Isn't It Time by Susan J. Graham

it.
    And for a long time after that break-up, she seemed to have
lost all interest in men. He wasn’t sure if her heart had been badly broken or
if something had happened she wasn’t admitting to.  Whatever the reason, it
allowed him to have her all to himself for those two years, and he reveled in
it.  And he realized now that it was during that time he had started falling in
love with her – and he fell a little harder every single day. But because of
whatever it was she was dealing with at the time, he hadn’t felt like it would
be right to push for anything more.
    He hadn’t lied to her when he said he had been examining his
life lately. But he hadn’t told the full truth, either.  After all the
introspection when he turned thirty, he had come to the firm conclusion that
Angie, and only Angie, was exactly what he wanted. 
    He had gone around and around in his mind, wondering when,
or if, he should try to convince her that she felt the same. He knew she loved
him, that wasn’t even in question. But she apparently didn’t feel the same
sexual spark. Or if she did, she was suppressing it. He had decided, in the
end, that it would probably be for the best if he just waited for things to
progress naturally and held on to his faith that she would eventually come
around.
    But upon hearing that Angie had finally broken up with Jimmy
(and Jack saw red every time he thought of that moronic asshole fucking her),
he decided that it couldn’t hurt anything to give it a try.  So he took his
shot - and he screwed it up.  Now he would have to think about how to approach
the subject again before someone else got their hands on her.
    He had a momentary flash of fear, worrying that the next guy
she hooked up with might not be a loser. He might be the guy who would be able
to talk her into a permanent relationship. Maybe even marriage.  And he’d be
goddamned if he was going to sit back and let that happen.
    The time was right to make his move, but he didn’t want to
scare her off by coming on too strong.  So he’d play it slow and subtle - but
not so subtly that she might miss the message he needed her to get. He’d do
whatever he had to do make her see him as more than a friend – and he’d start
right away before she got herself involved with the next loser. 
    With some difficulty, he cleared Angie from his mind and
settled in to do the work that wasn’t going to get done by itself.
    ***
    Three hours later, Jack was standing in the small foyer of
the Mexican restaurant where he had arranged to meet Melinda.  She was
currently five minutes late and he mentally called the first strike. He was
looking out over the dining room, trying to determine how long of a wait there
might be for a table, when his startled gaze settled on two very familiar
blonde heads. His mother. And Angie’s.
    “What the hell?” he muttered under his breath.  Peggy and
Kate knew each other, of course, and they enjoyed each other’s company.  But
they didn’t have the kind of relationship that would normally involve them
having dinner alone together.
    They had obviously finished their meals and each had some
kind of frou-frou looking pink cocktail in front of them. Peggy was wearing her
“serious” glasses – the pair she only wore when she didn’t want to screw up
what she was working on, and she was writing something in her day planner.  As
he watched, Kate’s arm came up and, looking happy as hell, they high-fived each
other.
    Jack frowned at that odd display. With his eyes on the two
women, and thinking to surprise them with his presence, he pulled his phone out
of his pocket and dialed his mother.  He watched as she picked her own phone up
from the table, glanced at the display, and sent it to voice mail.
    “What the hell?” he muttered again.
    Disconnecting from his mother’s voice mail, he called Angie.
    “Hey, Jack,” she answered.
    “Why are our mothers having dinner together?” he demanded by
way of