“No! Really? In the woods would be like the last place I’d want to have sex.”
“Public bathroom,” Tori said.
“Supply closet,” Liz suggested.
Paige added, “Walk-in freezer.”
“Fine. It could be worse, but it’s on my personal bottom five places. I think this is the Saturday his parents are coming to visit.”
They all leaned toward her, disbelief on their faces, but it was Paige who spoke. “His parents are coming to meet you?”
“No. His parents are coming to see his new house and have a barbecue. It has nothing to do with me.”
“But you’ll meet them?” Tori asked.
“I doubt it. I’m just his next-door neighbor, and I may or may not even be around on Saturday.”
“I have to go take care of my customers,” Tori said. “You’re boring me.”
They laughed as she walked away, but they knew she’d be back. They had her coffee.
“Is she always this cranky?” Paige asked, and Hailey remembered that, while she simply viewed Paige and Tori as her friends, Paige was Tori’s boss.
“No, she’s not. And she’s only being like this because it’s us. If you watch her, you’ll see that she’s nice to everybody else.”
“It’s true,” Liz agreed. “Everybody loves Tori. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay. I’ll stop worrying then. Now, back to Hailey.” Hailey groaned, wishing their food would come so she could shove it in her mouth and not have to talk. “Why aren’t you going to meet his family? You’re his girlfriend, so—”
“No. I’m not his girlfriend.”
“It sounds more polite than describing yourself as the neighbor lady he’s banging,” Liz said.
“Which is the reason I probably won’t meet them. And the word girlfriend doesn’t apply here. Girlfriend implies a journey. Girlfriend to fiancée to wife.”
“To ex-wife.” Tori was back.
“You’re too young to be so cynical,” Paige said.
“You haven’t met my parents.”
When she disappeared again, Hailey hoped it was to get their food. She’d had a toaster pastry for breakfast and she was pretty sure she’d burned that off just walking to her car. She desperately needed to take the time to make a trip to the big grocery store and stock up. Maybe Saturday, so there would be no chance of awkward introductions to Matt’s family.
Tori delivered their lunches and, since it wasn’t very busy and everybody was happy, Liz and Hailey scooted close so Tori could perch on the end of the bench and pick from their plates. Sarah made a couple of squawking noises, as if she had a baby radar that told her Mom was going to try to eat, but then she quieted again.
“So back to Matt,” Paige said. “You’re dating him and having sex with him, but we’re not using the word girlfriend?”
“It’s more like hanging out than dating.”
Liz pointed a fry at her. “You went moose watching, which I still have a hard time believing. And you went riding on the four-wheeler.”
“Exactly.” Hailey wasn’t sure she could make them understand. “Seeing the moose and the twins was cool, and the four-wheeling wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but they weren’t really dates. Not my kind of date, anyway.”
“Go into the city. Dinner and a movie or something,” Liz said.
“But then I’d be more like...his girlfriend.” There was silence for a few seconds and she caught them making what is she talking about faces at each other. “Look, the fact that we’re totally wrong for each other doesn’t matter as much if I’m just the neighbor lady he’s banging, as Liz put it. We’re just burning through the sexual tension.”
“Um.” Paige gave her a pointed look and nodded her head toward the sleeping baby. “So were Mitch and I.”
“You guys are perfect for each other, though.”
“We didn’t think so in the beginning.”
“You should give it a chance,” Liz said. “Go out on some real dates.”
Hailey wasn’t sure if she wasn’t explaining the stumbling blocks well enough or if her friends didn’t want to see them, but she didn’t see any point in dragging the conversation out. She was afraid, to Matt, those were real dates and that was a problem for her. The other women might be convinced they had a shot, but Hailey knew when the sparks settled, they’d just be two people with nothing in common anymore.
*
MATT PULLED A grocery cart free from the line and pushed it toward Hailey, and then he got one for himself. “Want to race?”
“My list is longer than yours. And there are more fruits and vegetables on my list, which take longer to pick out.”
“Got your excuses all ready to go, huh?”
She gave him a look and pulled her list out of her back pocket, along with a pen. “I don’t need excuses because I’m not racing with you.”