Her words come back to me about how she’s never been in love before or had toe-curling sex. I stare at her for a second, finding it hard to believe she doesn’t have to fight the men off with a stick. If this were a date, I’d definitely be telling her how wrong she is about herself. But it isn’t, so I can’t. “What about your mom? She knows you were on the way. I’m sure she’s sent out the Coast Guard by now.”
She shakes her head, staring down at her plate. “No, she won’t.”
“Sure she will.”
Avoiding my gaze, Paige says, “She’ll assume I was lying.”
I cock my head to the side. “Why would she assume that?”
“Because I always seem to run into trouble like this. After a while, it’s natural for people to assume you’re just making stuff up.” She picks at the fish with her fork. “Not likethissituation specifically, but there’s always something. My boss is what you’d call demanding, so occasionally when I try to make it home for family stuff, I end up missing it.” She sighs, and her shoulders drop a little further. “More than occasionally, actually. I almost never make it home.”
“Must be one hell of a great job if you’re willing to miss out on your entire life for it.”
“Not really,” she says, glancing up at me. “I’m an executive assistant at one of the biggest ad agencies in the world. To be honest, my boss is quite possibly a psychopathwho only cares about money.But…”she says, raising one finger, “eventually, it’ll pay off.”
“Hmph. How eventually?”
“I have a five-year plan,” Paige says, lifting her chin. “I should have my own corner office by the time I’m thirty-three.”
Yup, that seems about right. For whatever reason, I’m only attracted to women like her —the ‘knows exactly what she wants, makes five-year plans and will leave you the second your bank account dips too low’ type. “Well, there you go.”
Paige narrows her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” I say, putting both hands up in surrender. “You gotta have a plan, right?”
Raising one eyebrow, she says, “And let me guess, you’re a ‘go with the flow, Type B to the max, never gets his feathers ruffled’ kind of guy.”
“Pretty much, but try not to hold it against me,” I answer with a half grin.
“You might as well just say it.”
“Say what?”
Paige tilts her head. “What you actually think about people who have goals and plans for their lives.”
Well, she asked…“It just seems to me that a lot of people let their entire lives pass by while they’re frantically working on their five-year plans.”
“Right, and you’re some all-knowing Zen master who has the secret to happiness.”
Glancing out at the water, I watch as the last bit of the sun disappears on the horizon. “I don’t know about the secret to happiness for anyone else, but I know what makesmylife worth living.”
“Well, so do I.”
“Money?” I ask, taking another bite of fish.
She glares at me. “Just because I’m ambitious doesn’t mean I don’t know what life is all about, thank you very much.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said your goal is to spend your life in some corner office somewhere.”
“Not just anywhere. In one of the world’s biggest and most respected ad agencies. And it’s not just about money. It’s about being creative and helping people.”
“And who exactly are you helping by getting people to buy a bunch of crap they don’t need?”
Paige gives me a cold stare while she chews, then says, “We help a lot of people. People are the ones who come up with new innovations. People with dreams. And without us, no one would find out about new medications that could save their lives or products that will help a senior citizen age in place, like a bathtub with a door so you don’t have to climb over the side.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. You should call up the Pope. See if he’ll canonize you.”
“Obviously I know I’m not a saint. I’m just saying that my work is about a hell of a lot more than money,” she says in a haughty tone. “And even if it was all about money, what’s wrong with that? I don’t see you flying people around out of the goodness of your heart. In fact, you charged me an awfully steep price for twenty minutes of time.”
