“Knock knock?”
I paused at Kelly’s voice. “Come in?”
She cracked my door open. “I thought you left for your date.”
I snickered. “And now I’m back.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
I sighed. “Actually, yeah. Can you come sit for a bit?”
She eased her way into my office and closed my door before coming to sit in the chair in front of my desk. She looked tired herself and I wanted to ask if she was alright, but she seemed so prepared to listen to my story that I didn’t want to take that away from her if that was what she needed to cope with whatever was keeping her up late on a weekend night.
So, I drew in a deep breath.
“We went bowling, right?”
She nodded. “Right.”
“And we were having a good time until I suggested having a quickie in the bathroom, right?”
Her eyes bulged. “You what?”
I groaned as I slid down in my seat. “I know, I know. It was an idiotic thing to suggest. But things were going so well, and he looked so nice in his white t-shirt and it just—I blurted it out.”
“I take it he didn’t like the idea.”
“I’m pretty sure he used the word ‘disgusting’ at one point.”
“What? What an ass!”
I rolled my eyes. “I mean, he made a good point. Who wants to have sex when someone’s taking a dump right next to them?”
She folded her arms over her chest. “What I want to know is who’s taking a dump in a bowling alley bathroom.”
I barked with laughter. “Many people aren’t scared of pooping in public.”
“Well, it sounds like it was for the best. I mean, if he isn’t going to indulge your kinky side in the slightest, then--.”
“That’s the thing, though. We sort of addressed it after I got back into town. We were texting back and forth late into Monday night, and I told him that I had a kinky side. I told him that I was a freak, or at least I was discovering that side of me. But his reaction was just on another level. It made me feel… gross. Like I had something to be ashamed of.”
“Then, you don’t need him. You deserve better than that. You know that, right?”
I puffed my cheeks out with a sigh. “I don’t even know if I deserve that anymore.”
Kelly went to say something back, but my door swung open, revealing Jackson on the other side. And the question he asked me caught me off-guard.
“Has your sister gotten into contact with you yet?” he asked.
I blinked. “Maggie?”
He nodded. “She’s been blowing up the front desk phone all day. She just called back, actually. I told her that you were up here in your office and gave her your--.”
My phone started ringing and Jackson nodded toward it. “That’s probably her.”
I looked at Kelly. “You mind if I take this?”
She stood. “I’ll go get us some sodas from the vending machine. We need something to drink after that conversation.”
