“Whew,” he said with a low whistle. “You are in the thick of it then.”
“Don’t remind me.” I laughed. “She’s got a mouth on her and more personality than I ever had at that age. But she’s my girl.”
“I feel you. Mine is still in the goofy stage, but I know that attitude is coming.”
We both laughed and it felt so natural that it made me forget why I was nervous in the first place. I curled my legs up underneath me on the bed and stared at the phone.
“So… what do you do for a living?” I asked, then immediately caught myself. “Wait! Sorry, if this is too much. Let me know when I’ve reached my limit on questions.”
He laughed. “There is no limit. You can ask me whatever. I like talking anyway, and this is already fun.”
That made me smile so hard I had to look away from the screen.
“I used to work in finance,” he continued. “Now I’m a full-time day trader.”
I sat up straighter. “Okay, that’s interesting. I really don’t know any day traders.”
“Seriously?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“Dead serious,” I said, laughing. “But I’m a real estate attorney, so it’s probably because I’m not in that world… or because I’m a mom who’s always busy with no social life to meet any.”
He chuckled. “That makes sense. My son’s with me on the weekends, and those two days? Man, a social life is nonexistent. You basically become their concierge, chef, Uber, and entertainment director.”
“Exactly!” I laughed. “See, you get it!”
“Hell yeah I get it. But thank you for letting me know this shit is not gon’ get any better.”
We both burst out laughing again. It felt so good to share parent humor with someone who truly understood.
“Just stay prayed up,” I said between giggles. “That’s all I can tell you.”
“Good advice,” he said. “I’ma write that on the dry erase board in the kitchen next to my son’s Roblox login. Stay prayed up.”
I shook my head, smiling so wide my cheeks ached. The conversation had started as an uncertain leap… but it felt like it was starting to float.
“I swear, you sound way too calm for someone with a whole teenager,” he said, still catching his breath from what I assumed was another gym set. “It sounds too quiet over there. You sure you didn’t send her off to boarding school?”
I laughed. “No, I promise she’s real. She just has her own social life now. Between school, cheer, and being fake grown, she barely has time for me. I’m the assistant in her movie at this point.”
“Ah, so you’re a supporting character. Got it.”
“Exactly,” I said. “But I’ve accepted my role with grace.”
“You sound like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders,” he said. “Smart and honest.”
I blinked, looking at the wall. “Wow… you got all that from a few jokes about my daughter?”
“No,” he said. “I got that from the way you talk. You listen when people speak. You think before you answer, even if it’s sarcastic. There’s a calm under the layers.”
“Okay… now that was smooth.”
He laughed so hard that it made me smile. “I wasn’t trying to be smooth, just being real. It's crazy because I had this conversation with my brother earlier. It's sad that a lot of women are so used to surface-level conversation that they don’t know what to do when someone talks past their smile.”
Touché.
“Okay, Stacksss,” I said, dragging his name out playfully. “Now you sound like a therapist or something. You sure you’re not part-time healing people between trades?”
“Maybe,” he said, still smiling. “Or maybe I’ve just dated enough emotionally unavailable women to learn how to listen.”
