He scowls. “I presented an award with her.”
“Right.” I blindly grab handfuls of purse stuff and shove them back in. “I’m sure that’s exactly what you were doing on the red carpet when your lips were all over her.”
“I kissed her cheek, and that was it, Addie.”
“Okay.” I need to get the hell out of here. “I don’t want you here when I get back.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“No. I don’t.”
“Then we’re going to talk about this until you do. I’m not lying to you. I don’t want to fight with you.”
“Well, I’ll just fight with you, then,” I reply and slam the door behind me as I stalk out of the office.
“I WAS THINKING about trying a new color on you today,” Cici says as she removes my old polish off my toes. “What do you think?”
“Do whatever you want,” I reply with a frown.
“Well, aren’t we just two scoops of bitchy in a bowl full of grouchy this afternoon?” Cici says. “What crawled up your ass?”
“Men suck.”
“Well, that’s true,” she says. I come in every other week for a mani-pedi and for some girl talk with Cici. If it hadn’t been last minute, I would have canceled today though. I just don’t want to talk about it. “What did he do?”
“He tried to come to my rescue when I didn’t need it.”
“Hmm.”
“And I have photographic proof that he had his hands and lips on another woman last night.”
Cici stops cold and stares at me with her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“He says that nothing happened and that it was a photo for the press, but I don’t give a shit. He shouldn’t have kissed her.”
“Was it the kind of kiss where it looked like he was about to eat her face, or was it a peck?”
“He was kissing her cheek.”
She sits back and blinks at me, frowning. “Okay.”
“He’s constantly butting in, trying to ‘help’ me,” I say, using the air quotes. “As if I’m not an adult and need his help.”
“They do have a tendency to be very testosteroney,” she says with a nod.
“Right! I mean, I’m an intelligent woman. He doesn’t always have to come save the day.”
“Micah does that all the time too,” Cici says, smiling as she thinks of her husband. “But it’s just because he loves me.”
“But it drives you batty,” I insist.
“Yes.” She nods and rubs my feet, just as my phone lights up in my hand. Jake. I roll my eyes and toss my phone into my handbag.
“That him?”
“Yeah. He can just go to voice mail.” I sigh, thinking of all the things that completely annoy me about Jake. “You know what else he does? He’ll drink almost all of the juice or milk or whatever, and put the last few drops back in the fridge.”
“Ugh, I hate that!” Cici chuckles. “Or when you ask them what they want for dinner, and they say ‘I don’t care,’ but when you start suggesting things, they don’t want any of the suggestions.”
“Yes!” I point at Cici in agreement. “I hate that! Or when they put the new toilet paper roll on, with the flap facing the wall. I mean, who does that?”
“Exactly,” Cici says with a nod, switching feet. “And why can’t they actually put dirty dishes in the sink? Why do they put them on the counter beside the sink?”
“Actually, I can’t complain about that because Jake will put his dishes in the dishwasher.”
“Oh my God,” she says, staring at me with wide eyes. “I thought the dishwasher-loading man was a myth.”
“Nope, I found one in his natural habitat.”
“Impressive.” We’re quiet for a moment while she continues to rub my feet, then cleans off my nails to paint them. “At least Micah doesn’t pee all over the bathroom, and he’s teaching our sons not to either.”
“That’s good,” I reply softly. “Also, I really do love it when Jake cuddles with me.”
“Seriously? You hate to cuddle!”
“I know.” I smile, then laugh. “I used to hate to cuddle. But Jake is really good at it. And sometimes, he’ll cuddle me and not expect sex after.”
“I love it when that happens,” Cici says. “I mean, I love the sex too. Obviously because I have four kids.”
“I was wondering if you knew where those come from,” I say and watch as she applies the top coat over my robin’s-egg-blue polish.
“Micah brings me coffee in bed every morning. And I do mean every single morning, no matter what.”
“Even when he has to get up super-early for work?”
“Yep.” She smiles softly. “It’s our quiet time together before the kids get up and life gets crazy.”
“That’s so sweet.” We move over to the manicure station and get settled. “Jake brought me wine and ice cream when I had a bad day a few weeks ago,” I say softly. “It made me feel really special.”
“Aww,” she says and smiles up at me. “That would make me feel special too. He sounds like a really nice guy, Addie.”
I sigh. “He is. Except the kissing other girls part. And speaking of the sex, damn girl.”