Not That Kind of Guy - ANDIE J. CHRISTOPHER Page 0,2

dated before her, who were all fine. But Hannah was irreverent—bordering on crass—and Bridget loved the hell out of her. Hannah was the only kind of woman she could see her brother with in the long term. Her brother needed someone who wouldn’t let him get away with anything.

Sasha leaned in. “Are you seeing anyone?” That seemed apropos of nothing right now.

“Of course not.” Bridget had just told her family that she didn’t have time to date. Which was true. She also prosecuted sex crimes as an assistant state’s attorney. Given what she saw at her day job, she didn’t have the inclination to meet strange men, even in public places.

“It’s been two years.” Like Hannah needed to remind her.

Sasha leaned in even closer. “Are you still in love with Chris?”

“No,” she answered firmly. That was one thing she was sure of. Sometimes she missed being part of a couple. Missed having someone to text or call when something interesting or funny happened. She missed having someone to cuddle up with on a Friday night with Netflix. But if that was all she missed, she could just get a dog. A dog would probably be more loyal than a guy she’d wasted almost half her life on. “I just haven’t met anybody worth considering.”

That lie came out smoothly enough. She had no intention of meeting anyone ever. She would not fuck up her life again, just for the sake of someone to binge television and eat expensive cheese with. Even if a second salary would make it easier to afford said expensive cheese.

“Well, you need to meet someone before the wedding,” Sasha said. “I simply won’t have you sitting alone while Chris swans about with his ‘flavor of the week.’”

“There are flavors?” Bridget had purposely not thought about Chris dating anyone else. It was the only thing keeping bees from flying out of her mouth every time she ran into him. She didn’t want him back, but she hated the idea of him being happy. She was petty, and she accepted that about herself. But now that the topic had been introduced, she couldn’t stuff the bees back down her throat.

Hannah’s mouth flattened out and she shot Sasha a look. “None of them have lasted more than a few weeks.”

Bridget barely contained her sneer. She’d gotten to know both Hannah and Sasha pretty well in the last couple of years, but not well enough to tell them that her relationship with Chris had put her off relationships—permanently. Before Jack and Hannah had met and fallen in love, Hannah had been in no-man’s-land herself. Bridget had a feeling that if her future sister-in-law got a whiff of her extreme reticence about romance, she would descend upon her with the enthusiasm of the newly converted. “It’s fine. We broke up . . . for a lot of reasons. I didn’t exactly expect him to remain celibate.”

She even leaned back in her chair to emphasize how cool she was with all of this. Totally cool with her ex-boyfriend banging anyone and everyone.

“But I agree with Sasha.” Hannah was declarative. “We have to find you a date.”

“I don’t want a date,” Bridget said.

Apparently, they were going to ignore her. “Most of the decent guys I know are gay,” Sasha said.

“Other than Jack, I know married guys and professional athletes.”

“I would take a professional athlete.” Chris had always hated that he’d never been good enough at sports to make varsity in anything. Taking a professional athlete to a wedding would leave her ex feeling woefully insecure. It would make for a much more enjoyable evening on her part.

“I don’t think you’re ready for a professional athlete,” Sasha said. “Chris is your first and only, which means you’ve never dealt with a guy who had a tight end, much less an actual tight end. Dating is actually insane. It’s a whole lot of work with a regular guy—like you have to decide if you want to have sex with him the first few minutes of a date, because if he senses that you aren’t down to go to Bonetown, then he won’t call you again. But if you do have sex with him, you have