“Tell me everything!”
I tried to be vague, because I was tired and wanted her to leave so I could go back to sleep, but that was wishful thinking. I had to give her every detail of our trip from start to finish.
“All right. We flew out of Burbank airport and landed in SFO. Jake rented a car, and we had lunch at my dream restaurant up in Napa.”
“Seriously? How did he do that? Didn’t he just dream up this trip three nights ago? He’s good! Wait, what’s that on your neck? That looks heavy. That’s not an engagement ring, is it?”
I started walking toward my bedroom threatening to go back to sleep. “OK, I won’t interrupt,” begged Sarah. “Continue!”
“We ate lunch, drove to his apartment in the city to rest, and then got ready for dinner and an opera.”
“What? He has an apartment up in San Francisco? What did you do there?” Her expression turned suggestive.
“Sarah! You know that I didn’t have sex with Max during our entire four-year relationship. You know that I feel strongly about waiting till I get married.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You and your virtues. I don’t know how you can hold back when you have someone as gorgeous as Jake in an empty apartment.”
“Anyhow, his sister, Jane, was in town as well, so we got ready and had dinner with her and saw Carmen. After a nine-course lunch and a four-course dinner, I think I have officially gained back the weight I lost after my breakup with Max,” I kidded.
“So, then where were you yesterday? Did you spend Sunday with Jake as well?”
I paused, knowing that Sarah was about to assume the worst. “I stayed up north all weekend.”
“You what?” Her eyes bugged out. She knew I had never spent a night with anyone other than her. “You slept with Jake?”
She would jump to insane conclusions. “Sarah, I stayed in their apartment, but slept in Jane’s room with Jane.”
“Oh.” Her excitement deflated faster than a popped balloon. “So you told Jake about your ridiculous pledge to stay a virgin?”
I nodded my head yes.
“What a buzzkill. He must have loved that piece of information about you.”
“Yeah, at first I thought that he was OK with it, but I soon saw a whole other side to Dr. Reid. Inside this well-respected doctor who showers me with attention, lives a five-year-old who pouts when he doesn’t get what he wants and gets upset quite easily. I found it adorable.”
The conversation that ensued covered why I had a very expensive ring on my neck, and how Jake and I were going to give this relationship a chance at a future.
Sarah looked at me as though she wasn’t sure she believed my earnest attempt at a new relationship. “I know you really like Jake, and Charlie and I are happy you’ve moved on, but can you honestly say that you are over Max and that you can seriously date Jake? Jake obviously thinks a lot more of you than you do of him.”
“He told me that he really likes me and I like him just as much. I’m going to try, Sarah, to completely let go of the past and to start loving again. I had such an amazing weekend with him.” Without a doubt or any pretense, I believed I could start anew. Sarah didn’t buy it.
“Peter told me you and Max never made it to the bar Friday night. What happened to you two? Where were you?”
“We went and had dinner. Thanks to you, I didn’t eat that night. I can’t believe you did that to me. How can you call yourself my..."
Sarah cut me off. “OK, OK. I’m sorry. Back to dinner, what did you two talk about?”
“Max asked about Jake and I asked about him and Jennifer. He apologized to me for breaking my heart, and reassured me that he loved me very much when we were dating. He said that I was his world or something like that.” I spoke with much skepticism.
“Charlie told me yesterday that Max and Jennifer broke up.”
My head spun. “What?”
“That’s what I heard. He broke it off after being with you on Friday, so we thought maybe you two were back together.”
“Sarah! That’s crazy. You know that I’m seeing Jake. I have no thoughts of getting back together with Max.”
Sarah eyed me curiously. Still she wasn’t convinced.
“You’re such a liar. I still see the hurt on your face whenever I bring up Max.”
“Yeah, it still hurts, but I’m over him. I want to be with Jake. I really like him. I feel so at ease with him. With Max, I was always on edge, you know that.”
Ding dong.
We looked at each other, wondering who would come by so early in the morning. We both walked over to the door, and to my delight, it was Jake.
“Good morning, Beautiful.” He planted a long kiss on my lips. Sarah tried to make her presence known and break us up, but Jake wouldn’t let go.
“Hello?” Sarah protested.
Jake looked up from my face and answered, “Hey, Sarah. What are you doing here so early?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”