Alpha's Vow

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Charlie

“Happy birthday!” Adele throws her arms around me. I was so absorbed in my thoughts and my martini, I didn’t even hear her approach.

“Shhh, keep it down,” I say, even as I hug her back. “I don't want the whole restaurant to know. The staff might come out and sing.”

“Don’t worry, they don’t do that here. I even called the manager to make sure.”

“Oh good. Thank you. I still have nightmares about last year.” We went to a Mexican restaurant, and Tabitha got the whole Mariachi band to play birthday songs for fifteen straight minutes.

“So do I.” Adele lifts a giant bag filled with white and gold chocolate boxes onto the table beside me. My mouth waters at the sight. The only thing better than a best friend who owns a chocolate shop is being a guinea pig for all her new chocolatey concoctions. “The whole restaurant is under strict instructions to not make a big deal. But I can’t promise Tabitha won’t circumvent me and hire a stripper.”

“Oh, God.” I try to imagine a male stripper and immediately think of Lance. Shirtless, that wolf tattoo swaying to music, a cocky smile on his face. I choke on my drink, and sputter.

Adele thumps my back. “You okay?”

“Fine. Wrong tube.” I have got to get a hold of myself. “What’s new with you? How’s The Chocolatier?”

A distressed look flashes over Adele’s face before she smoothes it out. “Let’s not talk about work,” she says. “What about you? Did you do anything special today?”

“Just work.” And hot tubbing with a hottie. Nekkid. My cheeks flush. I turn my head and rest my chin in my hand, trying to hide it, but Adele knows me too well.

“Nu-uh, that’s not the whole story. What happened?”

“There may have been a hot guy involved.”

“Oooh,” she gasps. “Not a stripper?” she teases.

“Nope.” I duck my head close to her. “And don’t tell anyone else.” I love all my friends, but I don’t want everyone knowing I think Lance is hot. Then Sadie would get excited and try to hook us up on double dates or something, and I’m not about to go out with the guy. Lance is not part of The Big Plan.

“Secret’s safe with me. What’s he like?”

I roll my eyes. “He’s a player. I can tell. Like every fly-boy on base growing up.” I push my martini away. “But he wants in my pants, and I definitely considered it for a minute.”

The waitress comes by, and Adele orders a bottle of wine for the table before turning back to me. “So? Why not jump him?”

I gape at her. I’d expect Tabitha, our hippie friend with no real job and a strict laissez faire code, to advocate free love and one-night stands, but not Adele. We all look up to Adele, not because she’s a year older, but because she’s so responsible and put together. She runs her own business and spends every waking minute in full make up and tasteful high heels, looking ready for a photo shoot in Paris. She’s the only person I know who regularly accessorizes with scarves.

“It’s not part of The Big Plan,” I say.

“Right.” Adele loosens her pretty cream-colored neck scarf and smooths back a perfect brown curl. “What’s the plan again?”

I take a deep breath. “Marry by thirty, have two point five kids. Raise them in Taos, but travel and hike a different national park each summer. Retire at fifty.”

“Hmmm.” Adele narrows her green eyes at me.

“Once I’m retired, I might do something crazy,” I add, so I don’t seem too boring. “Like start a cactus farm. Or crossbreed different varietials of ficus.”

The waitress delivers the wine. Adele pours a glass and takes a healthy sip. “All right, you want my advice?” She sets the glass down with a thump. “Forget the plan. You spend your whole life working for something, only to have it fail. You might as well set it on fire and toast marshmallows.”

My jaw drops to my lap. “Okay, what is going on with you? Did something happen? Is it the shop?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” There are grooves around her mouth I’ve never noticed before. “Not on your birthday. Today is about you. And I think you should do it. Sleep with him, whoever he is. Not as part of the plan; just to enjoy a hot man. Get it out of your system.”

The rest of our friends arrive, and Adele sits back with a placid smile, no sign of her earlier stress. I let her deflect attention onto me, but make a mental note to check on her later.

As for her advice, well… maybe I can add a one-night-stand addendum to The Big Plan. One night doing the horizontal tango to get Lance out of my system. Wham, bam, thank you, military man. Then he’ll move on, and I’ll get back to searching for someone with long term potential. Someone who’s husband material. Maybe I can find someone with an accounting background, so every year he can do our taxes.

My plan is perfect. What could go wrong?