Page 67 of Accidental Blind Date

Kai and I are not the same kind of man. Business or otherwise. And I want to make sure Libby knows that.

Chapter 22

Libby

Don’t mind the mess. Our kids are feral.

The sign on Jonie’s front door, right next to theNo soliciting unless you have Thin Mintssign always makes me giggle.

I love going to Joni’s. Even if it’s messy and loud. Her kids are usually running around in a thousand directions, leaving Nerf bullets and Goldfish crackers in their wake. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever left her home without at least one Capri Sun straw wrapper stuck to my shoe. But the craziness is part of what I love.

It’s full. And all those things, the things that drive her crazy, wear her husband out and cause her to need wine Bingo every week are the characteristics of family. It makes my heart both swell and ache. But the latter, I choose to ignore. And numb with a glass of box wine upon walking inside.

“So, where’s he taking you?” Joni asks, reaching for two wine glasses from the high shelf of her white cabinets. Her husband comes up behind her to help her and Joni looks annoyed. Not at him, more at the fact she’s too short to reach the third shelf up. He smiles. Then he swats her on the ass. She snacks his hand. He winks and walks away, picking up toys off the floor as he makeshis way into the living room just in time to catch a child flying off the couch like a bird.

“I think he said the Social.”

“Stop! That swanky little seafood place by the aquarium. Did you hear that honey? They’re going to the Social!”

“Fancy,” he calls back.

“Yeah so I’m going to need something to wear,” I say, taking a sip of my wine. For some reason I am nervous.

“You mean your Beetlejuice striped dress isn’t going to cut it?” She jokes and I look down at the black and white dress I have on and then flip her off.

“That was the bad finger!” one of the kids calls out, followed by the others going, “Ooooo!”

“Let’s go to my room. I’ll find you something that’ll knock his argyle socks right off.”

“I still can’t believe that Jax from your one and done dating app date and Daxton Hemingway are the same person,” Joni lets out as soon as she closes her bedroom door. While she heads to the closet, I sit down on her bed, sipping my wine.

“I know. Wild right?”

“I swear,” she calls back from somewhere deep inside her wardrobe. I can hear her pulling hangers and for some reason, it’s making me even more nervous. “If you had told me that your evil new boss and the hottest single dad slash bachelor were the same person, well, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I guess grief does change a person, doesn’t it?” Joni reappears with no less than seven dresses, all fancier than anything I own.

“Jesus. How do you have so many? You never go out.”

“I used to. Before kids. These are all retired. But I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them. I guess I like to tell myself that someday I’ll find someone crazy enough to babysit all my children for a decent price and we will be able to go out again.Honestly, I think I just keep some of them because of what they cost.”

“You know I’d watch your kids anytime. For free,” I tell her, sifting through the dresses. “And then you two can go out and dance and eat and drink like you’re twenty-one again. It would be like old times.”

“Yeah that sounds nice,” she smiles. “Except that I don’t think I’d be doing much drinking.”

“Really?” I ask. “You?”

Joni just smiles, her hand slowly moving to her belly.

“Oh. Oh! Oh my god, Jo, are you–?”

She nods. “I mean. It’s official but I’ve been through this enough time that I am pretty sure. The smell of popcorn makes me nauseous and that’s my dead giveaway every time. That and iced tea tastes like fish which is exactly what I kept telling the waitress at the steakhouse when I was pregnant with my first.”

“When did it happen?” I ask. Because the way she says it is like it was an accident. Like it was unexpected. Like it’s easy.

I take a sip of wine and ignore the acid in my stomach.

“Let’s just say that last Bingo night had more payouts than just potted plants if you know what I’m saying.”

I force a laugh and down more wine.