“My choice is gonna be wild and crazy,” I announced.
She leaned in. “Oh, do tell.”
Looking around, I lowered my voice. “We’re gonna have dinner in the restaurant.”
“Ohhhh. I can’t believe you’d dare go there,” she said facetiously.
“Right?” I chuckled.
“By the way, I just made an executive decision.”
“What’s that?”
She raised her chin. “I’m not coming on to you anymore.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why? It’s kind of fun when you do.”
“Yeah, but I need to get some self-respect. If you seriously don’t want to be anything more than friends with me, that’s your right. I shouldn’t be making it harder for you to say no.”
“So, what’s this new chapter gonna look like for us?” I asked, disappointed—and disappointed in myself for being disappointed.
“We can still have fun,” she said. “I’m just not gonna try to tempt you anymore.”
Pretty sure all she had to do was breathe, and she’d still be tempting me.
“Okay.” I exhaled. “Well, cool then.”
Maybe this was a test. I couldn’t be sure. In any case, her flirtatiousness had never been the issue. Aside from that guy touching her, it had been nothing but fun. The problem wasmyweakness and desire to bend her over my knee at any given moment.
She sighed. “I still can’t believe this is going to be over so soon.”
“I can’t believe it either. I’m not ready to let you go.” I realized immediately that was probably a little too honest. “What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you get home?” I asked as we walked toward the elevators.
“Probably laundry.”
“That’s pretty boring, but makes sense.”
She tilted her head. “You?”
“I’m gonna book a trip to see my son. It’s been too long. Well, that’s right after I pick up my dog from the sitter.”
“What kind of dog do you have?”
“German shepherd. Her name is Khloe.”
“Aw. That’s so sweet. Should I be jealous?”
“Maybe a little. She’s my number-one girl.” I winked. “Khloe’s been through a lot with me.”
“That’s adorable.” She grinned, but circled back. “As for the trip to see your son, it’s never too late to make things right. Don’t let other people, like your son’s mom, make you feel you don’t deserve a second chance. You’ve been trying your best. That’s all you can ever do. Even if you made mistakes along the way, you thought you were doing the right thing at the time. And you’ve learned from your mistakes.”
Her words made me feel warm inside. I smiled. “Thanks for the advice. Who’s the old one here?”
“Idohave an old soul,” she said. “I’ve been told that before. I also think sometimes when you haven’t been so scarred by life, you can see things more clearly. You’ve been through a lot of circumstances that might make you question yourself. But from what you’ve told me, it doesn’t seem like anything that happened was really your fault. It just happened—your injury, your high school girlfriend’s unplanned pregnancy, the accident when you were in the military. Sure, you could’ve done things differently when it came to your son, but like you said yourself, his mother shut you out when she got married. Sounds to me like you’ve been doing the best you can with what you’ve got.”
I shook my head. “Who the hell are you, Doris-Delores? Are you, like, an angel sent to make me feel better about myself?”
“I’ve been sent from the Kingdom of Blue Balls to save you from yourself.”
