Meet Cute(67)

“I had multiple orgasms.”

She stops and grabs me by the shoulders, eyes wide. “No.”

“Multiple orgasms, multiple times.”

Holly hugs me. “My God. You need to keep him forever.”

I laugh, but my stomach drops, because I have no idea where this thing is going with us, not just with Dax, but with everything surrounding him.

Holly steps back. “I need to know more, and I think we need alcohol.”

Dax and I were like college kids with the sex and the drinking this weekend, but I might need a little something to calm my nerves. Confiding in Holly is necessary, but it also means I have to face the truth, and I’m not sure I’ll like it.

We find a little pub and hole ourselves up in the back corner.

“So multiple multiples, huh?” Holly asks after we’ve ordered drinks and appetizers.

“Yup.” I fiddle with my napkin, the flush in my cheeks echoed in other parts of my body.

“Is he like—” She makes some hand motions and I realize she’s asking about size.

“Everything is very proportional.”

“Nice.”

The server drops off our drinks, and Holly waits until she’s gone before she raises her glass. “To multiple multiples and being proportional.”

I clink my glass against hers and chuckle. My phone buzzes on the table. It’s Emme. “I need to check this.”

It’s a few pictures from the weekend. The last one is a selfie of Emme making a ridiculous face, thumbing over her shoulder. In the background is Dax, head tipped back, mouth hanging open, fast asleep on the couch. I message back that I’m out with a friend and that she should probably let her brother sleep.

“Sorry about that.” I slip my phone into my purse.

Holly regards me with wary curiosity. “So apart from sleeping together this weekend, what’s going on with you and Dax? Is this just a casual thing?”

I focus on my drink. “I don’t know.”

“Aren’t you trying to get him to come over to your firm? How are you going to sleep with him and work with him?”

I bite my thumbnail. The nagging worries I’ve been hiding from since this entire thing started with Dax envelop me like a cold fog. “I haven’t really figured that out yet.”

“Well, don’t you think you should?” Her voice is laced with concern. “What’re you doing?”

“It just happened.” I can’t believe I just said those words to my childhood best friend.

She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. “Oh no. Things don’t just happen with you. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about all of the potential repercussions before you fell into bed with him. Is it unethical for you to be sleeping with him?”

“Technically, no, since Dax isn’t my client. I’m sleeping with my client’s brother, so maybe it’s morally ambiguous, but it’s not unethical.”

“Is there a but in there somewhere that I missed?”

“There’s no but. I just didn’t expect to feel this way about him,” I admit.

“And how do you feel about him?”

“I like him.”

I get another raised eyebrow from her. “You like him?”

“A lot.”

Holly sighs. “Do you mean you like the nostalgia of your teen crush?”

“The crush died at the end of law school. This isn’t based on the past, Holls. I like him, who he is as a person, the things that make him who he is, the guy who calls me up on a Friday night for Aisle of Red advice and then walks around with a box of incontinence products because he doesn’t know any better. The guy who sends me flowers and funky pens because he knows I like them. He’s different.”

Our appetizers arrive and we once again wait for the server to leave before we resume the conversation.

“I know it’s a complicated situation,” I admit.

“Does his sister know there’s something going on between you two?”

I shake my head. “Of course not.”

“So she thinks you’re friends? Kailyn, this isn’t just about liking some guy who’s good in the sack. He comes with baggage, the heavy kind.”

“I know that.”

“He’s suffered a huge trauma. You can’t walk into this without weighing all of the consequences.”

“I know that, too.”

“Do you? Because it doesn’t seem like you’re considering very carefully what the fallout of this could be. Are you prepared to be a mother to a thirteen-year-old? Because that’s exactly what you’re signing on for with this.”

Each point she makes feels like a stab of reality I don’t want to acknowledge. “I can’t replace Emme’s mother.”

“No, you can’t, but she’s going to be looking for someone to fill that role, and that’s exactly what you’ll be to her by getting involved with Dax. You’re not even thirty, and you’ll be taking on an orphaned teenager. It’s not an easy road. You know this, Kay.”

“Believe me, I get it better than anyone else. It’s why we’re keeping it just between me and Dax for now.”

“Come on, Kay. It goes way beyond that, doesn’t it? How long is the secrecy going to last? I get that you like this guy, but he’s grieving, too. I’m worried about who’s going to end up hurt in all of this. Does he even know why you’re pushing to get him to come to your firm? How’s he going to feel if he makes the switch and all of a sudden you make partner?”