City of Sin Read Free

he said and sat down at the table.
"What's for dinner?"
    Marie laughed. "Pizza. I already ordered it."
    "Perfect. Were you guys talking about Mason?"
    "Carter! I haven't even brought that up yet."
    "Oh, sorry, babe."
    Marie laughed.
    "Who's Mason?" I sat down on the opposite side of
the table as Carter.
    "Well, I was waiting for a good segue, but this will
have to do." She sat down next to Carter. "He's this guy that we work
with at Blue Media."
    "Okay?"
    "Bee, he's a really nice guy. And super charming."
    "That's nice." Is that really why they had asked me
to come over for dinner? To set me up on a date? I folded my arms across my
chest.
    "And he's really handsome."
    "Really handsome?" Carter said. "I mean...I
wouldn't say really handsome."
    Marie laughed."Not as handsome as you, babe."
    Carter smiled at her.
    "Yeah...no," I said.
    "No? We didn't even ask you a question yet," Marie
said.
    "The answer is no. I'm not going on a date with your
weird coworker."
    "He's not weird," Marie said. "He's really
cool."
    "He sounds awful."
    Marie laughed. "He's actually super awesome. And I told
him all about you. He can't wait to meet you. You have a date tomorrow night at
8."
    "Wait, what?"
    "It's already set."
    "I'm not going on a date tomorrow night. I have
plans."
    "Plans to watch T.V. alone in your apartment?"
    "Why does everyone think that's all I do?"
    "Because you do it a lot."
    "Okay, fine. I like binge watching awesome T.V. shows.
Is that so wrong? And I do have plans. I'm going to go to a bar with Kendra
tomorrow night." Maybe.
    "No, you're going on a super awesome date with Mason
tomorrow night. Which you won't regret because he's great."
    "Great? I doubt that. What's wrong with him? Why would
he agree to go on a blind date? No one does that. That's like the most awkward
thing ever. He's probably a serial killer."
    "People do it all the time. He's not a serial killer.
He's a successful, handsome, businessman."
    "Yeah, well I don't like successful, handsome,
businessmen. You know that." I bit my lip. I didn't want to think about
Patrick. Stop thinking about Patrick!
    A buzzing noise sounded in the apartment.
    "That would be the pizza," Marie said and stood up.
"Just think about it, okay, Bee?"
    No. "Okay."
    Carter got up and answered the door as Marie grabbed some
plates.
    "What do you want to drink?" Marie asked.
"White or red?" She held up two bottles of wine.
    "White's good."
     
    ***
     
    I was on my second glass of wine. The more I drank, the more
I started to think about Patrick. I always tried to be good around Carter. It
was awkward that he was still friends with Patrick. I knew they hung out. I ran
my thumb along the spot where my engagement ring used to be. I just needed to
know something. Anything. "Have you seen Patrick recently?" I looked
up at Carter.
    He glanced at Marie and then back at me. "Yeah, we
usually catch the Giants games together. I saw him last weekend."
    "Oh. Cool. How is he doing?" I tried to hide the
eagerness in my voice. I hadn't heard from Patrick in months. I just wanted to
know if he was still hurting too. Time was supposed to heal you. But I still
felt broken. I was worried that I always would. Just thinking about him made me
want to cry. I took a huge sip of my wine.
    "He's good, Bee."
    "Good. That's really great. I'm glad he's good."
    We were all quiet for a minute.
    "So when you say good..." I let my voice trail off.
"Is he seeing anyone right now?" That's what I really wanted to know.
I wanted to know if he had moved on.
    "What does seeing someone even mean these days? Am I
right?" Marie laughed awkwardly.
    "Does that mean he is?"
    "Bee. It's been six months," Marie said. "You
need to move on too."
    He's seeing someone else? My chest hurt. I took
another sip of wine. I wasn't sure why I was surprised. He had moved on while
he was still engaged to me. But the more time passed, the more I thought about
the good things and not the bad. I missed him. I missed what we used to be. He
had