“How’d it go with that guy last night?” Gwen asked as Janet walked up. “Did you have sex?”
“Don’t be shy. Ask the tough questions,” Janet said dryly. She folded her arms across her chest and gave Celeste an inquisitive look. “Did you?”
“She can’t look at us, so that means yes!” Gwen crowed. “Details, details! What did the professor teach you?”
Celeste’s cheeks flushed with heat. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, come on,” Gwen wailed. “I didn’t get any last night. I thought maybe I had a shot with Lucas, but I kept hinting all night, and he didn’t even ask for my number before he and the married guy ran off.” She rolled her eyes in disgust.
“Do you have to get laid every time we go out?” Janet asked.
Gwen shoved her and then returned her attention to Celeste. “Please, just tell me one thing.” Gwen clasped her hands together as if she were about to say a prayer. “Please tell me that tall, sexy man was good.”
Celeste bit the corner of her lower lip. “Amazing,” she admitted in a low voice.
The other two women squealed. Celeste waved her hands for them to shush. “I’m not telling you anything else. I can’t believe I even did it.” She covered her eyes with her hand.
“So you had sex with a hot guy the first time you met him. Please, that’s nothing.”
“Yeah, Gwen does it all the time.” Janet hopped out of reach before Gwen could hit her. “Are you going to see him again?”
“Um, not exactly.” Celeste hesitated. “He was asleep when I left.”
“You left him?” Gwen looked at her as if she’d grown two heads and then lifted her hand above her head for a high five. “Pretty good for a first-timer. Don’t leave me hanging with your bad self.”
“Gwen . . .”
“Come on.”
Reluctantly, Celeste slapped her palm against Gwen’s.
Janet shook her head at Gwen. “What’s the latest on your ex?” she asked Celeste. “Did he come through this time?”
“What do you think? More empty promises, as always. He swore he would send the money last week so I could send Arianna to science camp, but of course he never did. It doesn’t matter to him that I’m struggling to take care of his daughter. He doesn’t care she can’t have the experiences the other kids do because I can’t afford to give them to her by myself.” Anytime she talked about her ex-husband, a downtrodden feeling crushed her spirits.
“At least you didn’t mention it to her, so she won’t be disappointed,” Janet said, her voice filled with sympathy.
“I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t believe anything he says.”
Celeste tried to think about her ex-husband as little as possible. After their divorce, he’d put enough distance between him and her and their two-year-old daughter as possible, traveling northwest to Washington and disappearing as if he’d never been a part of their lives.
After a few months, he resurfaced and began a ritual of calling every few months. The minute she mentioned child support, he became as scarce as rain in the desert. Two years passed, and she didn’t even know if he was dead or alive. He didn’t call to check on Arianna, nor did he provide any gifts for her birthday or Christmas. Not even a card.
“Arianna is six years old, and she hasn’t seen him in four years,” Celeste said. “What kind of man bails on his kid like that?”
“The same kind of man who started back calling you a year ago but doesn’t offer any kind of financial help,” Gwen said dryly. “That’s no real surprise, though, is it? When you were married he never had any money, and what little he did earn he spent it on partying and other women.”