“I know. I started crying when he told me. I could only imagine how horrible it would be to lose Connor. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know how a parent could move on after going through something like that.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty intense. So, he’s divorced?” she asked with a look of disappointment.
“Yes, but it’s really hard for people to stay married after they lose a child. He said they are still friends and his ex is even getting re-married soon. He seemed really well adjusted about the whole thing.”
“Okay, we need to get out of this sad zone,” she suggested. “Let’s get back to talking about the sex. Tell me all about him.”
The desire to know about my sex life wasn’t new with Mattie. She had an insatiable appetite for everything sordid when it came to me – and anyone else who sat near her in the office. I did my best to keep the main details to myself, but there were a few things I couldn’t help but share with her.
“You know, he’s really good with his hands. Like expert massage level good. When his hands pressed against my lower back, I wanted to move things to a massage table and just let him go to town. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good massage,” I winked.
“Girl, me, too!”
“I’m seeing him again Friday, but we are doing the real date thing,” I said. “I’m not going to sleep with him.”
She just shook her head at me in disappointment.
“Why on earth would you make such a decision? You like him, and he likes you. If the date goes well, you bring him back to your place and screw his brains out. This isn’t a marathon you’re running; you don’t need to save your energy for later. This is casual dating, Del. Casual means you have fun and relax.”
“I don’t want him to think I’m easy like that,” I said.
“Oh, because sleeping with him on the second date would mean you’re easy, but the first date didn’t?” she teased. “Come on, just have fun for once in your life. Let things progress. Get to know him and just enjoy yourself. Just because you go on more than one date with the guy doesn’t mean the two of you are going to be walking down the aisle.”
Logically, I knew Mattie was right. I was enjoying getting to know Brandon and wanted to date him casually. The problem was that I only had two speeds when it came to men: I either fell in love with them, or I discarded them after one night. If I planned on dating this guy, it was going to be really hard for me to keep my feelings in check and I knew it.
“I’ll do my best,” I said.
“Yeah, do your damn best and forget about the rest,” she said in a chant as we made our way back to the elevator and to our desks.
When I arrived back at my desk, the computer consultant that had been there the other day to bring me my computer was there again. If Robert had called him earlier this morning, the guy sure did move quickly.
“Your boss says there are some errors in your system?”
“Not really. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There are errors in the website coding, not actually with the computer. I’ve gone over the code and just can’t seem to figure out what I’m missing.”
“Oh, I see. If you’d like to log into your administer section, I can take a look. I’ve got several years of coding experience. Sometimes it just takes another set of eyes.”
“Sure, I could use another person scanning through it. Anything at this point,” I said as I logged in and pulled up the internal code I was having trouble with. “I’ll be just across the way talking with my friend for a minute; let me know if you need anything.”
Chapter Ten
Brandon
“I’m sorry, sir, your card has been declined,” the waitress said softly. Josh and I were out to lunch, and I had offered to pick up the tab.
“What?”
“Is there another form of payment you’d like to use?” the waitress asked me.
She was a very nice waitress, but I was dumbfounded as to how on earth my credit card could be declined. It wasn’t like I rode my cards close to the limit and didn’t have availability on them. Something strange was going on, and I needed to get over to my bank and get it figured out.
“Yes, I’ll pay in cash,” I said, afraid of using a different card and having some sort of similar issue.
“That’s weird,” Josh started to say. “Has anything like that ever happened before?”
We were both thinking the same thing, I could tell. My heart raced as I looked at him and shook my head. If some government agency had tagged me in an investigation and frozen my bank accounts, I was going to be pissed. I was an upstanding citizen who followed all the laws. There was no reason for me to get involved in anything against the law. I made millions by following the rules.
Josh and I didn’t talk at all as we left the restaurant. I knew he wanted to say something about the damn trading account. But I would have exploded on him if he had mumbled one single word. My anger was building, and we quickly walked the two blocks down the street from the restaurant to the main branch of my bank.