Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

Author:Julie Soto [Soto, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2023-05-09T12:00:00+00:00

17

Ama

JUNE

Mom stays for three weeks this time. She asks about my dating life only once a day, which is a new record for her. And she asks about Elliot only twice.

At the end of three weeks, she’s found a nice rental a few blocks over from me, and a week after that, she’s found a nice fiancé a few years older than me.

“He’s not her fiancé yet, but I’m sure it will only take her a few months,” I clarify to Mar over drinks. I signal for another martini. We just finished a very rough wedding—minister in a car accident, hungover bridesmaid, and a broken reception hall A/C—and are in need of alcohol.

Mar scrutinizes me over the top of her mezcal margarita. “Is this the youngest she’s gone for? Twenty-nine?” When I nod, she says, “Is that weird for you? Like … do you need therapy now?”

“If I didn’t need therapy before, I’d probably need it now, yes.”

Mar thinks it over. “Have you asked her why she does this?”

“Why she can’t just be alone? Or why she can’t just date a person without involving Kay Jewelers?”

“Both, I guess. I’m sure it’s the same answer.” Her phone dings, and she digs it out of her pocket. “Okay, Michael is free. Do you want to meet him?”

Michael is Mar’s new guy. I jerk my head enthusiastically. “Tell him to come here. I’ll beat it after half an hour or so.”

“You don’t have to. We can move to that booth.”

I shake my head. “No offense, but that sounds terrible. I definitely don’t want to be a third wheel on a Saturday night.”

Mar makes a face and texts Michael where we are. “So,” she says as she pockets her phone. “Are you meeting people? Do you need to get laid?”

They are two very different questions, and I parse through my brain’s reactions to both of them. “No, and yes, but not yes please.”

She stares into her drink and swirls the ice. “How long has it been?”

“Okay, one,” I say, taking my new martini from the bartender, “I’m terribly busy, and yes, that’s a valid excuse. And two, you know that I’ve been with guys since Elliot, so don’t act like I haven’t.”

“Two people. Both more than a year ago. Both of them you claim to have butchered.” I wince and she rolls her eyes. “Not like, their bodies, but the date.”

I nod, gulping half my drink. The first was a hookup and nothing more. I couldn’t come. And not for lack of trying. And the second—we had to stop in the middle because I was crying. I told him through tears that I didn’t know why and it was fine, he could keep going. But to his credit, apparently it was a turn-off.

“Yep, I butchered them into a thousand pieces.”

“Have you thought about … I dunno, dating?” She smiles brightly at me, like a toothpaste ad.

“You know I don’t do that,” I say quietly.

Mar snorts. “Allow me to condescend briefly, but Ama, you’re twenty-six. You don’t know what you don’t do.

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