Thirty-five and Single

“No, I’m all yours,” Joel says, glancing at me and I feel sick.

“How about six? I get off at five, and we can meet for dinner.” Her eyes never leave his as she speaks.

They do the phone exchange thing then Joel leaves with a hasty goodbye. Janet comes flying around the corner, having spied the whole thing.

“Seriously, Olivia, that was so cool of you. He’s so hot.” Cara’s nearly bouncing off the wall with excitement.

“He sure is.” Janet gives her a fist bump.

Joel looks like the star of any current movie or can command any stage, so I don’t blame them for drooling. Though I’ve just eaten lunch, I do well by not hurling. Together, Joel and Cara look like they could have stepped off the red carpet, despite her wearing scrubs.

Nice girl as she is, she’s prettier than I am and weighs far less, wearing her younger skin like a runway model. Damn her.

“And it’s hump day.” Janet winks.

Food stirs in my stomach at the thought. Yes, it’s Wednesday, a day commonly called hump day, and not for the reasons Janet means as she eyes Cara conspiratorially. Yay, I say with false cheer in my head. I’ve hooked up my sexy neighbor to spend hump day with someone else. Go, me.

Thankfully, a mother comes in with her son, and it’s back to business. I do my best to not think about Joel and hump day together, but on the inside I want to cry.

Close to the end of the day, I’ve replayed the dinner date conversation in my head for the millionth time and don’t hear my boss walk up. Dr. T, as he calls himself, clears his throat in front of my desk shortly before I’m scheduled to leave.

When I glance up, he says, “Olivia, you wouldn’t mind staying late, would you? Dale’s coming by to work on my quarterly taxes. I know it’s not your job, but I have plans with the missus tonight and can’t be late.”

What he’s not saying is, “You’re a loser and have nothing better to do.” I nod. Besides, I don’t, and part of my job is bookkeeping. Though the good doctor has always been the one to meet with his guy at the tax firm, I don’t mind.

I lock the door after he leaves and sit at my desk to wait for the old guy to show up. When the knock comes, it’s not a guy in his late sixties; it’s an attractive thirty-something man.

“Can I help you?”

He holds out his hand. “I’m here to go over the books.”

Dr. T’s tax man is an old-school guy who believes in coming to the client instead of the other way around.

“You’re not Dale Burns.” I give him a quizzical look.

He laughs. “I’m not. I’m Dale’s son, Paul.”

My jaw opens. I don’t want to consider what he’s saying because Madame Zelda couldn’t be right, even if he is an accountant with a first name that starts with P. I shake my head. It’s just a coincidence. Though I find myself looking at his hand for a ring and find none.

When I meet his eyes, I know I’ve been caught. I step back, and damn if I don’t trip over my own feet. His handsome face hidden behind black framed glasses matches a superhero’s secret identity as he manages to reach me and scoop me around the waist before I fall.

We stare at each other for longer than an average glance.

“Your name?” He still hangs on like he’s dipping me in a dance.

“Olivia.” It comes out breathy, and he grins.

“Can I take you out?”

And that’s how I end up with a date for the coming Friday night.

For the rest of the evening, I learn Paul is older than me by two years, and he’s single. He’s divorced, but I’m headed there too. I take it to be positive; at least he’s not opposed to long-term relationships.

These are the lies I tell myself on the way home, unable not to wonder how Joel is faring on his date. Then I think about what Madame Zelda said to me. A child could come between the accountant with a name beginning with P and me. Is Paul my soulmate? Could we have a child together? Or am I reaching by trying to consider that Zelda’s prediction is accurate even when my heart yearns for someone else?

I’m eating a salad and a dry piece of baked chicken, trying out the latest diet. My curves are a gift from all the hormones I had to take in an attempt to get knocked up, or so I tell myself. Losing the weight has been a struggle, even with diet and exercise. Sometimes I wonder if the pounds had been Corey’s reason for looking elsewhere.

Unfortunately for me, the television is on mute when I hear noises in the hall. I’d taken a phone call from Amelia and had silenced my background noise to share the news of my date this weekend.