“The truffle risotto.”
“If I get the chicken piccata will you share?”
“Yes.”
“Done.” He closed his menu and set it aside. “Thanks for taking me off the dating market.”
I grinned. “You’re welcome.”
He reached for his water and took a sip. “I was just thinking about Caleb. I can’t believe he has to start over and go through the whole dating process again.”
“Yeah, I can’t even imagine…but it’s easier for men than it is for women.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely,” I stated. “There’s that whole ticking biological clock that most women have.”
“Ah, yeah, that clock.”
“I think my clock’s broken,” I admitted.
“Not broken,” he assured me. “But maybe it’s on Pacific Time when most clocks are on Eastern Time.”
I blinked at him and then frowned. “Have you been drinking?”
“No!”
“Aidan?”
He sighed. “No, Sibby, I haven’t been drinking, but”—he leaned across the table and whispered—“edibles.”
“Cheater!” I accused.
The server chose that moment to arrive. “Uhm, would you like to hear the specials or should I come back?”
I looked up at her and smiled. “Specials, please.”
She looked at me funny as she recounted the specials. After she left, I turned my attention back to Aidan.
“You mad?” he asked.
“Not even a little bit,” I said. “I promise.”
“I just needed a little stress reliever, ya know?”
“Aidan, we’re good.”
“We are?”
I nodded. “But there’s no way in hell I’m sharing my truffle risotto with you.”
He laughed. “If that’s the price I pay…”
“I might demand a back rub.”
“I’m game.”
“And then I might let you take my clothes off.”
He leaned forward, eyes darkening. “Best punishment ever.”
Chapter 20
#donotmockthemocktail
After dinner, we walked down to the pier. It was chilly, so I used it as an excuse to huddle close to Aidan. Leaning my head against his chest, I watched the city skyline. A boat moved across the East River, clipping along at a steady pace.
We moved to a bench to share our dessert, a fluffy pastry from one of our favorite Polish bakeries. There were very few other people around, so it was almost like we had some privacy.
“This would’ve been a nice place to propose,” Aidan said.
“I like how you proposed.” Because the video where I’d shot my ex with a cork had gone viral, Aidan and I had gone on vacation. He’d proposed on a beach. It would’ve almost been a cliché except for the fact that a seagull pooped on me.
“Any regrets?” he asked.
“About marrying you? Tons,” I teased.
“Not about that but in general. Anything you wish you could change?”
I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t think so. Because if I changed anything, would I be in this place, in this moment? Even after getting fired from writing textbooks and walking in on Matt with another guy, all that crap led me to you, led me to writing books. Hard to have regrets, ya know?”
“I love that about you, Sibby. I love your optimism.”
We fell silent. A few other couples and then a guy with a dog walked passed. Suddenly, I wanted to be home. “Can we go? I miss Jasper.”
“Yeah, we can go.”
Leaving the pier, I dodged around the people that wanted to meander and take it slow. “I really miss him,” I said to Aidan.
“You know what? I kind of miss the little bugger too.”
“I’m sure he misses us.” I sped up the last few blocks, getting to the apartment before Aidan. I unlocked the door and went inside.
Jasper lay on a pile of stuffing and shredded gray cushions. He raised his head and cocked it to the side, his tail thumping in happiness to see me, yet he refused to get up from his spot in the middle of the mess.
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
I heard Aidan come in behind me. “Son of a bitch!”
Jasper let out a low woof and then set his head down on his paws.
“My couch,” Aidan moaned, stepping into the living room. “My beautiful, brand new couch.”
“Let’s hope that’s all the destruction he did,” I stated. We’d closed off the bedroom and the bathroom, so thankfully those rooms were untouched. I went into the kitchen, my jaw dropping open. There were at least four piles of poop.
“What did you eat? Indian food?” I yelled.
Jasper woofed again.
“What?” Aidan demanded.
“I think he punished us for leaving him,” I stated, looking over my shoulder at Aidan who was glaring down at the dog.
“You start cleaning, and I’ll take him out for a walk,” Aidan said. He reached for Jasper’s leash and crouched down to Jasper’s eye level.
“You sure?” I asked.
Aidan nodded. “Jasper and I need to have a talk, man to mongrel.”
I grimaced at the mess in front of me. One thing at a time. The poop was the most important. Thank goodness it wasn’t summer.
“I love you,” I called to Aidan.
“Love you,” he called back as he ushered Jasper to the front door. “Come on, beast. It’s time we had a talk.”
Four days later, I lamented to Annie over coffee. “I’m in the dog house.”
“I thought Jasper was in the dog house for eating the couch.”
“We’re roommates.” I took a sip of the decaf cappuccino, hating that it was decaf, but keeping my word only to have one caffeinated coffee a day. “Aidan is not a happy bloke.”
“So have sex with him.”
“I did. It improved his temperament marginally. Now he’s back to sulking—and working all the time.”
“He needs to bond with Jasper.”
“Yeah, they need a day together, doing guy stuff. Watching baseball, belly rubs, that sort of thing.”
“It’s football season.”
“Whatever. Aidan resents the dog and the time I give to Jasper.”
“Why did you get a dog?” she asked. “I mean, the timing was awful. You know that, right?”
“Oh, is that what we’re doing now? Tough love?”
“You were there for me in my time of need, I’m just returning the favor.” She reached for her Americano, which she drank black. “You had to know it was going to put an even bigger strain on things.”
“Things aren’t strained,” I denied.
“Uh huh, right.” Annie rolled her eyes and then played with a raw sugar packet. “Your life would’ve been easier if you hadn’t gotten a dog.”
“But it’s Jasper!” I held up my phone and showed her my wallpaper. It was the three of us, Aidan holding the camera for a selfie. He was smiling and my nose was buried in Jasper’s belly fur.
“Adorable. Regular Norman Rockwell painting,” she mocked.
“Aidan was the one who asked about the adoption process!” I said. “Why does everyone keep forgetting that?”
“I didn’t forget it. But, Sibby, do you think, just maybe, he got you the dog, so he’d feel like you guys were even?”
I sighed. “You mean like, he gets a baby before I was ready, and I got a dog before he was ready?”
“Something like that.”
I drank the rest of my cappuccino in silence, thinking about how to bring my marriage back on track. It wasn’t off the rails, per se, but it definitely felt like it had taken a detour.
“Can you puppy sit tonight?” I asked.
“Puppysit your little terror? No thanks.”
“He’s not a terror.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “How many times a day does he pee in the house?”
“He’s down to one.”
“Are
you lying?”
“Absolutely.” I gripped her hand. “Please? I’ll give you anything you want.”
I walked into Veritas wearing a new, bright red, polka-dot dress and the highest high heels I owned. My eyebrows were newly waxed, my eyelashes were gooped with mascara, and I’d left my wedding ring on the nightstand at home.
Tonight, I would seduce my husband in a public place while pretending to be a 1950s vixen.
A dog with a bladder issue, an expanding waistline, and the propensity for having morning sickness in the evening would not stop me from proving to Aidan that he was the most important thing in the world to me.
Caleb wasn’t working that night, thank goodness. Bailey, the bartender with tattoos snaking up his skinny arms, manned the bar. His gray vest and skinny red tie went well with the decor of the wine bar.
“Hey, Sibby,” Bailey said. “Aidan’s downstairs in the wine room.”
“Thanks.” I set my black clutch on the bar and shrugged out of my coat. The sweetheart neckline of the dress was fairly demure, but it showed off my shoulders and my upper back.
Bailey whistled. “Hot!”
I laughed. “Even with the blue cast?”
“Gives you some flare,” he said. “Get you something to drink? Nonalcoholic, of course. Congrats, by the way.”
I thanked him again and then asked, “Something cranberry-based, but can you put it in a martini glass? I wanna feel fancy.”
“Your wish, my command.” He bowed. “So should I tell Aidan you’re here?”
I shook my head. “I want to surprise him.”
“One lucky dude,” he muttered and then got to making my faux drink.
Fifteen minutes later, I was sipping on a spritzy cranberry mocktail, and Aidan finally made his way up from the liquor room. He stopped when he saw me, his eyes drifting down my body.
He strolled forward. “Hi, love. What are you doing here?” He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head and gasped in mock outrage.
“Excuse me, but do I know you?” I asked, fluttering my eyelashes.
Aidan frowned. “Huh?”
I let out a sigh and whispered, “We’re strangers, get it?”
Aidan’s face cleared of confusion, and then he grinned. “Oh, I get it.” He casually leaned against the bar. “I’d offer to buy you a drink, but I see you already have one.”
“If you play your cards right, I’ll let you do more than buy me a drink.”
“Is that right?”
I shrugged.
“So, Miss…” He raised his eyebrows as he waited for me to give him my name.
I blurted out the first name that came to me. “Ah, Gertrude. My name’s Gertrude.”
Aidan choked on a laugh. “Gertrude. What an unusual name.”
“It means strong spear in German.”
I mentally smacked my forehead. How the hell was I going to seduce my own husband with a factoid like that?
A playful grin appeared on his lips. “I’d like to show you my strong spear.”
“I’d like to be impaled on your strong spear,” I admitted.
He looked at me.
I looked at him.
And then we both burst out into laughter.
“I’m not very good at this,” I admitted.
“Ah, Trudy,” he teased, wrapping his arms around me. “I think you’re better than you think you are.”
“Aidan?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not wearing any knickers.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”
“Are you sure no one heard us?” I asked, straightening a strap of my dress.
Aidan’s button-down shirt was untucked, and his cheeks were flushed. “I don’t think so. Bailey likes to play Classic Rock when he works, so hopefully any sounds of Steven Tyler wailing covered your wailing.”
“I do not wail.”
“Okay.” He grinned and tucked his shirt back into his trousers. “How come we never did this while we worked at Antonio’s?”
“Because this would’ve been sexual harassment.”
He laughed and came over to me. Trailing a finger down my shoulder, he kissed me and then said, “Harass me again.”
“What, now?” I asked in amusement. “I’ve got news for you, bucko. This”—I gestured down my body—“took a lot of effort. I’m ready for sweat pants and fuzzy socks.”
“Gonna curl up on the couch with Jasper, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Did you leave the little rascal home by himself?” Aidan asked.
I chuckled. “Yeah, right. I’ve learned my lesson. Annie’s at our place.” I followed him out of the wine room and up the stairs. “By the way, you’re never getting rid of the beard.”
He scratched his jaw. “Yeah? You like it?”
Reaching up to stroke it, I smiled at him. “Oh yeah. You’ve got this manly mountain man thing going on.”
My clutch vibrated. Sighing, I dropped my hand and reached for my cell. “Aw, crap.”
“What?”
I showed him the text.
“She’s kidding right?”
I shook my head.
“The dog ate your underwear?”
“And is now throwing it up. I gotta get home.”
So this was motherhood.
Chapter 21
#SibbyBalboa
“He’s lying on your bed,” Annie said the moment I walked in the door. She picked up the TV remote and muted the television, which was on some cooking competition show.
Oooh, cupcakes.
“He’s not allowed on the bed,” I said. I set my clutch down and shrugged out of my coat.
“You want to tell him that after he puked up your underwear?”
“How did he get my underwear?” I demanded.
“The door to the laundry closet was cracked. Guess he velociraptored his way in there. You owe me, by the way. Your dog is a terror.”
“You cleaned up after him, didn’t you?”
“Yep. Vile. Good thing I grew up with a dog.”
The sound of paws hitting the wood floor sounded, and then a moment later, the menace popped his head out of the bedroom. His tail wagged, and then he bounded over, knocking into my legs.
“Why were you in my underwear, you little perv? Huh?” I scratched behind his ears, and his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth.
“He was out about thirty minutes ago. I think I’ll leave you to it,” Annie said, rising from our newly purchased futon. We weren’t getting a couch until we could be sure Jasper would not tear it apart.
Annie reached for her bag. “Going away party next Friday.”
“Nope.”
“Sibby—”
“I will not celebrate you leaving,” I pouted. Jasper sank to the floor and rolled over. I squatted down to rub his belly, refusing to meet her eyes.
“I just cleaned up your dog’s vomit.”
I sighed. “Played that card, huh?”
“You know it.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually leaving the city. ” I stood up, and Jasper let out a little woof of annoyance.
“It’s time, ya know?”
“I guess.”
“Change is good, Sibby.”
“I’ve had enough change. No more change!”
Jasper pawed at my foot.
I pointed at him. “He agrees.”
Annie grinned. “I think he just wants you to keep petting him.”
“So next Friday, huh?”
“Yeah. But I’ll see you before that.”
We hugged, and then Annie reached down to pet Jasper. “Bye, you little terror. It was fun before you ate a thing you weren’t supposed to.”
“You’re a good dog aunt. I’ll definitely trust you with Pierogi should the occasion arise for you to babysit.”
“No babysitting for me. Dogsitting only.”
Annie left, and it was Jasper and me. I waved him toward the bedroom, a
nd he padded after me. Without any urging, Jasper leapt up onto the bed and curled up on Aidan’s side. I changed into pajamas and then crawled into bed.
“What do you think, Jasper? HGTV?”
Jasper’s snore was the only reply.
“Best relationship ever,” I said, scratching his back. “We never fight over the remote.”
The next morning, I woke up to the best sight I’d ever seen: half of Jasper’s body was sprawled on top of Aidan who was sleeping on his back.
Both my boys were breathing deeply, and I didn’t want to wake either of them. I got out of bed and paused a moment just to make sure I didn’t have to make a run to the bathroom. But the morning sickness god was on my side and everything stayed where it was.
After snapping a few photos, I quietly left the bedroom. I put on coffee and toasted bread. My phone vibrated with an incoming text. It was my agent, asking if I’d decided on what I wanted to do with the book.
I had to do something. Letting it sit wouldn’t take my career to the next level. But I was tired of being out of control. So she couldn’t sell the book? Fuck it. I’d publish it myself. No one would care more about my career than me, and it was time to own it. Stop whining, stop lamenting the fact that it hadn’t gone my way, and do something about it.
Humming the Rocky theme song to myself while pouring coffee, I felt myself get psyched up. I could do this. I could take charge. I set the coffee down and raised my hands into fists. Whirling, I let my hands fly, expecting to hit air.
I didn’t mean to hit Aidan. In the eye.
“Shit!” he yelled, bending over and holding his face.
“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry! I didn’t hear you come up behind me!” I went toward him, but he held up his free hand to stop me.
“Not another step,” he warned, voice tight.
Jasper walked into the kitchen and sat down next to the refrigerator, patiently waiting for his morning relief break.
“I’m gonna take Jasper out, okay?”
“Great.”
“And I won’t come back for at least twenty minutes.”
Tales of a Sibby Slicker Page 14
