Triplets Make Five

I felt my jaw drop open as I held my drink in my hand.

“You seem shocked,” Preston said.

“I am.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t think a playboy cared about anyone but himself,” I said.

“You’re feisty,” he said with a chuckle. “And ballsy. I like that. I think I’ll keep you around for a little while longer.”

“Not funny,” I said as I sipped my drink.

“Kind of funny,” he said with a grin.

This man was infuriating, but there was a starkly different side to him I didn’t expect. This cocky man in front of me cared about what happened in third world countries? Was someone punking me? The idea that this man, with his thick head of brown hair and his dazzling green eyes, cared about something other than himself was…nice.

It was really nice, in fact.

The rest of the conversation flowed just as easily between us. The witty and fiery banter continued and I indulged him on how I came to have this job. I told him about how school was easy for me because of my ability to speed read and do fast mental calculations, and I explained to him how I got an internship with Bernie before he hired me full time.

“Right out of college?” Preston asked.

“Yep. I was twenty-one years old with a Master’s in Accounting and he wanted to keep me on. So, he hired me as the accountant to all of his investors and I’ve been here ever since.”

“So you really speed read,” he said.

“I do. Five thousand words a minute.”

“What’s 9,542.85 times 4,560.84?”

“43,523,411.994.”

“You didn’t round that off?” he asked.

“Would you care if I did?” I asked.

“That’s amazing,” he said.

“It is what it is.”

“You’re seriously not impressed that you can do that?” he asked.

“Not really. I’ve always been able to. It was a source of ridicule and teasing for most of my life, so I quickly grew to resent it.”

Preston’s eyes softened towards me as I took the last sip from my fourth drink that evening.

“Last call!” the bartender called out.

Wait. Last call? What time was it?

“It’s three in the morning,” Preston said.

“What?” I asked.

“I saw the shock roll across your face. If you’re wondering, it’s three in the morning.”

“We’ve been sitting here for five hours,” I said.