“I get that a bar is not the best place for a baby,” said Lauren as Hannah started to settle down.
“It’s Brooklyn,” said Evan, as if this were an explanation.
“The babysitter had other plans tonight,” said Caleb.
“If you’re bringing your baby to a bar, you guys are really peak Brooklyn parents now,” said Evan. “If you join a message board and start complaining about how the neighborhood is going downhill because the stroller store became a juice bar, I’m going to have to disown you.”
Lauren leaned down and kissed Hannah’s head. “If that ever happens, I will have deserved it.”
There was a beat of silence while everyone drank their cocktails. Then Evan asked, “So what are you going to do about Brad?”
“Nothing,” said Lindsay. “I did the interview. It’s over.”
“He works at the café. You don’t think you’ll run into him again?”
Lindsay shrugged. “He works in the morning. It’s easy enough to avoid him. And if I run into him? I’ll…be civil.”
“No,” said Evan.
“No?”
Evan sighed. “I’ve known you a long time, Linds. In the five years since you graduated from culinary school, you’ve dated a handful of guys. You were even with that guy Clark for almost a year.”
Lindsay sighed, sensing where this was going.
“I liked Clark,” said Paige. “What happened to him?”
“He moved to California,” said Lindsay. Clark had been a voice actor who was tired of narrating commercials and moved to LA because he had a shot at doing voice work for cartoons. She kept seeing his name pop up in things, so he’d clearly found success there. He was currently starring, if that was the right word for it, in a popular sci-fi spin-off cartoon. He played an alien who was good at fighting with a sword. Lindsay was happy for him. See? She wasn’t bitter about all of her exes.
“Right,” said Evan. “He moved to California like two years ago. He was a nice guy; you seemed to like him. But we never hear about Clark anymore. Do you know who we do hear about? Brad. Anytime he does anything, you mention it.”
“I hate him.”
“I think youlovehim. That’s why this is chapping your hide so much. You’re still in love with Brad, he broke your heart, and you’ll never stop thinking about him. You know what I think you should do?”
“Avoid him for the rest of time?” Lindsay asked hopefully.
“Jump his bones. Get it out of your system.”
“Does that work outside of TV shows?” asked Lauren. “Sleeping with him will surely just complicate matters.”
“I’m not sleeping with him,” said Lindsay.
“What’s the over-under on Lindsay sleeping with Brad?” Evan asked the table.
“I’ll put ten dollars on that,” said Paige.
“I hate you guys,” said Lindsay.
Evan laughed. “I’m not saying forgive him. He’s scum if he cheated on you. And I mean that gross green scum that tends to accumulate at Dog Beach in Prospect Park.”
“Ugh, that place is always gross,” said Will. “I won’t let my dog play there.”
“Exactly,” said Evan. “But what I am saying is that it seems like you have some unfinished business with Brad, and maybe you should finish it. That’s all.”
Lindsay did not want to admit Evan might be right, but she couldn’t deny that seeing Brad again had done something to her. She hadn’t been able to get him out of her head all week. She was still angry, but underneath all that, she missed him. They’d had something special back in their culinary school days, but it had always felt precarious.
In those days, Lindsay had been less jaded and more optimistic. She’d been twenty-five when she graduated from culinary school, looking forward to a career making great food. At the time, Brad hadn’t quite had his life together yet. He’d been living in an apartment share with three other guys from school, in a tiny, crowded bedroom that had been taken over by his bed. Lindsay hated staying there and preferred bringing him back to her place, a nice two bedroom she shared with a friend from undergrad.
