bachelor life to set a good example and supplement the life insurance settlement to provide for his sisters. He loved them both dearly, but over the years, whenever the situation had been especially stressful, he’d repeatedly vowed that as soon as he had the house to himself, he would make up for lost time.
That started tomorrow. Lisa was in a co-op program at Auburn, with a job lined up after next year’s graduation, and now Andy was headed abroad.
A woman shuffling a round plastic tray jostled him. “Hey, handsome. Don’t usually see you in here so late.”
He smiled at the blond waitress—Natalie, if he recalled correctly. “I had something to celebrate.”
“You’ll be here all night if you wait on Kurt.” She nodded to the other side of the room where the bartender was taking his time mixing a drink for an attractive patron. “Have a seat in my section, and I’ll bring something over.”
Justin asked for a draft beer, then chose an empty booth against the wall. His future loomed promising and new, devoid of helping anyone with homework, having awkward discussions about dating or attending sports events and milestone ceremonies that their parents should have been here to see.
Natalie sauntered up to his table with a full frosty mug. “So what are we celebrating?”
The freedom to walk around at home stark naked if he felt like it, the freedom not to worry that he was a lousy day-to-day role model. “New job.”
Freelance photography hadn’t been dependable enough for a man raising two sisters and the travel that had excited him became an obstacle. He’d taken a job in design at Hilliard, but had jumped at the chance to join Sweet Nothings now that they were expanding. On-staff photographers were costly, and Justin, though his portfolio displayed his talent, lacked the experience other candidates could have used to negotiate more money.
“Good for you,” Natalie congratulated him. “Drink’s on the house, then.”
“You don’t have to do that,” he said, knowing “on the house” probably meant out of her pocket.
“Honey, you’d be surprised what I pull down in tips. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a good-looking woman,” she said with a grin.
“Trust me, I noticed. I’m guessing your boss would object to your sharing a drink with me right now…maybe another time?”
“Ah, but see, that my boyfriend would object to.”
“Boyfriend, huh?” He lifted the mug. “Then I’m no longer celebrating. I’m officially drowning my sorrows.”
She laughed. “Beer’s nice and multipurpose that way. Don’t worry, a guy who looks like you won’t be lonely long. You never know,” she added before moving toward the next table, “maybe you’ll meet someone at this new job.”
Olivia Lockhart’s face came to mind, but he banished it immediately. Never gonna happen. Despite finding their way to friendlier ground in the breakroom yesterday and chatting amiably in the parking garage this morning, he still couldn’t imagine Olivia agreeing to meet him for drinks. She’d find a polite way to turn him down, then avoid him around the office.
“Hey, buddy.” Bryan Tanner, rumpled and grinning as ever, slid in on the other side of the booth, making quick eye contact with Natalie as she passed.
Justin nodded in greeting. “What’s with the lumberjack look?”
His dark-haired friend didn’t truly look like a lumberjack, but the flannel shirt and unshaven stubble along his jaw invited taunting. Heckling each other unofficially cemented their friendship, and since Bryan so often won by default of actually having a life, Justin took his shots where he could get them.
“Go ahead, make fun if you want,” Bryan said with a sly smile, “but the ladies love the casual look.”
The ladies obviously loved something because Justin’s friend never hurt for dates.
Bryan did lucrative contract work setting up network systems all over the country, but between jobs, he roosted in Atlanta. While Justin would never come out and say anything so touchy-feely, he was grateful for the way his friend had stayed in contact despite the traveling. Other ex-college buddies had drifted off sooner, unable to relate to Justin’s sudden domestic crises and raising two young women in the suburbs. Watching Bryan bounce around from place to place, coming home to a different woman each visit, Justin had often envied his friend’s life.
“I don’t get it.” Justin shook his head. “You’re a glorified computer nerd. Do you pay women to spend time with you, or are they compelled by pity?”
Bryan grinned. “It’s all that talk about my hardware. Master and slave drives are nice openers, too.”
Natalie edged up to the table with a bottle of Bryan’s regular beer.
“Thank you, sweet thing. Tell me you aren’t still seeing that boyfriend of yours.”
“Afraid I am.” Natalie smiled at her favorite customer. “And he could still kick your ass, in case that was your next question.”
Justin laughed. “Oh, yeah, that’s quite the way with women you have, Bry.”
“I can’t believe I’m getting flack from you,” Bryan complained as the waitress moved away. “The Dateless Wonder.”
An exaggeration, but one with more truth than he would have liked. “Dateless no more. As of tomorrow, you are looking at a man free to accept room keys from hot models.”
“Well, hell, I’ll drink to that.”
Since Justin had done everything possible to make sure his sisters didn’t discover sex until their twenties—or preferably, never—it had seemed wrong to spend his nights elsewhere or to sneak women into the house. There had been one or two relationships, of course, and the occasional weekend when both his sisters were gone, but overall, his love life had not been the stuff a man in his twenties dreams about.
Now, with thirty looming at the end of the month, he had definite plans to make the most of his bachelorhood. He needed some time to focus on himself and not be responsible to or for anyone. He could make dinner plans with a woman without checking the family calendar to see if he was obligated to be anywhere, he could have women over any night of the week.
“So, you gonna introduce me to some of these hot models?” Bryan asked.
“Not a chance,” Justin said with a laugh. “In case there is a woman in the 404 area code you haven’t dated yet, I’d like to meet her first.”
Sweet Nothings was his opportunity for a fresh start. At Hilliard, he’d been the guy who’d missed work when Lisa had her wisdom teeth pulled, the guy who’d taken Andy to the office Christmas party when her loser boyfriend dumped her right at the holidays. But now he was simply Justin Hawthorne, single photographer.
Bryan stood. “C’mon, you said something about a pool game. Try not to cry like a little girl when I take your money.”
“Give it your best shot. I’ll even let you break, but I gotta warn you, I’m feeling pretty lucky.”
Andrea and
