ANYA: Just sitting around.
SETH: Me too. Want to sit around together?
SETH: While people bring us food?
ANYA: LOL nice try.
His next attempts were no less entertaining. I was at work dealing with a glitch in the calendar program that mixed up everyone’s appointments. After turning it over to tech support, I’d been on the verge of locking myself in the bathroom for the rest of the day when his text came through.
SETH: I’m having a bit of an emergency here.
ANYA: R U OK?
SETH: My refrigerator is broken. What do I do?
ANYA: Did you call for a repair?
SETH: I already did. But maybe you could bring me some food while I wait?
SETH: Then you could stay. And eat it next to me : )
ANYA: Oh, you’re good.
In between the creative attempts at getting me to agree to another date, he sends me funny stuff he sees while out and about in the city and even a picture of him with his little sister. Every single thing contributes to the overall picture of a brilliant, misunderstood and slightly lonely overachiever.
If this is how he operates in the business world I’m starting to understand why he’s so successful.
Things with him are so easy. I could just say yes and I have a feeling he would make sure I’d never want for anything again. Plus he’s not exactly hard on the eyes. What a choice. The emotionally scarred older man who has nothing but bad experiences with love or the optimistic billionaire who wants the same things I do?
The oddest part is that I can’t even talk about it with anyone. It feels wrong to ask Casey and Mya to take sides since they know Law, too. Jessi has been so tired lately working all night and planning her wedding. Truthfully, we’ve grown apart due to having opposite schedules. Really, Law was my closest friend and I was used to telling him everything. But what’s to say that Seth couldn’t become my next best friend if I gave him the chance?
Decisions. Decisions.
Almost like he can hear my thoughts, a text from Seth pops up on my phone.
SETH: Dinner tonight?
My fingers hover over the screen. Finally I put my phone away and get back to prepping the salad. It’s so tempting to just say yes and spend a pleasant night being distracted by the sexy, intense man who is actually interested in spending time with me. But then I have a sudden mental image of Law sprawled on my couch sleeping.
How long can I pretend that I’m ready to move on? It’s become painfully obvious that dating isn’t going to be as simple as just finding a new guy. I need to think about this and not make any rash decisions.
“What are you doing to those cucumbers?”
&nbs
p; My mom’s voice breaks my concentration and I look down to see that instead of chopping I’ve been mushing the same few pieces of cucumber into pulp.
“Oh, sorry. I guess I’m a little distracted.”
My mom smiles knowingly. “How is James doing? Working late tonight?”
I smile weakly and shrug. It was way too complicated to explain to my mother so I kind of just neglected to tell her that we broke up. Maybe it was time to come clean but honestly she’d called because Pop was having a good day. I wanted to spend time with them and enjoy the moment while it lasted. My mom deserves to enjoy this break. I don’t want to give her something else to worry about.
“Yeah. We have a new account at work. Things have been really busy.”
“Maybe soon you can take a little time off. Drag that handsome man here for dinner. He works too much. Your father was the same way.” She clucks disapprovingly.
Even though she has said something similar many times before, it strikes me differently today. Like most, I don’t really think about my parents as a couple. They’ve always been just Mom and Pop. But they dated and married young, right in the middle of my father’s demanding education and later, his demanding career. Did my mother ever feel the way I do? Like she was just an afterthought?