Free Single, Available, and Completely Attached by Michelle Brewer Page B

assumed he’d been trying to pursue her.   “We were on the way to being friends, anyway.”   As he nodded, Anna noticed the satisfied grin on his face, as if he was pleased with himself for figuring it out.   A faint smile played at the corners of her mouth, in spite of herself.
    “I don’t need a pity friendship, Drew Whitman.   Especially not from you.”   She realized how it might sound and she decided to clarify.   “I mean, I don’t need Jeff’s best friend—”
    “It has nothing to do with Jeff.”   Now, he did turn to look at her.   “Well, that’s sort of a lie.”   He offered her a crooked smile.   “I mean, let’s be honest here.   I don’t have that many people in my life.   It wouldn’t exactly hurt for me to make a new friend, myself.”
    “Or an old friend.”   Anna corrected him.
    “An old almost friend.”   Anna tried not to smile at his correction and instead turned away from him, shifting her eyes toward the court.   She took a long drink of the tea he’d brought her, this time allowing herself a moment to savor the taste.  
    If she were to be honest with herself, she knew she could benefit from having Drew in her life.   He was carefree in a way Anna longed for—she had always admired that about him.  
    She also knew he would make her laugh, so long as she could find a way to get over her recent humiliation.
    She sighed quietly.   “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to at least give it a shot.”  
    “Well—all right then.”   Again, Anna didn’t miss the grin as he stared out at the floor for several moments.   “So—what now?”
    And Anna couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head.   She took another sip of tea.
    “You mean , you don’t have anything else figured out?”
    “I didn’t really think you’d say okay.”   He confessed, and Anna rolled her eyes.
    “Well, I suppose we should make plans to hang out, then.”  
    “What about…lunch?   Maybe…Thursday?”   She thought about it for a moment, considering how, this time last week, Drew Whitman was barely even a flicker on her radar.  
    And here she was, sitting next to him, actually contemplating spending more time with him.
    It wasn’t so out of the question, she knew.   As he’d already pointed out, she had, long ago, been on the way to becoming—well, something to Drew, even if it had just been another notch on his bedpost.  
    She had resolved against that then, though, and this—this was different.
    And he wasn’t wrong, she had to admit.   Anna could count the number of people she considered “friends” on one hand.
    It was strange, how that happened.   She realized that it wasn’t the loss of Jeff as her lover that was hurting the most, but rather the loss of his friendship.   There was something that changed, she realized, as she’d gotten older.   Her friends had slowly drifted away, and she’d come to rely on Jeff as both her best friend and her partner.  
    Was it like that for everyone?  
    “I could do lunch.   Thursday, you said?”
    “Thursday should work just fine, Annabelle.”
    If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she heard just the faintest glimmer of excitement in Drew’s voice.
    She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to it, too.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Anna sighed as she stared out the window.   She should have known better than to attempt an actual friendship with Drew Whitman.
    Now that she was here, waiting, she wondered how Jeff had put up with him for so long.   Drew lived his life as if he was the only one that mattered—as if everything centered around him, and he could do as he pleased without ever facing the consequences.
    She felt like an idiot.   As if humiliating her once wasn’t enough—oh no, he had to rub salt in the wound.
    With another loud sigh, she tossed a few bills on the table to pay for the coffee she’d had while she waited for him and rose to her feet, shaking her head.   She pulled her coat