I grabbed my keys at the front door, and we left hand-in-hand. The restaurant was luckily walking distance from our condo, but I was wondering about the shoes she was wearing. She must have noticed the look I was giving her because she laughed and shook her head at me. “It’s fine. Where are we going?”
“Sushi.”
The smile lit up her whole face like I knew it would. “Ooh, my favorite!”
I squeezed her hand. “I know; that’s why I picked it.”
Her other hand, the one not interlaced with my hand, squeezed my bicep. “You really do know me so well.”
“Well, we have been best friends since...well, birth.”
She giggled but stopped when we arrived at the restaurant and saw her ex Eric and some leggy blonde walking out the door. Her grip on my arm tightened, and I squeezed her other hand reassuringly. I was hoping maybe the dumbass would not notice us and walk away so we could pretend we didn’t see him either. The hockey gods weren’t on my side because he glanced up and looked at her in surprise.
“Oh…” Eric trailed off when he saw the two of us. He pointedly looked at our interlaced hands. His date looked confused.
Fi was pissed, and I could tell because she was damn near crushing my hand by gripping it so tight. She gritted her teeth, so I decided to be the bigger man about it. “Eric, hey, long time no see.”
“Riley, Fiona,” he gritted out.
His date whipped her head back and forth, and when he said “Fiona,” her mouth formed a little ‘O.’ She seemed to shrink back and swallow her question.
“Eric,” Fi seethed.
“Hmm. I thought for sure you two would have been divorced by now,” Eric snarled.
I was actually pretty proud of Fi for not punching the douche in the face, but she was probably going to tear off my arm at the rate she was gripping it.
The blonde looked at Eric. “Is this your ex who ran away with someone else on your wedding day?” she asked, confused.
Fi barked out the most sarcastic laugh I had ever heard. “Is that what he told you?”
“Fi,” I warned.
The blonde looked even more confused. “Yes…”
I shook my head at her, hoping she would get the message to drop it so the two of them could go off on their merry way. Of course, Fi couldn’t leave well enough alone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Amelia,” the blonde offered.
Fi nodded. “Amelia, sorry. No, actually Eric left me at the altar,” she explained. She looked up at me and smiled. “But I found someone else to marry me instead. Probably the person I should have been with in the first place.”
I beamed at that, and a warmth spread across my chest. But I also knew it was time to get the fuck out of there. “Nice seeing you, Eric, and meeting you, Amelia, but we have a reservation to get to.”
Amelia waved to us, and I pulled Fi inside with me before we caused any more drama. I knew her ex still lived in the city, but I was hoping we would never run into him, like ever. Goddamnit, I really hoped the night wasn’t ruined now.
Chapter Twenty-Five
FIONA
Who the fuck did he think he was? I figured you would be divorced by now. I was seething. I wanted to walk back there and punch the little turd right in the dick. Riley, my very patient husband, had been right to speed me along inside so I didn’t do that.
I was happily married to Riley. Sure it had gotten off to a rocky start with me wanting to get a divorce and the two of us dancing around our feelings, but we were finally on the same page together, and I was ready to enjoy wedded bliss with my best friend. And then I had to run into that douche-canoe. So it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that as soon as we got to our table, I chugged my whole glass of red wine.
“Easy there,” Riley commented, but he poured me another glass anyway. I took a sip of my water instead. He reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Hey...you’re happy with me, right?”
I balked at that and furrowed my brow. “Of course I am! What kind of question is that?”
He sighed. “Then why is seeing your ex so upsetting to you?”
I took in a deep breath and drank some water to calm myself. “It’s not seeing him that bothered me; it was more the line about us not being divorced yet. Who the hell does he think he is? Like he even knows our relationship. Fucking asshat.”
Riley placed his hand over his mouth, and I knew him well enough by now to know that he was trying to hide a grin. “To be fair, you did ask for a divorce the next day.”
“I’m sorry,” I sighed.
“It’s fine. We got through it, and now things are better.”
“I’m sorry that I’m so mad about this, too. I...” I trailed off and glanced at him from across the table.
He looked so great in that smartly tailored suit. It made me want to rip it off of him. The way his eyes zeroed in on me and intently watched me while I spoke told me everything I ever needed to know about this man. This man loved me and would probably listen to me read the goddamn phonebook. That made me love him more and also made me a little bit horny.
“We’re at a good place, and I want to enjoy that. He just really pissed me off,” I explained.
The waiter came over to take our orders, so I never heard what he was going to say. He distracted me by clinking glasses with me, and all the drama from before melted away because all I was focused on was the man before me.
“This is a nice place,” I commented.
He nodded. “ I know you love
