He fumbled the pencil in his fingers, catching it before it landed on the floor, then hurried away to get their drinks. Ava always had that effect on the opposite sex.
Ava slapped the menu on the table. “The dinner set was a wedding gift from her husband’s mother and has been in his family for sixty years. So of course her husband wants it back, but she’s refusing to hand it over.” Pointing a manicured finger at them both, she went on. “If either of you are stupid enough to get married, you better come to me first. I’ll set you up with an ironclad pre-nup.”
“You don’t have to worry about me getting married.” Jade sighed, placed her elbows on the table, and propped her chin on her hands.
“Jade, you have to stop believing in that stupid curse,” Lauren said. “You know it’s a load of rubbish.”
“It’s not rubbish. It’s true! My mother and sisters are proof. The Brennan women are cursed.”
“You’ve had some bad luck—”
“The men in my family always leave. Hundreds of years ago, some witch in Ireland cursed our family so we can never find true love,” she stated.
They paused in their conversation while the waiter returned with their drinks. Lauren hoped Ava didn’t do anything to make him fumble again. She’d like to drink her margarita, not wear it.
When he left, without a drop spilled, Ava said, “Do you know how crazy that sounds? Jade, trust me. Men leave their wives all the time. I see it every day. Anyway, you’ll be better off not getting married. It will only cost you a mega amount of heartache and money.”
“Ava!” Lauren scolded. “Just because you don’t believe in marriage doesn’t mean everyone should avoid it.”
Ava shrugged an eloquent shoulder and said, “You probably won’t get married either.”
Lauren stared at Ava with surprise. “Why do you say that?”
“We’ve seen the few guys you’ve dated in the past—”
“So?”
“They’re all losers,” Ava said with no remorse.
Rolling her eyes, Lauren sighed. “Don’t start with this again. There is nothing wrong with the guys I date.”
Ava arched a dark eyebrow. “How long has it been since you’ve gone on a date anyway?”
Jumping in before Lauren could answer, Jade offered the information. “Eight months, that’s how long it’s been. The real question is how long has it been since you’ve had sex?”
Lauren fidgeted with the locket around her neck. She didn’t want to be having this conversation. “Would you both mind your own business? I don’t ask about your sex lives.” “That’s because Itellyou about mine.” Ava smirked.
Lauren turned to Jade, desperately hoping for a change of subject, only to be ignored.
“It’s been two years since you’ve had sex,” Jade said. “And I don’t think that the PeeWee Herman look-alike you were dating back then really counts. I seriously doubt he would have known what he was doing.”
“He wasn’t that bad,” Lauren said with a shake of her head.
“Honey, if you say a man wasn’tthat bad, he definitely isn’t doing it right. A man should be extraordinary. Curl-your-toes kind of extraordinary,” Ava said.
“Oh my God!” Jade gasped.
“Yes, it should beoh my Godworthy,” Ava added.
Jade slowly shook her head. “No, not about that, I mean yes, it should beoh my Godworthy, but I can’t believe who just walked into Jovi’s.”
“Who?” Lauren and Ava both asked as they turned to look in the direction Jade was staring wide-eyed at.
A couple entered the pub and made their way to the empty stools arranged haphazardly around the carved wooden bar. Lauren’s breath hitched, and a nervous flutter grew in her belly.
She knew exactly who had gotten Jade so excited.
Jack Henderson sat on a bar stool, looking even more handsome than he had on New Year’s Eve—if that was possible. She had thought it was likely that she’d built him up to be better looking than he really was. But seeing him again, dressed in tight, faded jeans and a navy t-shirt, looking hotter than a man had the right to, told her that the pictures in her mind didn’t do him justice.