PIPER PULLED HER CAR into the lot, the whole drive from Gideon’s house to the restaurant a blur. If it wasn’t for the GPS telling her when to turn and what to do, she might have been on her way to Mexico by now.

It was done.

And not only had she done it, Gideon wasn’t upset in the least that she wanted to go on a fake date with him. Those few minutes with him made her remember all the fun they’d had. She missed those times. But nothing would ever come before Gideon’s work. It was a simple fact that he lived for what he did, and what he did was music. Which made this arrangement perfect. She’d scratch that itch finally and figure out how to fix things with the girls.

She shoved her keys and phone into her bag and got out of the car. Her knees were still a touch wobbly, but they held her just fine. She squinted at whatever new, trendy food place Ellie had no doubt picked out and hoped she recognized something on the menu. In her current wibbly state she didn’t trust her stomach one bit.

Piper shoved her sunglasses up her nose a bit and circled around to the entrance of the restaurant. With any luck Ellie and Josh had finished the meeting part of their lunch. If Piper didn’t get to talk to someone she was going to blow a fuse.

The hostess showed her to the patio overlooking the ocean. Ellie and Josh had taken over a sizeable table in the corner and had laptops, papers and tablets everywhere. They were such an odd looking couple, not the least bit compatible. Ellie was loud, sometimes cranky and a free spirit at heart, though she guarded it closely. Her mixed Middle Eastern ethnicity gave her a striking appearance that was hard to miss and easy to envy. Josh was a Polo-wearing, blond-haired blue-eyed guy who looked like he should be at an Ivy League school, not a professional gamer or successful YouTube producer.

Josh spotted her first and stood, clearing off a chair and holding it out for her.

“Hey!” Ellie jumped up and rushed over to throw her arms around Piper. “How are you? You sounded really tense last night.”

“Better.” Piper gave Ellie a squeeze. “Sorry to crash your lunch.”

“Don’t be. What’s up? How are things?” Josh wrapped his arm around her shoulders for a friendly side hug. Once, a mutual friend had set them up on a date. While Piper had enjoyed hanging out with Josh, there wasn’t any chemistry there, but that encounter had set her down the road of wanting more.

Piper plopped into the empty chair and deposited her sunglasses on the table. She rubbed her eyes and groaned. Where the hell did she start?

“Oh, boy. If that’s how this starts we’re going to need drinks,” Ellie said.

“Not on the clock,” Josh said.

“You’re no fun.” Ellie stuck her tongue out at Josh who ignored her.

“Okay, so you know everyone is in town with their boyfriends?” Piper figured that was the place to start.

“Everyone? I thought it was just Rashae and Declan, and Miranda and Raul.” Ellie frowned.

“Yeah, I guess I’m kind of counting Tamara and Steven in that since I never see her these days.” Piper crossed a leg over the other and tried to fend off the bitterness and hurt. Everyone was moving on with their lives, except her.

“She really doesn’t come too much anymore, does she?” Ellie pushed a glass of water at Piper. “Keep going.”

“They found out about Kobe.” Heat crawled up Piper’s neck and cheeks.

“I was wondering how long that would last. You kept that up for a long time.” Ellie glanced over her shoulder. “I’m starving. Will you flag the waitress down if you see her?”

“Sure,” Josh said without taking his gaze off Piper. “Fill me in. Kobe?”

“Kobe is my new therapists’ brother, who is also a gay adult film star. Dr. Yun wanted us to meet because he thought Kobe might give me a different perspective on dealing with public opinion. I was nervous about it, but Kobe...he’s amazing. A bit of a train wreck, but he’s become a good friend.” Piper closed her eyes. It sounded crazy when she put it all together this way. “Kobe talked me into having a mock date with him right around the time Tamara and Miranda started going MIA because of their boyfriends. In a very petty moment I told them I had a date, too.”

“Oh, that’s how this started?”

“Yeah.” Piper covered her face with her hands. “I thought—he does gay porn. No one will ever figure it out. Then we just kept up this routine of hanging out and calling it dates. It sounds really fucked up when I say it all out loud.”

“Your best friends were ditching you for boyfriends. Lying about it isn’t cool, but I get it. How did they find out?” Ellie asked.

“They didn’t tell me and I was too embarrassed to explain it all last night. I guess they’d just found out about it, so when I showed up last night they launched into this...intervention? I don’t know, but I’ve never been so mortified in my whole life.”

“Waitress.”  Josh nodded.

Piper picked a salad off the menu, something light that she might be able to choke down, and refrained from adding more to her story until the waitress was gone.

“To be fair, you’ve been lying to your best friends for months about this guy, you know?” Ellie pinned Piper with a hard stare.

“I know. I know. I just...” She shrugged.

“Should I be here for this conversation?” Josh leaned his forearms on the table. “I mean, I am Tamara’s boss.”

“Please stay? I need your input.” While Piper’s friends had moved on to a new chapter of their lives, Piper had at least made new friends. Ellie and Josh were her go-to these days for hard talks and socializing. The rest of their crew wasn’t all that bad either. She liked having decent guys to hang out with.

“On?” Josh said slowly.

“Where are the couples, anyway?” Ellie asked.

“Wine tasting tour. They’ll be gone overnight, thank God. I know we’re going to talk this to death when they get back, so I’m preparing myself to come clean and beg forgiveness.” Piper felt a distinct stab of guilt for her relief.

“Tamara and Miranda will forgive you, no questions asked. Rashae...” Ellie made a face.

That’s what Piper was worried about. The others would want to know more and be concerned about how she was doing, but Rashae would want blood.

“What do you need my help with then?” Josh asked.

“I’m going on a date tonight with someone who isn’t Kobe, and I need you to tell me it’ll be okay.” Piper hated the uncertainty, the self-doubt, the fear that gnawed at her. She’d picked up the pieces of her professional life and taped the rest together as best she could. There were some parts of her that had never truly healed and she was done being a broken shell of herself.

“Piper?” Josh held out his hand and waited for her to put her palm in his. “You’re going to have a great date.”

“That’s not helpful.” She pulled her hand from his and smacked his shoulder. Josh merely grinned.

“Wait. You’re going on a date? What? Who is it?” Ellie propped her elbows on the table, eyes lighting up. Since she was on a self-inflicted no dating spell all Ellie wanted to talk about was other people’s love lives.

“Dr. Yun told me to do something to challenge myself. I know I could do something small, but I figured, why not go for broke? Really test myself, so I asked out an old friend of mine.” Piper shifted

“And that is?”

“His name is Gideon.”

“Gideon? Gideon...does he have a last name?”

“Mackenzie.” Piper swallowed.

“Shut. Up.” Ellie sat back in her chair, mouth open.

“What? What’s that face for?” Piper didn’t like the way Ellie was staring at her.

“If I didn’t like you, I might hate you right now. Gideon Mackenzie is gorgeous—but he’s a bit of a party guy. How are you two friends?” Ellie would know Gideon by reputation. She knew everyone.

“I met Gideon right before my break up. When things got bad, Gideon was there for me. He was pretty much my only friend during that period. A really great friend, but he’s kind of a flake, and we don’t hang out a lot anymore. I mean, we used to all the time. His work picked up, and that was it. It’s always work first with him.” Piper shrugged. Gideon’s work ethic and priorities were two reasons why this arrangement was perfect. If the date went badly, she could conceivably never see him again.

Lunch was delivered, putting a slight pause on the conversation while plates, laptops and things were shuffled around. They all tucked into the first few bits.

“You never said what went down with the other girls,” Josh said.

“Not a lot. I told them I knew what Kobe did and that we were more friends than dating.”

“They don’t know about your new therapist or anything?”

“No.”

“Any reason why you aren’t telling them?”

“Shit, I’m starting to sweat. Ease up on the questions.” Ellie glared at Josh.

“It’s fine. I’m not telling them because...they don’t ask.” Piper shrugged. “In the beginning when I had the idea, I was kind of scared that if I talked about it, I wouldn’t do it. Then I wanted to, but it was all about Miranda’s stalker, Rashae’s game, Tamara’s drama, Nate’s wedding, and this and that and whatever.”

“Yeah, Tamara is in her own little world.” Ellie sighed and picked at her food.

“I’m happy for them, but...our lives are different now. I mean if one of those three aren’t married before the year is out, I’d be shocked. I’d be less surprised if all three were married before Christmas.”

“Being left behind kind of sucks, doesn’t it?” Ellie grimaced.

“Are you wanting feedback, or to just vent?” Josh asked.

“About what part? I might just want to air my woes and whine a lot.” Piper bit the inside of her cheek.

“Here’s what I’m thinking, you should tell Tamara and the others a condensed version of what you’ve told us. No one can get mad at you if you’re growing apart because your lives are changing. That’s natural, right? The rest of it, you, Tamara, Miranda, and Rashae have been friends for so long, this isn’t going to come between you.” Josh glanced from Piper to Ellie and back. “As far as the date goes, I’m not a professional. I can’t even keep a girlfriend. I only know Gideon by reputation. I’m not even sure what he does.”

“Most people don’t,” Piper said.

“Gideon seems like a cool guy, but Ellie is right. He goes to a lot of parties.”

“I met him at a party.” Piper shrugged.

“You trust him, that’s cool. I barely know the guy. What’s he do?” Josh sat back, his plate clean from rim to rim.

“If I told you I’d have to kill you.” Piper grinned. “He’ll tell you he’s a freelance coder.”

“I’m guessing there’s more to it?” Josh asked.

Piper shrugged. Part of Gideon’s value was that people paid him to do a job and then took credit for complete creation of the end product. He only took referral jobs through previous clients or his agent. It was all very secret and hush-hush.

“Be that way.” Josh checked his watch and wiped his mouth. “I’ve got to run. Ellie, can you take the rest of this with you?”

“Got it, boss.”

Piper chuckled and shoved a bite in her mouth. Her stomach was starting to growl—always a good sign.

Neither girl spoke until Josh had passed out of sight.

“So, the good stuff.” Ellie slid her plate aside. “How fake is this date?”

“What do you mean?” Piper put her fork down. Maybe she wasn’t all that hungry.

“I mean, you’re going out with a pretty damn attractive guy. Are you hanging out? Is kissing a possibility? Do you intend to use him for sex? What’s the deal?”

“Ellie!” Piper glanced over her shoulder. One thing she was probably never going to get used to was Ellie’s way of talking about intimacy wherever and whenever she wanted.

“No one cares what I’m saying but you. So—how fake?”

Piper shrugged.

“Why aren’t you two still friends? Why am I only now hearing about him?” Ellie was likely constructing a mental file all about Gideon right now.

“Gideon...we were really close. Tamara and me close, before her boyfriend, obviously. When all the shit was happening he was my lifeline, and when it started getting better I thought something might happen between us. That’s when work picked up for him and he wasn’t there anymore.”

“And he just stopped talking to you?”

“Yeah. It sucked. I guess he was always like that, but I didn’t notice.” Piper couldn’t trust her memory around that period. The good memories always involved Gideon.

“You want to bone him,” Ellie said.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You don’t have to. It’s all over your face, and if you ask me? Do it. You go through more vibrators than anyone I know, and it’s time to change that up. You only live once, and he’s proven to you that he’s a good enough guy. Maybe not someone you can trust for the long haul, but right now, he’s perfect. You deserve someone like that, even if you’re being selfish with him. It’s not like sex is a one way street. I’d put money on him enjoying it just as much as you do.”

“I cannot believe you’re saying this to me right now.” Piper buried her face in her hands.

“Please, if what I said bothered you, if it wasn’t the truth, you’d be out those doors faster than I could order a Long Island Iced Tea. Besides, if he’s such a flake, he’ll be out of your life before he can cause any problems. So—where’s he taking you? And what are you wearing?”

“Uh, I don’t know...”

It had been ages since Piper went on a date where she expected the clothes to come off. So long that she’d forgotten all the preparation that went along with it.

“Oh, baby. You’re going shopping in my closet. Come on. I’ll get you ready.” Ellie patted Piper’s hand.

She was going on a date with Gideon, and if she was being honest, she wanted more than kiss.