Page 190 of Bridesmaid for Hire
I nod. “I’d like that.”
And then we both leave the couch—him going to get the food, and me going to find comfort.
“Did I tell you that whenever she smiled at me, it felt like sunshine filling me with joy?” I ask Gary as I hold my third beer in my hand and my third piece of pizza in the other.
“You mentioned something about sunshine,” he answers.
“Yeah, I really like her smile. And her teeth. And her mouth. Fuck, her mouth, man.”
“Whoa-kay, I’m going to stop you right there.” Gary holds up his hand. “You can tell me how much you miss her all you want, but don’t start talking about her private parts.”
“Her mouth is not a private part.”
“In the context you were using, it is. Keep that shit to yourself.” He takes a bite of his crust.
“Sorry,” I mumble and drain the rest of my beer. “What about her eyes, did I go into detail about her eyes enough?”
“Yes,” Gary says. “I liked that part since we have the same eyes, almost felt like you were talking about me.”
“I wasn’t,” I say.
“I know,” Gary replies, offended. “Just felt nice for a second to be acknowledged.”
“And, dude, she made me laugh. She’s so witty and charming. Fuck, is she charming. At first, I was annoyed by how charming she was, like everyone fucking liked her and I felt like chopped liver, but then the more time I spent with her, the more I was like, yeah, I get it. The girl is fucking charming and it’s magnetic. Like I wanted to be around her all the time.”
“She learned some of that charm from me.” Gary puffs his chest. And I can guarantee you right now, she didn’t win any charm from Gary. I love the guy, but Gary if a doofus and Maggie, she’s…she’s a fucking angel.
“I just wish I didn’t fuck this up. Are you…are you mad at me?”
Gary wipes his mouth with a napkin. “I’m not happy with you, but you were also drunk, so, dude, I don’t know.”
“I get it.” I twist my lips to the side, thinking. “Maybe you could, I don’t know, invite her over here or something so I could talk to her?”
“Didn’t she say she didn’t want to speak to you?”
“Yes,” I answer. “But, Gary, come on. I need to fix this.”
“Then fix what you did, don’t try to fix things with her.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Listen, for you to win the girl back, you have to go to the root of the problem. And the root of the problem is you took a piece of her business and fed it to a competitor. So, you have to right that wrong if you want even a fighting chance at winning her back.”
“But how?” I say. “I was fired. I tried when I was in still the office, but I don’t have access to the Hopper family anymore. And by now, I have no doubt that Reginald has tainted every impression of me. Meaning, there’s no way in hell that Hardy or Hudson will listen to me, even if I do send them an email or something.”
“Didn’t think about that,” Gary says, slouching on the couch. “What about your boss? Can’t you ask her?”
“She did say she was going to figure things out and would be in touch.”
Gary whacks my leg. “Well, there you go. Let her do her thing. In the meantime, you just soak up some time with your Gare Bear.”
I snuggle into the side of the couch. “Can I stay the night?”
“You can stay as long as you want.”
THREE DAYS LATER…
“And this is when we were hiking and the snake bit me but didn’t really bite me, but I thought it bit me, but it was the branch. Don’t we look happy?” I ask Patricia as I sit on the kitchen counter and flash her one of my favorite pictures of me and Maggie.
