He leaned his head on mine and we sat like that for a long time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Sharon texted me the Tuesday after Alex’s dad went into the hospital.
Do you want to go to dinner Friday night?
I hesitated. I was exhausted. I was broke. And I kind of, sort of wanted to keep my weekend open in case Alex needed me. His dad was scheduled to come home either Thursday or Friday, and I got the feeling he might need some extra support.
But Sharon never asked to hang out anymore. We had been inseparable in college—when you’re actually friends with your roommate, you tend to do everything together. Once she moved home after graduation, though, our relationship shifted to being conducted largely through texts and social media. She always came out for my birthday, and we would grab lunch from time to time. But the asking began to feel one-sided long before she even met Josh, and I’ll admit, I stopped trying so hard because of that. We still texted multiple times a week, so the conversation never ended, but sometimes she felt more like a pen pal than one of my closest friends.
So I said sure and asked where she wanted to go.
The three dots appeared and stayed for an inordinately long time, making me worry this would be some family event with her mother and that I had been invited solely to be the bearer of bad news. Again.
The message finally appeared. Yay! Wear something cute—I mean, you always look cute, but look EXTRA cute. Josh’s cousin Seth just broke up with his girlfriend and you two are going to be the perfect match. He’s a doctor and he’s even taller than you! Just don’t wear heels that are TOO tall. He’s a groomsman in the wedding too so if you two hit it off, you have a date and everything. And if you get married, we’ll be related!
My shoulders sank. She was still typing.
Was I opposed to being fixed up with a doctor? No, of course not. But ugh, had I reached the spinster stage where this was a thing? Yes, I had filled her in on the whole Tinder debacle, so she was just trying to help. But I still wondered if it was too late to bail and hang out with Alex instead.
Ok, I replied eventually. If Sharon noticed my lack of enthusiasm, she didn’t mention it. And either way, I was happy to see her away from her mother. She turned into such a timid mouse around Mrs. Meyer, and I missed my friend.
I wrinkled my nose at my reflection in the elevator of my apartment building as I went down to catch my Uber to dinner. I had sent a picture of my outfit to Megan and she said it was perfect, but I wasn’t so sure. What did one wear to look cute, but not desperate, when a friend decides to set her up on a date? Plus Megan seemed a little too excited about this whole situation, telling me that of course I could bring the doctor as a date to her wedding. Which was one hundred percent about Justin and I knew it.
After getting the necessary details from Sharon, I had snooped on Facebook. His profile picture was still him with a girl who I assumed was the ex, which either meant he wasn’t over her or he just wasn’t into social media. Neither seemed promising. He wouldn’t be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive anytime soon, but he wasn’t bad-looking. And I did trust Sharon.
So with some trepidation and a little bit of nervous excitement, I touched up my lipstick before climbing out of the Uber and walked into the restaurant.
Sharon, Josh, and Doctor Seth were inside already, but still waiting to be seated. Sharon ran over and hugged me.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said automatically.
“You’re not. I told you fifteen minutes earlier than our reservation time on purpose.”
I laughed. We may not hang out often anymore, but she still knew me. And that was enough to make me feel more at ease about meeting Doctor Seth. I kissed Josh on the cheek as a greeting and held out my hand to the cousin. “You must be Seth. It’s nice to meet you.” He nodded tensely and shook my hand, mumbling something incoherent that could have been “likewise” or could have been “I like guys,” before looking away. I was not, I realized, the only one who wasn’t totally feeling the matchmaker game.
Awesome, I thought. Either I’m not “doctor’s wife hot” or he’s not over his ex. Based on the Facebook picture, I could tell myself it was the latter. And at least I had Ubered to the restaurant, so I could drink.
Except Doctor Seth said he would just be having water when the waitress took our order, as he was on call. It looked like my martini would probably be an only child, unless he warmed up or was so boring that I decided to drink myself into oblivion.
“What kind of doctor are you?”