Eliza Starts a Rumor(38)

It breaks my heart when people leave their dogs tied up outside a store.


How important is a fancy cup of coffee?


Some people shouldn’t own a dog.



Alison messaged Jackie:


Did you read what happened outside of the Café Karma Sutra? Not very Zen! At least they have moved on from Tampongate and are now bashing this poor dog owner!



Jackie was sitting on his couch watching The Bachelor with Jana. He had actually taken the advice to do so from a very helpful conversation on the bulletin board on ways to connect with your teenager. It turned out to be quite the resource for a parent trying to be both a mom and a dad. Jana was into it.

When he saw the message from Alison, he was torn. On the ride home from the station, he had decided that his best bet was to only talk to her as Jack from the train. Eventually he could tell her the truth—no harm, no foul. When the commercial break came, and Jana pulled out her phone (the bulletin board advice included instructions about not complaining if your daughter pulled out the phone during commercials), Jackie did the same. Watching all of this dating on TV motivated him. He texted Alison:


Great meeting you today. Are you free for dinner one night this week?



The show came back on, and he put down his phone, pretending to be all in. To be clear, he was at least halfway in. He found the show oddly compelling. A particularly dramatic scene involving two of the participants and a hot tub was playing out, but he was having a hard time concentrating. By the time the deciding rose ceremony was over and there was still no response from Alison, he was feeling an awful lot like the poor girls being sent home on the show. He admonished himself for writing such a forward first text, broke down, and slipped back into his Tootsie role (pun intended). I will just respond to this one last conversation, he promised himself.


Hi, I didn’t read the bulletin board today, but I will check it out. Sounds scandalous! Speaking of . . . how did it go today with your friend?

Great for me and good for my friend, too. She now has a plan of action, and I think having a plan is helpful for her state of mind.



Bugging out that she wasn’t responding to his text, he pressed on:


What was so great for you?

It was fun to be in the city again and to see my college friend. And . . . I met a cute guy on the train.



Thank the lord!, he thought. He loved this instant messaging thing. There he was grinning like a fool while typing like he was cool AF. He joked:


I thought you had sworn off dating.



He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t help it. He promised he would stop after this.


I know I said that, but you know, a girl has needs.



Damn. Abort. Abort. He had no idea how to respond. He didn’t have to because . . .


Aaaah! I just looked at my phone, he already texted me. He wants to have dinner. I’m not usually this easily smitten. I think this baby thing has made me soft.

It can have that effect. I’ll let you go.

He can wait, what should I say? Should I go for dinner or ask to meet him for coffee? I can suggest we meet at Karma Sutra.



I’m going straight to hell, Jackie thought. Yet it didn’t stop him from getting what he wanted.


Go for dinner. You can have a glass of wine; get to know each other.

OK, very true. I’m answering now.



Jackie’s phone dinged.


Sure, that would be great. I’ll get a sitter. Do you want to try for Thursday night?



Jackie answered the text:


Perfect! I will make a reservation in town.



She came back to Jackie. He anxiously watched the dots on the screen indicating she was typing.


I have a date! Thursday night. I’m actually excited! Maybe the rejection by Zachary’s dad affected me more than I knew, but I feel great that someone is interested in me. I may even shave!



Jackie laughed and tried to fall back into Tootsie character by repeating a line he heard from one of the women on The Bachelor:


I always keep my legs shaved and my passport up to date. Even though I haven’t been out of the country in years!

That’s funny, but I wasn’t talking about my legs!



It was then that he realized he had played it too far. He tossed his phone onto the couch and went upstairs to kiss Jana goodnight. While he was thinking of the best next moves for Jack and Jackie, Alison was distracted by another text that stopped her dead in her tracks.

The name “Marc Sugarman” appeared on her phone along with the words:


We need to talk.





CHAPTER 22





Olivia & Alison & Eliza & Amanda


Olivia set out for Alison’s Tuesday morning as planned under the guise of two moms out for an exercise walk with their babies. She felt tortured since arriving home the night before but was careful not to show it. She apologized to Spencer again for her suspicions and said she felt much more like herself after spending a fun day in the city with her new friend. He apologized again in return for his counter accusations, saying they were both under a lot of pressure and should forget about the whole thing. She wished that were the case but smiled and agreed as if it were.