Liz shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Are your friends Haley and Shawnelle down there?”
“Shawnelle is. Haley couldn’t make it because she has classes this semester.”
“Then Shawnelle could probably use a friend, too. You should go.”
Liz leaned back in the chair and grabbed a piece of bread. “I should.” She looked up and met Jenna’s gaze. “God, I’m a mess, Jen. Who knew I’d fall so ugly in love with a guy? He’s made me a sloppy romantic. All I do is think about him. When he’s on the road we text, we sext—”
Jenna held up a hand. “Way too much information. Gavin’s my brother, remember?”
Liz grinned. “Tough. You’re my friend so you have to listen to the sex parts, too. Just pretend he’s someone else. I can’t get enough of him. I thought I was old enough to get past the infatuation, that it would ease off after we were together for a while, but it hasn’t. If anything, it’s stronger now than it ever was. Not just the hot sex, though that’s still spectacular. But the romance, the way I feel when he looks at me or holds my hand. It’s like a goddamned fairy tale.”
Jenna’s heart did a flip. “It’s love, honey. That’s what it’s supposed to be like.”
“I guess. I just never knew.” Liz reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I’m going to get all sappy here and tell you that when it hits you, it’s going to be a lightning bolt to your heart and you’re never, ever going to be the same. It’ll change you.”
Jenna laughed. “I don’t think everyone falls in love the same way.”
Liz took up her glass and sipped, then slathered butter on her bread. “Don’t they? Look at Tara and Mick. Their wedding was like watching a freakin’ Disney movie. I’ve never seen two people more in love with each other. Gavin and I are like that. You can’t tell me lightning doesn’t strike twice.” Liz gave her a direct look. “Or three times.”
Jenna shrugged. “I’m not in love.”
“Maybe not yet, but it’s going to happen for you, and when it does, you’re going to feel it right down to your toes. And that’s when you know that no other man in the universe will ever do it for you like that one man does.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
Liz laughed. “Easy? Hell no, it isn’t easy, because he’s the only one who will ever have the capacity to hurt you. And oh, goddamn, when it hurts, it hurts so bad. But he’s also the only one you’re going to love with your whole heart.”
“Good God, woman, you’ve got it bad.”
“I know, right? I told you I was ugly in love.”
Jenna laughed. And as she and Liz ate their lunch and Liz chatted about her and Gavin’s wedding plans, Jenna thought about that whole love thing.
That was the stuff of fairy tales, and Liz had stars in her eyes because she was over the top in love with Jenna’s brother. Jenna couldn’t be happier about that, but she wasn’t sure she bought into the fantasy about finding that one soul mate, that one person you were meant to be with, and when you found that person you’d know it and you were done—that was it, and you’d never look at anyone else ever again.
It was nice in theory, but she didn’t believe it in reality.
It just didn’t happen like that for everyone. It had for Liz and Gavin and for Tara and Mick, and she was happy for them, but so far, no one had turned her world upside down and made her heart sing love songs.
But she had sung for Tyler. She hadn’t even sung in front of her own family, the people she trusted the most. Yet she’d sung twice for Tyler.
Which didn’t mean she was crazy in love with him or anything.
And maybe her stomach fluttered whenever she saw him, but that was just sexual attraction, and it would wane after she screwed his brains out a few more times, because she’d never had a relationship with a guy that lasted longer than a few weeks. She and Tyler were right up there on the few weeks mark. Hell, she’d known him for months, even though they hadn’t been sleeping together that long. She was bound to get bored soon.
“Maybe we need to find you an awesome guy.”
Jenna looked up from her plate. “What? No. We tried that already. No, thanks.”
“Hey, I can’t help myself. I want you to be as happy as I am. You haven’t found a guy who rings your bell yet, right?”
She refused to answer that question.
Liz arched a brow. “You’re seeing someone?”
“Not really. Well, sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“Tyler Anderson and I are kind of dating.”
“Really?” Liz’s eyes widened. “Tyler? I thought that whole sexfest the night of Mick and Tara’s wedding was a one-time thing.”
She pushed her plate to the side, her appetite evaporating. “So did I.”
“What happened? I know you were eyeing him at the bar that night. Is he rocking your world?”
“I have no idea. He just keeps popping up, so I keep having sex with him.”
“Interesting.” Liz took another sip of wine. “It must be really good sex.”
“It is.”
“But you’re bothered, so there’s got to be more to it than that.”
Jenna shrugged. “There isn’t more to it than that. It’s just physical. You know how I feel about jocks. There will never be more than just the sex.”
“Hmmm.” Liz gave Jenna a sidelong look, then dug into her salad.
“What does that ‘hmmm’ mean?”
“Just that you’re protesting an awful lot. If you didn’t care, you’d just laugh it off and enjoy him until the new wore off, then you’d dump him. I think he gets to you.”
“What he gets is into my panties, which is exactly where I want him.”
Liz wiggled. “Oh, the mental visuals swirling around in my head right now.”
“Stop that. You do not get to visualize Ty and me having sex.”
“Why not? Just because you’re icked out at the thought of your brother and me getting down and dirty doesn’t mean I can’t imagine Ty naked.”
“He’s your client, Elizabeth.”
“So?”
“You are evil.”