Today is no different.
She’s decked out in an orange dress with sapphire-blue heels, and her Sarah Jessica Parker curls are piled high in a bun. She used to tell us she was mistaken for the actress, circa the Sex and The City years.
She gestures to the chocolates. “Nothing would ever stop me from eating my favorite treats.” Lulu glances at Ginny, meeting her eyes then pointing to me. “Also, you nailed it. Leo’s totally a spice.”
Ginny pats herself on the back. “Knew it.”
“But he’s also a coconut, don’t you think?”
“Is that so?” Ginny jumps right into it, like she went to the Lulu school of How to Talk to Strangers.
“You heard our entire conversation?” I cut in.
“It was either listen in or cover your eyes with my hands and shout boo!” Lulu says.
“But that sounds exactly your style.”
“You have me on that one.” Lulu extends a hand to Ginny. “Lulu Diamond. I love your necklace, and you have the best hair.”
Ginny pats her red locks, her smile blazing as Lulu does what Lulu does—makes you feel like the center of the fucking world.
“Ginny Perretti. And you’re hired. For anything and everything.”
Just like that, Lulu is making best friends with whomever she meets. The woman I’ve known since that fated day ten years ago flashes a grin at my friend and colleague. “Excellent. I’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine a.m. on the dot.”
As a group of chocolate connoisseurs heads into the Heavenly booth, Ginny trains her attention on them. Lulu looks at me then smiles again. It’s the warmest grin I’ve ever seen, and with it, her boldness momentarily melts away. It’s replaced by something else entirely—a sweetness, a tenderness. She has that in her, too, in spades. “How the hell are you?”
At last, we can greet each other like normal people as we drop the rat-a-tat banter.
“I’m . . .” My voice trails off as I consider all the ways to answer her. Busy? Focused? Alone? Ambitious? Determined? Kicking unholy ass? Lonely? Escaping from the world? “I’m all good.”
“So glad to hear.” She glances around, surveying the aisles of the show. “I didn’t expect to see you here. It didn’t occur to me. That’s so dumb. Isn’t that dumb? Of course you’d be here.”
Laughing, I scratch my jaw. “I didn’t expect you to be here either. Maybe that’s dumb too.”
“I thought you were still in . . . Where exactly were you for the last year or so?”
“South America. I thought you were in California.”
She needed to get away from New York, far, far away, she’d told me the last time I saw her, nearly two years ago, through tears and mascara-stained cheeks.
“I’m here now. Now you see me.” She gestures to her trim frame. She’s a sexy carrot today.
“You look . . . great.” That’s the understatement of the century. She’s always looked fantastic, but the happiness in her eyes has been restored. At least I hope it has.
For a moment, her smile slips off, and in that sliver of time, I can see all the ways the last decade didn’t go how she expected.
How any of us expected.
I blink away the past, shucking off the pangs of regret. Fuck regret. I hold out my arms for a hug.
She moves in closer, and I tense for a moment. But as she embraces me in return, I don’t feel what I used to feel.
I swear I don’t.
Years of training has paid off.
Lulu Diamond, I am so over you.
2LULU
If Leo were chocolate, I’d easily add up the ingredients that comprised him. With a touch of pepper and a dash of spice, he’d be a strong, full-bodied dark chocolate, bordering on bittersweet. You’d pair him with a rich red wine and enjoy him by the fireplace.
Fitting, I suppose, with that whole tall, dark, and brooding thing he works like a charm. It suits him, with his nearly black hair, a Henry Cavill–style swoop to it, and a jawline the actor with the most coveted jawline would surely covet. Leo’s light skin is more tanned than the last time I saw him. The other side of the equator must have done that.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to bump into him here. But still, I was when I spotted his familiar silhouette at the Heavenly booth. I didn’t think he was back in the country.
In some ways, I’ve never been able to truly add up what makes Leo tick. He’s been both an open book and a complete enigma. Except one thing has always held true—the man can rock a suit. I gesture to his Tom Ford ensemble, minus the jacket he’s surely stowed behind the counter. “I can’t believe you’re in a suit at the chocolate show.”
“Would it have been better if I’d worn my safari shorts?”
I press my palms together, loving that image. “Please tell me you own safari shorts.”
“Of course. How else would I have ventured into the depths of South America to find the best cocoa beans?”
“Ever the explorer,” I say, since that is Leo to a T—always checking things out, wanting to test, to try. “Was it just like Romancing the Stone?”
He laughs, a rich, deep sound that warms my heart. “Exactly like it. I trekked to the heart of the Amazon, zip-lining through the forest to uncover chocolate and develop co-ops.”
