I also needed to apologize for flirting with her. I owed thatto her and James. And I’d tell her about Kennedy too. After tonight, everythingwould be out there. I’d be an open book. For once in my life.
I took a deep breath and tried to get rid of my nerves. Pennywould understand. She was very understanding, that was one of the reasons whywe got along so well. I got this.
Instead of walking up to the hostess stand, I scanned therestaurant looking for Penny for a moment. She was usually easy to spot withher red hair. But I didn’t see her.
“Hi,” I said to the hostess. “I’m meeting someone here. I’mpretty sure the reservation is either under Caldwell or Hunter.”
“Ah, yes. Hunter. Right this way.”
It felt like I was just a few steps away from my fresh start.Especially because Nigel had told me last night that he was pulling togethersome great dirt on Poppy. He refused to share any of it yet, but he lookedreally happy. And as Tanner liked to say, Nigel was happiest when he wasserving others. I considered his gleefulness a sign of the job being done well.
The hostess stopped at a table where someone was sitting. Someonethat was definitely not Penny. Because that someone was a man.
I stared at him. “Justin?”
He looked back up at me. Yup, it was definitely Justin.
He recognized me. I knew he did. But then he shook his headand pretended to be confused.
“Sorry, do I know you?” he asked with way too much extra sassfor someone who 100% knew me.
“Justin, cut it out. Why do you always pretend you don’trecognize me?”
He stared at me. “It’s just…you’re not ringing any bells,honey.”
The hostess smiled. “I’m just going to leave you two on yourdate.” She placed the menus down and hurried off.
Damn it. The one night I wasn’t going on a pretend gaydate and the waitress thought I was gay anyway. “Come on Justin, stop messingaround.” I sat down across from him, leaving Penny plenty of room to join us.
“What’s your name again?” Justin asked, squinting at me. “Tobe perfectly honest with you, I need reading glasses. But I don’t like to admitthat to anyone. Especially strangers.”
“It’s me. Matt.”
“Matt?” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, I just have zeroclue who you are. Well, I mean, I know you’re friends with Penny and James. Obviously.Or else we wouldn’t be sitting here together.” He laughed. “Wait a second, wereyou at their wedding?”
“Justin, what the hell? You know who I am.”
He patted his index finger against his lips. “No. I have astellar memory. And I have no recollection of a grown man that’s so poorlydressed.”
I looked down at my suit. Seriously, what the fuck was wrongwith how I dressed? And why did everyone keep bringing it up? I got it when Iwas in my coach gear. But I’d dressed up for tonight. Nigel had even pressed mysuit for me. “I’m well dressed.”
His eyes ran up and down my body. “Oh no.” He leaned forward.“Are you colorblind? I know that makes things excruciatingly difficult. Formatching purposes.”
“I’m not colorblind.”
“Oh my. Well that’s shocking. I don’t even know where to start.And it seems harsh to critique a stranger’s poor outfit selection.”
He was one to talk. I was pretty sure he was wearing a parkaor something. It didn’t seem fashionable at all. “I’m Matthew Caldwell. Brooklyn’s…”
“Don’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Can you pleasenot bring her up?”
I stared at him. “So you do know who I am?”
“Fine. Okay?’ He sighed. “Of course I know who you are. And Ialways try to avoid you. Because I get very emotional when I hear Brooklyn’sname.”
Oh. “I’m sorry.”
Justin sniffled. “It’s fine. I just…like to pretend I don’trecognize you. Because I don’t like talking about her. Not because I didn’tlove her. The opposite, really. She was such a dear friend of mine. And I…Imiss her. You know?”
I nodded.
“You may not know this, but she was so kind to me. Shebelieved in me when no one else did.”
“Yeah. She believed in me too.” I could feel myself gettingteary eyed because he was getting teary eyed.
“I don’t even think I’d be a wedding planner if she hadn’ttold me I could do it. I owe that girl everything. And she never got to see meliving my dream.” He grabbed a napkin and blew his nose. “See!? Now I’m a blubberingmess. Oy vey.”
“It’s fine, Justin. Trust me, I understand.”
Justin blotted away the rest of his tears and smiled. “Andhere we both are. Crying over a girl. Whoever thought two gay men would bedoing that on a date? We’re acting like straight guys.”
“Uh…what now?” Was he talking about me? Were we expecting afourth person? “Where’s Penny?”
“How should I know?”
“Because we’re meeting her here?” It was a guess. Because Ihonestly had no idea Justin was going to be here. I guess he was the surprise? Ablast from the past. Shit, did this mean Penny did know about Brooklyn?
“No, honey. This is a date. Penny set us up. She told me allabout how you’ve been hiding in the closet all these years…”
“I haven’t been hiding in the closet.”
“Oh. Oh, no. You’re not out yet? I swear to God, that girl promisedyou’d be excited about this.”
“I’m not gay, Justin.”
“Of course you are. I mean, I totally get it. I heard whatyou said at the funeral. That you’d love Brooklyn and only Brooklyn until youdied. And hopping onto the other team doesn’t really feel like breaking thatpromise. Because at least it’s not another woman. So technically it’s kosher. We’reall good. I’m not judging you. I’m actually really happy that you’re here.”
“Justin, I’m seriously not gay.”
“Penny told me everything.” He reached
