shut up about her cute dentist husband? That Tammy?”
“Okay, so maybe that one rumor is wrong.”
“Maybe they’re all wrong.” Craig couldn’t be the way Catalina painted him. He couldn’t. Because I wouldn’t be able to love a man like that. He was good and decent and helpful. Not some slimy cheater.
I didn’t know why my best friend had had it out for him since the beginning, but she seemed to be escalating.
Was that because I was on the edge of finally getting to be with him? Or I would be if Marco’s plan actually worked.
“Anna, you have to see that—”
I cut her off. “We’re not talking about Craig. We’re talking about Marco.” I looked over my shoulder just to make sure he hadn’t wandered back into the room.
“But Craig directly relates to Marco because you mistakenly think that . . . you know what? Never mind. So you’ve finally figured out what every other woman in the world knows—Marco Kimball is hot. What are you going to do about it?”
“That’s why I called you in the first place! I don’t know!”
“Putting aside everything else, may I posit some things for you?”