Lessons From the Professor

“Like manna from heaven.”

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“Sit down. You’ve been on your feet for twelve hours, so I’ll make it.”

“Thanks, girl,” Leigh said as she sank down on to a stool with a sigh.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Leigh, but what are you doing here? You usually head home after your shifts unless you have plans. ” Sutton opened the stainless steel refrigerator and pulled out turkey cold cuts.

“James is away at a convention for work, and I haven’t gotten a chance to really talk to you since we went out to eat a couple of weeks back.”

“You mean pick my brain. Mayo?”

“Yes, please. I wouldn’t say pick exactly.”

“Mmhmm,” Sutton said.

“Okay, so I admit I’m transparent. I just want to see you get out of the house more, and Sidney is a great guy, who’s interested by the way.”

Her heart raced as she spun around to face her. “Wait, he said he was interested?”

“Yes, he did.”

“What else did he say?” Sutton asked.

“Oh nothing much, that you were interesting, gorgeous… the usual.”

Sutton couldn’t coral the giggle that escaped as she cut the sandwich into halves, placed it on a plate, and set it in front of Leigh with a bottle of water. It felt good to be wanted. Sidney was older, well-traveled, and established. He was as different from ex, Jackson, as night and day.

“Did he really say that?” she asked. She paused to tilt her head to the side before she cleaned up the counter, washed off the knife and set in the dish washer.

“He did. Does your mad-hatter grin mean we’re done pretending you aren’t interested in Sid?”

“You know what… it does.”

“Good! I was thinking we could all get together again and let you guys get to know each other a bit better.”

“Sounds good, Leigh.”

“I can’t believe how easy going you’re being about this,” Leigh said around bites of her sandwich.

“Sidney is different from all the other guys you wanted to set me up with,” Sutton said.

“You have no idea how true that statement is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that he’s not like anyone you’ve ever dated before.”

“Good. I could use a change of pace.”

“Honey, you aren’t even in first gear.”

“Shut up, not everyone meets their Mr. Right and lives in blissful co-existence early on,” Sutton said.

“I know, hon, but not all guys are like your old fiancé.”

“This hasn’t really been about him, more about me needing to get to where I was comfortable before I could relax enough to think about a relationship. You know my Father died when I was twelve, but I never really talk about what happened after that. My mom and dad married right out of high school before he headed off to boot camp. She spent the majority of her life at home with us. This was fine, great even, until he had a heart attack, and she was forced to try to provide for the five of us on her own. It was hell watching her work two jobs to scrape together to make ends meet while I took care of everything at home. I promised myself I would do everything in my power to avoid ending up in that position.”