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“I’m curious. You’ve sat with me through relationship after relationship, breakup after breakup, and yet, I have never seen you go on a date.”

“I’ve dated.”

“When?”

Lea shook her head. “What does it matter? I’m not dating anyone currently, and I don’t plan on setting up a dating profile to find someone. I’m happy with my life.”

“But it could be so much better if you had someone to love.” Jewel took another bite of her maple donut. “Think about it. We could go on double dates. We could be friends who have couples things to do.”

“This sounds like a dream world.”

“But a fun one.” Jewel waited in the silence, hoping for some kind of answer from Lea other than hedging, but she knew she wouldn’t get it. She’d brought all this up before in one way or another, and Lea had expertly avoided it every time. “Just try it.”

“Not interested.”

“For me? We could do a first-date double date.”

“No.” Lea grabbed a donut and set it on a napkin, but she didn’t eat any of it. She was fidgeting.

Jewel carefully watched every one of Lea’s movements, curious as to why she was suddenly so closed off. She had definitely put up a bunch of walls at once, and Jewel only felt slightly guilty for causing that. She’d pushed too much. That had been the answer to the unasked question. Reaching out, Jewel gripped Lea’s wrist. “You know I don’t care who you date, right?”

“What? I should hope you would. If you don’t like whoever I date, then it’s probably not a good match, and as my best friend, I should take that under consideration.”

Jewel narrowed her gaze. “That means you would have to date someone and I would have to meet them.”

“Precisely.”

“Which you haven’t done in five years.”

Lea paled. How she had missed walking right into that one, Jewel had no idea. Lea was smart and usually very on top of these types of conversations. Perhaps Jewel had ruffled Lea’s feathers more than she’d thought.

“Why not go on a date? See what happens. Maybe you’ll like them and maybe I’ll get to meet them, but you shouldn’t close yourself off to the possibility just because…wait, why aren’t you dating—really?” The tension was back in their conversation, but this time Jewel wanted it there. She wanted Lea to come up with some sort of answer. She’d always wondered, but she’d never outright asked.

“I’ve dated in the last couple years, but every time I went out, it just…it didn’t go well.” Lea’s voice was soft, defeated almost.

“Oh?” Jewel encouraged.

Lea grabbed her coffee, holding it between her fingers, although again she didn’t drink. Jewel knew this was going to be a tough conversation, but she wanted more from their friendship. She wanted to know everything she possibly could about Lea.

“Online dating is hard. It’s like blind dating but without the endorsement and support of friends who have met the person before. It’s seriously the worst experience ever.”

“You’ve dated online?” Jewel raised an eyebrow. “How am I just now finding out about this?”

Lea rolled her eyes. “Because it was bad. Epically bad.”

“Uh…tell me everything.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on!” Jewel goaded before biting into her donut. She was going to get dosed up on sugar and live for the day when she could do this again with Lea.

“No,” Lea repeated.

“Tell me. This sounds like it’s going to be good.”

Lea drank her coffee, and Jewel knew she was trying to avoid even more, but she wanted answers. Who exactly had Lea been on a date with that was so bad she had to wipe the memory of it off the face of the earth? “I’ll make lunch all by myself, mind you, if you tell me.”

“It’s really not that interesting of a story.”