Page 199 of You've Got Hate Mail
“I introduced Mike to Caro,” Ten says. “Wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he was good enough for her.”
“You introduced them? I thought she knew him first.”
“Yeah, Ten never does anything worthwhile or good,” he mutters.
Not touching that. “How’d you meet him?”
“I picked up a job on a movie set he was working.”
I stare at him.
He takes another swig and ignores me.
“Never worked Hollywood,” I say. “Guess I thought it was harder to meet the stars than it is.”
“Heath, my guy, if there’s one thing I can do in life, it’s make friends.”
I choke on my water.
“Except with Mabel,” he adds, full petulant child mode coming out.
“Maybe if you didn’t try to be an ass every time you see her…”
“Maybe if she didn’t have a stick up her own ass…”
Mabel might be reserved, but she’s not astick up her asstype.
“You ever try something with her?” Ten asks me.
“With Mabel?” I bark out a laugh. “No.”
“She not pretty enough?”
“She’s like my sister.”
“Your sister’s a stick in the mud too?”
“My sister’s a labor and delivery nurse. She’s been around more vaginas than you have.”
He sits straighter. “Wait. Wait. I could be a labor and delivery nurse?”
He wouldn’t last a day. Pretty sure he knows it too. Just being Ten again. Big talk. Hiding how he really feels. “Mabel’s thinking about it too. You two could study together.”
And there’s the scowl again.
I suck in another smile.
We stare at the vineyard some more.
“You know it’s healthy for us dudes to talk it out too, right?” I say eventually.
“Fuck talking.” He straightens. “Oh, shit. How many times did I sayfuckin front of your kid?”
“We have healthy discussions about words to explore at home and words that are inappropriate at school and in public.”
“Healthy discussions, blah blah, bullshit,” he mutters.
I reach into the cooler beside me and hand him another water.
