Victor closed the door and stepped away.
“Can I call you sometime?” he asked again.
“Under the circumstances”—me having a man and a
ll—“I think it’s best if you give me your number.”
He reached in his wallet and handed me his card. “And that’s my personal cell number. Feel free to call at any time.”
“Banking analyst at First Integrity Bank,” I said out loud. I paused because now there was something else that we had in common. “I’m a risk management analyst for The Reese Group.”
“I know.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know that you work at The Reese Group.”
I looked at him strangely for a second and then I realized. “Vanessa told you that?”
“Actually, it was Paul; and he just mentioned it.” Victor paused and kind of looked down and away.
I smiled. “Out with it.”
“When I remembered Paul mentioning where you worked, I googled the company and tried to find you. I was gonna send you flowers or something, but I couldn’t get access to the employee directory.” Victor shrugged his shoulders. “So I gave up, because I knew in my heart that I would see you again.”
Wow. What could I say behind that? I thought, so I didn’t say anything. But inside I was glowing.
Victor smiled at me like he knew what he was doing to me. “So you’ll have dinner with me tomorrow?”
“No, Victor,” I said, and watched all the enthusiasm drain from his face. “Not tomorrow. Thursday.”
His face lit up like I had just given him the best news he’d ever received.
“Are you familiar with Seasons 52 in the St. Johns Town Center?”
“I am.” His smile broadened. “I’ve been there before. The food is excellent.”
“Seven o'clock?”
“I look forward to it.” He took a step away from the car. “Good night, Natasha.”
“Good night, Victor.”
Chapter Three
Victor
It was finally Thursday; and I gotta tell you, these have been the longest two days of my life. I was getting ready to leave for the night, thinking how each hour seemed to drag on endlessly. How performing once important task, now seemed menial, tedious and boring.
I woke up Tuesday morning feeling so much enthusiasm about the new day. I felt energetic and eager to start the day. When I got to work, I felt like there was some type of magnetic field around me that I couldn’t explain, even if I tried. Some of you may find this hard to believe, but instead of concentrating on the preparation of complex financial analysis and models to aid in investment decisions, I was thinking about the night before. When I should have been focused on identifying potential markets and market trends, I was on Instagram looking at the wedding pictures that Paul and Vanessa had posted. But I didn’t find what I was looking for.
Yesterday and today I’ve been at a marketing event for the company; in meetings all day, preparing marketing strategies, describing the key attributes of client companies, and making client presentations. This is where the money is made. So you can imagine how important my undivided attention was, or at least it should have been. Was it?
No.
I spent my day half-listening to what people were saying to me, because I was thinking about what is and is not, appropriate first date dinner conversation. Trying to remember what was on the menu at Seasons 52, before excusing myself from a meeting to go in the hallway so I could look it up on my phone. I thought about what I should wear. It was a casual spot, but I didn’t want to be too casual, which led me into an internal discussion about what is and is not casual, and whether or not I should just go buy something new to wear.
But it didn’t stop there.