Page 3 of Gray Hair Don't Care
Lela grinned warmly. “She’s always trying to get me to do crazy stuff. Right now, she’s trying to convince me to start my own line of cosmetics.”
He swallowed down another drink of beer and plopped the bottle on the table. “Yes. You should totally do that. I could help if you want. I’m good with start-ups.”
“Maybe. One day. I’m not there yet.” Lela shrugged it off. “Anyway, Tammera’s my best friend.”
“That used to be my job.”
“A million years ago, maybe.”
“Maybe? What are you talking about with maybe? We were definitely best friends.” Just thinking about it, Donovan couldn’t help but long for the simplicity of the relationship he’d had with Lela in college. It had always been so easy to be with her. She never expected anything from him. Everyone else—his mom, his brother, girlfriends—all loved to build him up just to tear him down. He didn’t want to be on a pedestal, or as he liked to think of it, a hook.
“Hey. You’re the one who went and got married,” Lela said. “We couldn’t stay best friends after that.”
That was indeed true. Genevieve had demanded he cut all ties with Lela after they got engaged. All these years later, he hated hearing the hurt in Lela’s voice. Had she been holding onto it this whole time? Or was it cropping up because they were seeing each other again? “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He had the distinct impression he’d let down his best friend twenty-some years ago. Like most days, he was filing away a mental note to do better next time. “I still hate that things changed.”
“The earth spins. Life goes on. Yada yada yada.”
“I know. It sucks.”
“Look at it this way. Genevieve barely tolerated us as friends when you guys were dating, then not dating, then dating again.” Lela bounced her head from side to side, her sandy brown hair flopping along with it.
“You’re right, but you must’ve had a guy who didn’t like it either.” Although, come to think of it, Donovan didn’t remember Lela having many guys around at that time. He’d probably blocked it out.
“There was no guy.”
“Sure there was. What about that guy who wore all the flannel shirts? With the glasses?”
Lela narrowed her sights on him, making him wonder if he was nuts. “Are you talking about Max? He was in one of my study groups. He had a very serious girlfriend.”
“Oh. I guess I didn’t realize that.” She was such a spectacular human. There was no way he was the only guy who ever saw it. “Well, you got married, didn’t you? So there was eventually a guy.”
Lela bunched up her lips then finished off her beer. “Eventually. Yes.”
He sat back in his chair and rested his hands on his belly. The pizza was mostly gone. So was the beer. But he wasn’t ready for his night with Lela to end. “What now? The night is young.”
“What’d you have in mind?”
“Grab a beer from a bodega and walk around the city? It’s too nice out to stay inside.”
She shook her head. “People don’t really do that anymore. The cops actually enforce open container laws now. Plus, I have to go feed my cat. He’s probably used his claws to carve a murderous manifesto into the hardwood floors.”
“Can I come with you?”
“You want to meet my cat?”
“Of course. I have a million questions to ask him.”
An effortless smile crossed her face and Donovan had to catch himself. There’d always been a glimmer of attraction between them, circling overhead. One time, it swooped down and flew right into their faces. He’d devoted a lot of energy to ignoring it. She was the first real friend he’d ever had. No one had come close to eclipsing her in that regard. “Yeah. Of course.”
After he paid the bill, they walked outside. The sights, sounds, and smells of the city were coursing through his body like he’d just plugged into a limitless power source. It was invigorating. “Why don’t I come back to New York more often?”
Lela took several steps down the sidewalk, then turned to him, walking backwards. “Maybe because I’m here?”
He hustled to catch up. “That was never the reason.”
She arched her eyebrows and lifted her chin. It was her way of calling him out. “Or is it just because you can’t stay in one place?”
He did move around a lot. He’d lived all over the world since college—Chicago, Miami, Dallas, a short stint in Albuquerque he’d rather forget, Tokyo, Madrid, and London. “Probably. You’re the steady, dependable one.”
