Against the Odds

Chapter 3

"I'm in love!" Kimmy declares as she busts through my front door, drops her purse on the floor and kicks off her shoes. She's wearing the same outfit as yesterday, her thick black hair still holding the slept-in curls.

Startled, I look up from my computer. "Kimmy, one day you're going to have to give me my keys back."

During my sophomore year of college, I went on a barbecue road trip with my parents. Yes, a BBQ road trip. My dad drove us through Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and both Carolinas in search of each state's best BBQ. My mom wasn't too thrilled with the idea of my dad chomping down fatty meats for two weeks in a row considering his doctor just put him on new heart medication. But really, this whole obsession was kind of my mom's fault anyway. She'd have the Food Network on 24/7 at home, and when she'd go to bed, dad would sit there and binge watch Guy Fieri driving from town to town, eating food that made him drool, for hours on end. Anyways, I gave Kimmy a duplicate set of my keys so she could feed my fish while I was away. That was over two years ago!

"Did you not hear me, friend? I said I'm in love!" Kimmy skips into the living room and plops down beside me on the couch.

"Ok, I heard you! So, with who?" Leave it up to Kimmy to find a new love interest within 48 hours of losing the last.

"It's Jack!"

"Jack? Jack from last night, Jack?" How? When? Where?!

"Yes. Jack. Or should I say... Dr. Carlisle." Kimmy giggles.

"Really? You just met him, Kim."

"Don't be such a Debby Downer!" Kimmy sits up and crosses her legs. "After you and Hunter left, which we will touch on in a brief moment, Jack waited for me to get off work and we spent the whole night together, he was so sweet!"

"Spent the night together?"

"Lilah! No, not like that." Kimmy rolls her eyes. "Okay, maybe a little like that, but only like 10%."

I know I should be more concerned, but only 10% of a 'date' being sex, that's pretty good for Kimmy.

"So, what did you do for the other 90%?"

"He took me to this super cute 24-hour diner near the Plaza. We got some food, chatted about our lives, our goals, and oh my God, guess what his dog's name is?" Kimmy is almost out of breath but doesn't give me enough time to answer. "MUSTARD!"

Okay, I can now understand why she might think that their relationship is kismet. Kimmy has this seven-year-old, yappy little chihuahua named Ketchup. Even I got to admit, that's pretty serendipitous.

"Well, if you're happy, I'm happy." One of us needs to be happy.

"I am and Jack's great. Like really great. I'm seeing him again on Wednesday. We're going to go to the bar to watch the fight. You should come! I'll tell Jack to bring Hunter! Oh it'll be so fun!" Kimmy claps her hands in excitement.

"Wow, calm down there energizer bunny. I don't even know if I want to see Hunter again." Kimmy frowns.

"What?! You were so into him! I've haven't seen you that nervous around a guy since... Miles, and that was a long time ago." I flinch as she utters his name.

"Ok, yes, he's attractive and I felt a little something." Kimmy squeals. "BUT, he barely said fifty words to me yesterday. What makes you think he's even interested?"

"Well, you'll never know if you don't see him again!"

"I don't know if I'm ready to go down that road."