“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” Bekah chirped. “I found us a table.”

Lexi had no idea what to think of this girl. She was all over the charts. She wanted to be completely honest one minute, and then her best friend the next. Lexi wasn’t sure if she could handle this anymore.

Lexi plopped down in the booth. She twirled her hair around her finger several times before shoving it carelessly behind her ear.

Bekah faced Lexi. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

Lexi forced a smile. “Why do you say that?” Lexi could have given a million reasons why she could never...would never like this girl. She still wanted to hear what Bekah thought on the subject.

“It’s just...we were supposed to get this over with in the morning, and then I half-dragged you to meet my family. I just don’t want those things to cloud your view of me,” Bekah said twirling her earring again.

“Oh...um, ok,” Lexi said noncommittally. Sure the Country Club experience made being around her more difficult. However much that bothered her, nothing bothered her more than just the plain fact that she was dating Jack. This girl, who seemingly had nothing in common with Jack, this girl, who he hadn’t even wanted to date to begin with, this girl, who was practically forcing him to propose to her so she wouldn’t be cut off from daddy’s money, was who he had picked over her. Somehow, she just didn’t think their friendship could recover from that.

“Well, either way, I suspect you know why Jack asked you here,” Bekah said smiling sweetly.

Lexi fixed her with a blank stare. Was this girl serious?

“But I just…I really don’t want this to be awkward, you know?”

Lexi didn’t know. She already thought this was awkward enough.

“So, I thought we could just get to know each other a little bit. I mean, I know I wouldn’t confess…or tell a perfect stranger about my past, especially not my love life.”

“I have a hard time talking to anyone about my love life,” Bekah said easily blushing at the statement.

“Uh huh,” Lexi finally added in.

“It’s just that I make a good judge of character. Jack obviously liked you at some point.” Lexi couldn’t even form words for that statement. “Ramsey seems to know and like you. Though, he isn’t exactly the best judge of character...or the best character, but regardless. I mean not to mention, you put up with Jennifer for at least a year, and nothing short of a miracle can make a person go through that.”

Lexi’s mouth dropped. “You don’t like Jennifer?”

Bekah’s crinkled her little nose. “She’s a little much for my tastes.”

“But I thought Ramsey said you were friends.”

“Friends is such a loose term. Our parents are friends so she was always...around,” Bekah said shrugging her shoulders. “What I’m saying is that I know nothing about you.”

Lexi hated how sincere Bekah was being. She was supposed to hate the girl. She was supposed to think she was an annoying Country Clubber like everyone else, and go home with a semblance of closure. “Yeah, I don’t really know anything about you either,” Lexi admitted.

“Right. Well then, tell me about yourself, Lexi,” she said immediately returning to her diplomatic demeanor. Lexi hadn’t exactly been prepared for the shift. “You don’t mind me calling you Lexi, do you?” Bekah asked politely, her smile strained at the edges.

Lexi returned her fake smile. “That’s my name.”

“Oh, of course. I didn’t know. I thought, perhaps, it was a nickname of some sort. I’ve never met a Lexi before.”

“Well, it’s sort of a nickname. Birth certificate says Alexa. I never much felt like an Alexa though, if you know what I mean,” Lexi said trying to fall back into Bekah’s more personable character.

Something about her statement must have worked, because this time Bekah’s smile was sincere. “Yes, I think I do. I’ve never felt much like a Rebekah. Now, please, tell me about yourself. Jack has not said a word about you besides that you went to college together and as soon as you graduated you zipped right off to New York City. Of course, I know some other things,” she said her eyes shining mischievously. “But as a whole, he has left you a complete mystery to me. And I do love solving mysteries,” she commented folding her arms across one another at the table.

Lexi didn’t even know where to begin. She knew that Jack hadn’t told Bekah about her in the beginning, but he hadn’t told her that Bekah knew nothing about her. How awkward! He hadn’t even bothered to prep Bekah with the basics about their um…relationship even after Kate had run her mouth. So, thus far, Bekah had only heard terrible things about her. Great!

“Um...well, what do you want to know?”

“Just, whatever you want. It’s up to you. I can tell you a little about myself if you like.” Lexi just stared at her. Bekah, taking that as an affirmative, said, “I graduated summa from Duke with degrees in business and psychology. Let’s see. What else? I currently work for my father as a Senior Vice President of Bridges Enterprise. He wanted Ramsey to run the business, but well...Ramsey always has his own ideas about things. I’m sure there’s more, but I’d really like to know about you.”

“Oh, well, I’m at NYU Law, about to start my third year. I worked all summer at a criminal law firm in the city. Anyway, that’s really about it,” she said.

“I’ll be the one to judge that,” Bekah stated. Lexi smiled weakly. “Did you want to go into criminal law or did you have something else in mind?”

“Oh, I’m really not sure,” she told her honestly. “I’ve been doing a good deal of alternative dispute resolution cases in class. You know mediation, arbitration, and negotiations.” Bekah nodded along even though Lexi wasn’t sure she knew what she was talking about. Though if she had been raised in a Bridges household, then maybe she did. “But a part of me wants to go into a big corporate firm working seventy hours a week making a ridiculous amount of money. I don’t know why. It sounds awful, but once I do that, I really think I could do anything.”

“Hmm…interesting. I would have pinned you more as environmental law or public interest work.”

Lexi laughed heartily. “Um…no. It’s not that I don’t care about those things. I just couldn’t see me concentrating in anything like that.”

“Well, if that’s what you’re into,” Bekah said with a shrug. “Oh…hold on. There he is.” Bekah waved at a tall, lanky, disheveled looking man who immediately veered towards them.

“Rebekah,” he said as she hopped out of her chair. He gathered her up in a hug. “You look fantastic. You’re not in here enough. You need more coffee for that stressful job of yours.”

“You know perfectly well that it’s not stressful. And anyway, I don’t really drink coffee, Connor,” she reminded him.

Connor was over six-feet tall with wiry brown hair and dull brown eyes. He’d obviously had acne problems when he had been younger. His nose was a bit too large, but it kind of fit him in a strange sort of way. He wore brown corduroy pants with a faded green coffee-stained, deeply wrinkled button-up, and tweed vest. This was not someone that Lexi would have ever in a million years pictured Bekah knowing let alone hanging out with.

“Oh, I’m so rude,” Bekah said tearing her eyes from Connor. “This is Jack’s uh…friend, Lexi. Lexi, this is Connor. He owns the coffee shop.”

Lexi was able to put the pieces together. Bekah seemed to only know people who were important enough for her. If this guy owned the shop, then he must be rolling in money, even if his appearance didn’t give that away. “Nice to meet you.”

Connor took their orders and let them know that the drinks were on the house. As soon as he left, Bekah got right back to business. “So, I don’t really know where to begin with you, to be honest.” Lexi didn’t know what that meant. “I had a plan when I talked to Danielle and Kate.”