Page 18 of About that Fling (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #2)
She glanced over her shoulder, relieved to see she wasn’t the cause of Mia’s distraction.
“Damn blender,” Mia muttered, flipping the switch.
“I swear, I should have let Adam take this one and just bought a new one when we split. I think this is left over from his college days.” She wiggled the cord and punched a button, and the blender finally whirred to life.
She turned back to Jenna, brushing a handful of red hair from her face. “I’m sorry, what did you just ask?”
“Uh, the mediation. How do you think it went?”
“I thought it was productive,” Mia said, jiggling the blender as ice crunched between the blades. “Enlightening. We made a lot of progress, I think. Gotta give props to my ex for that one.”
“Oh?”
Mia blew the hair off her forehead and turned back to the blender. “I guess I should say props to Adam. That man talking about open communication and the value of expressing your feelings sure as hell isn’t the guy I was married to.”
Jenna reached into the cupboard above her head and pulled out the cheese grater, fighting to keep her voice detached and disinterested. “Really? Seems odd someone would have changed that much.”
Mia shrugged and flipped off the blender.
“I suppose it’s different when it’s a marriage instead of a corporate negotiation, huh?
Instead of colleagues with opposing views, you fall into the role of the shrewish, nagging harpy who’s never satisfied, or the humorless, detached bastard with a selfish streak. ”
Jenna nodded and began to grate the cheese, trying to wrap her brain around the idea of Adam as humorless or detached or selfish.
The same guy she’d flirted with over phony careers and wine?
The same guy who’d taught her communication strategies on a hotel roof?
The same guy who’d slid down her body and driven her crazy with his fingers and tongue and?—
“You want the big one?”
“What?” Jenna whirled around to see Mia with two margarita glasses and a bemused expression.
“The big glass.” Mia smirked. “What did you think I meant?”
“The glasses, of course. I’ll take the green one.”
She laughed and began to pour, while Jenna put down the cheese grater and reached for the tomatoes. “Well, hopefully Adam’s techniques are successful,” Jenna said. “Seems like some of the rumbling is dying down about a nursing strike. That’s a step in the right direction.”
“True. I just hope the whole thing goes quickly. Having Adam around is just too weird.”
Jenna bit her lip. “How so?”
“Would you want to work with your ex?”
“Good point.”
Mia sighed. “I don’t know, I guess I just got comfortable thinking that part of my life was behind me.
We moved 2,100 miles away, I got a new job, I started using my nickname professionally, Mark and I got married instead of being this scandalous, adulterous couple.
I felt like I had a fresh start, you know? ”
Jenna nodded and sliced into a tomato. “At least you only have to see Adam a few times a week.”
“True. And at least he’ll be gone as soon as this negotiation is over.”
“Amen.” Jenna swallowed back the pang of melancholy threatening to throb its way up from her chest. Part of her wanted to confess everything, to break down this stupid wall she’d built between herself and Mia.
Most of her wanted to put up a fresh coat of plaster and hope to God it held so everyone could stay safe and warm and happy.
“So what are we watching tonight, anyway?”
“I think we’ve got three episodes of The Bachelor ,” Mia said, handing her a glass. “Or we could watch that documentary on women in wine—the one where we got the cameo at Sunridge Vineyards?”
Jenna laughed at the memory. “God, that was fun.” But they’d already watched it at least three-dozen times, and besides, it seemed mean to watch a wine documentary while Mia was pregnant. “Let’s stick with The Bachelor . Are you sure we missed three of them?”
“Pretty sure.” Mia snatched a piece of tomato off the edge of the cutting board, popping it into her mouth. “I think there was a double episode in there somewhere. I’d look it up, but my phone’s dead. Katie borrowed my charger and lost it.”
“Ugh.” Shifting her focus to slicing green onions, Jenna tipped her head toward the briefcase she’d dropped at the edge of the counter. “Mine’s in there, or you could grab my laptop. I’ve got that celebrity gossip site bookmarked if you just open my browser.”
“Cool, thanks. You don’t have to chop all that, Jenna. I didn’t invite you over to slave away in my kitchen.”
“It’s not a problem. Put your feet up and point to where you put the cilantro.”
“Top shelf. They’re upright in a jar of water like Gertie showed us.”
“Atta girl.” Jenna pried open the fridge and pulled out the jar while Mia flipped open the laptop and hit a few keystrokes. As Jenna set the cilantro on the counter, she heard a gasp from her friend.
She looked up to see Mia’s eyes glued to the screen. She wore a look of horrified fascination that sent Jenna’s stomach plunging to her knees.
“Oh my God, Jenna. What the hell is this?”