Aching for Adam

Chapter 3

"Hey boss," Tiffany says as I walk in an hour late.

"Hey Tiff! Any calls for me?" I ask.

She updates me while we walk towards the coffee machine, and she let's me know I have a message from Tammy asking to confirm our lunch date.

"Crap, I forgot about that. Is there anything on my calendar today?" I wince, bracing myself. Owning an architecture firm has a few perks, but having a lot of free time isn't one of them.

"It's fine, I moved your lunch meeting to tomorrow, you're free for Tammy. Go and have a little girlie fun," she says with a smile.

"What would I do without you?" I say, smiling back. Her smile gets wider. "I mean it, you've got my back Tiff," and I do mean it. I love her for knowing what I need before I do. Some girl talk and a few mimosas are exactly what I need right now.

I want to tell Tammy that I decided to go on Saturday. I already know she's going to be on board because, well, it's Tammy. She's on board with pretty much all of my bad decisions.

Lunch time comes soon enough and Tammy takes me out to this new vegan place that has incredible cocktails and delicious food. After a couple of drinks, and a brief overview of everything that happened in the past couple of days, she's speechless.

Her mouth is open but she doesn't say anything. She's thinking. Not something she does often before talking, but I love her for it.

"You fucking liked his photo?" she says, accentuating every word as if I needed to hear it again. I simply nod and she starts laughing uncontrollably. "But... you're such... a good creeper!"

Hearing her say that just makes all of my embarrassment fade and I start laughing with her.

After a moment, we quiet down. She just stares at me. I don't remember when was the last time she didn't have a snide comment to say.

"Tam?"

"Check please!" She almost yells and I swallow the bite I barely had time to chew.

"Tam, I'm not done yet. Are you in a rush?" I frown.

"Nope, not in a rush, but we're getting out of here now. You need a dress," she answers, matter-of-factly.

"Um, I have a dress. I'll just wear my dark grey one, you know, the one with a zipper down the back."

"The HELL you are. He's already seen that dress, it's like 10 years old. There's no way I'm letting you show up in that thing. Honey, you haven't seen him in four years, and no offence but his girlfriend is super hot. You need to go all out and show him what he's missing. C'mon, let's go." She grabs my hand and pulls me to the nearest designer boutique she can find.

I give in because, let's be real, Tamara Weston always gets whatever she wants. I've never met someone so outspoken and persistent in my entire life. I wish I was a bit more like her.

"What about this one?" I ask Tammy as I twirl around in the gazillionth dress I've tried on.

"What about that one on the rack over there?" She points to a gorgeous but simple floor length burgundy dress she's been trying to get me to try on for 20 minutes.

"It's skin-tight Tam, I'm not wearing something like that," I answer firmly.

"Are you kidding? You need to make an entrance, and show that idiot what he lost," she repeats again.

"I'm the one who left, remember?" I throw her a disapproving stare.

"Just try the damn dress on!" She gets up, picks the dress up from the rack, and shoves it in the fitting room.

"Ugh, fine!" I quickly slip into it and swing the fitting room door open.

"Oh. My. God. This is the one Elle." Her jaw is open, and I'm thinking she must be exaggerating. Again.

But then I turn around, I'm stunned at how I look in this dress. "Wow," I whisper. It fits my curves in all the right places and somehow I don't notice the parts of my body that I don't like as much.

"Even I want to make out with you in this, you have got to get it." I chuckle. She's right, I have to get this dress. I want, no, I need to feel confident if I'm going to spend the evening with my ex, his new girlfriend, and his family.

"It is surprisingly confortable," I smile, and she hugs me after a squeal that makes me wish I could bring her with me. She always roots for me, and she knows how to boost my ego. Alas, there was no plus one on my invite.

I pay for the dress and walk out the store, a sudden twinge of excitement building in my core.