Wanderlust by Thea Dawson Page B

he’d grown up in St. Paul, and we even knew a few people in common. So that’s how it started. That was, wow, about five years ago. Now he works in the Loop, so here we are.”
    “Fantastic. I guess you’re going to settle down, then, after you’re married? You must be sick of the whole long-distance thing. He probably doesn’t have a lot of flexibility with his job.”
    She looked thoughtful. “Oh. Yeah. Yes. I, um, I’m really looking forward to it. You know, settling down, having a place of my—our own. I mean, we’ll still travel, we’ll just do it on a different level. A couple of weeks in style, not six months backpacking. That sort of thing.”
    She looked uncomfortable. Obviously, this was going to be a big change from what she was used to. I wondered if she’d really thought it through all the way.
    “How about you?” she asked brightly. “Anyone special in your life?”
    I hesitated. I didn’t like talking about Meghan, and I didn’t want Monica feeling sorry for me. “Nah.” I shook my head. “No one special.”
    She looked taken aback. “No one?”
    “Nope.” I shrugged. “Still a swinging single.”
    She stared at me as if she didn’t quite believe me. “Really?” She paused and laughed awkwardly. “I mean, I’m surprised. You’re a pretty good catch, after all.”
    I laughed too, but I felt I had to account for my single-ness somehow. “Thanks. I, uh, I actually got engaged about a year ago to this girl named Meghan, but it didn’t work out. We met when I was living out in San Francisco, but after I got the job here, well, she didn’t want to leave the Bay Area, and she didn’t want to do the long distance thing, so …” I paused, not really wanting to get too deeply into the whole Mess That Had Been Meghan. “It didn’t work out,” I repeated lamely.
    Monica looked truly stricken for me. She even went a bit pale. “I’m … Gosh, Jason, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
    “It’s for the best. I know that’s a cliché, but it really is. It would have been a big mistake.” I tried to keep my voice light, but Monica still looked truly shaken. Maybe she was thinking how awful she’d feel if she and this Stephen fellow broke it off. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m over it. I mean, it sucked at the time, but it’s cool now. For the best. Honest.”
    She nodded absently. “Um … well, tell me about your job,” she said, obviously trying to change the subject. Which would have been fine, except that the only thing I wanted to talk about less than Meghan was my career.
    And here’s the part I’m not so proud of.
    Here was my gorgeous ex-girlfriend, my One Who Got Away, now engaged to some fabulously handsome, successful guy, and here I was, telling her how my own fiancée had dumped me. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her what a FUBAR my career was, too.
    I didn’t lie.
    I just left out the bad parts.
    “I work in accounts for an advertising agency called Duncan & Bourne.”
    “Hey, I’ve actually heard of them!” Monica said. “I thought it was a Madison Avenue company? It’s been around forever, right?”
    I nodded. “Yeah, they’re pretty well known. Founded in 1958. They’re based in New York, but they have branches here and in San Francisco. I was originally working for a different company out there, which unfortunately folded, so I applied for a position at Duncan & Bourne. The bad news was that I didn’t get the job.” I took a breath. “The good news was that they ended up offering me a better position out here.”
    I grinned and gave my modest-yet-triumphant shrug. It was a good story—at least it had been until I’d realized what an utterly miserable place D&B was to work.
    “That’s awesome!” Monica’s face lit up. “I mean, if I’ve heard of them, they must be a pretty big deal. Do you like working there?”
    “Well, you know, the hours are long, and there’s a lot of pressure to bring in accounts, but it’s incredible experience.