Page 33 of So Much More
She smiles as she touches her ring. “I have, but it took me almost forty years, and I nearly ruined it several times.”
“She’s not lying.” Beckett chuckles.
Aunt Star gives her a mock glare. “Like you’re one to talk.”
Beckett shrugs. “What can I say?” She explains to me, “My husband and I didn’t have an easy road, either. But we got through it, and the hard times helped form the unbreakable bond we have today.”
“Okay,” Leslie says, “enough of the Debbie Downer talk. We get it. Relationships are hard.”
thirteen
“Isaw your friend Melissa today. I don’t think she likes me,” Bobby Jacobs says to Ash and me over drinks and dinner at McConnell’s Pub.
Bobby is Diego Sanchez’s sports agent, and I’m not his biggest fan. But Ash seems to like him, so instead of sitting home alone while Wendy and Leslie are out on their girls’ night, I agreed to come along to the pub.
I take a sip of my Guinness and let my brother respond to Bobby’s declaration about our childhood friend Melissa, who recently moved back home to Chicago.
“Why?” Ash asks. “What did you do to her?”
Bobby sets his pint glass down harder than necessary and says, “Nothing. That’s what I did. Why do you assume I did something?”
“Because you can be a total jerk, man, and I don’t think you usually realize it.”
I’m impressed by my brother’s boldness and honesty. Bobby is known for his ruthlessness as an agent, and as a result, most people steer clear from him both professionally and personally.
“I’ve barely spoken to the woman,” Bobby says. “What could she have against me?”
“Maybe that’s your problem,” Ash replies. “Try speaking to her. Try being nice. Try smiling at her. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile—not a real smile, at least.”
“I can’t smile and be nice in the Cubs’ front office. I have a reputation to maintain.”
Melissa works in Customer Relations for the baseball club, and Bobby has a few clients who play for the team, so he’s in their office on a regular basis.
“Then I don’t know what to tell you,” Ash says. “If you want her to like you—and I’m rather interested in why you do—you need to actually talk to her and maybe try to get to know her a little. Ask her questions. Give her a compliment. This is basic stuff that evenIknow.”
“Why do you care if Melissa likes you?” I ask Bobby.
“Why does any man care if a woman likes him?” he retorts.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I hope in your case it’s because you want to get to know her, not only because you want to get in her pants. Melissa’s our friend. Don’t mess around with her.”
“Oh, I see how it is,” Bobby says with a smirk. “If you’re going after her, I’ll steer clear.”
I hold my hands up. “No. I’m dating someone else.”
His eyebrows lift. “Since when are you dating someone?”
“Since two days ago.”
“Do I know her?”
“It’s Wendy.”
Bobby’s jaw drops. “Wendy from Carter-Jenkins?”
“The very one.”
“Good for you. I like her. But why aren’t you with her right now?”
