“I’ll try, no promises.”
They said good night, leaving Ridge and me as they went to the wall of claw machines.
“You going home, Ridge?”
“Not really. I’m cat-sitting, so I’m going there.”
“You’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind it.” He shrugged. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. “Because it’s a cat, I don’t have to get home just yet. Do you wanna show me your new place first?”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Be prepared to be wowed.”
I laughed.
He laughed.
No one was wowed, but we had a nice time, so there was that.
Chapter Six
August
I’d finally managed to put Hal into the back of my mind. He was an employee at our firm, and I couldn’t continually call him into my office. Not without causing talk, and I’d never want to do anything that could hurt him either emotionally or business wise.
But that didn’t mean that when I walked into the elevator to find him all by himself in there, I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to try to clear the air. I’d believed after he left me the other day that we were going to have dinner, but either he’d changed his mind or hadn’t understood what I meant.
“Good morning.” I turned to face forward, standing a foot or so away from him, having no desire for him to feel crowded. “Thank you for dinner the other night. How did you guess what my favorite restaurant was?”
“Pure luck. It’s mine, too.”
“Nice. You have good taste.” We were heading down, the floors lighting up above the closed stainless steel doors. Not much time. “But I would like to treat you to a meal, if you’re open to the idea of going out with me.”
He flushed, cheeks coloring, but didn’t meet my gaze. “Is that okay? You’re my boss.”
“Twice removed. I have no direct supervision of you, so it doesn’t violate any rules. But, that said, I am inviting you out, not ordering you or suggesting it’s related to our jobs in any way.”
“And that’s okay?”
“If you’re uncomfortable, it is not okay. And I’ll apologize and never mention it again.” And just hope I didn’t run into himoften. If I did, I’d certainly be polite and professional. And it would suck. But, I’d do it.
“I’m not uncomfortable. I just don’t want you to get into any kind of trouble.” Adorable and kind!
“No, that won’t happen.
“I see.” He lifted his face and gave me a small smile, just a twitch of the lips, but it made it hard not to hug him. “Jovan says you’re a good guy. He’s my friend Ernie’s…his person.”
“Jovan is a good guy himself, and I’m glad that he feels that way about me, and also, he is making it easier for you to trust me. Still…why don’t you think about it and let me know.”
“That sounds reasonable.” It did not however let me know what he was thinking—whether he was interested as well. But he had stopped short of saying Jovan was Ernie’s daddy.
Not that it was an easy topic to get into, especially right as the doors were opening again and a flood of people from the fourth floor were boarding. We continued to ride down to the ground floor and parted ways in the lobby without another word spoken.
I was meeting a business associate for lunch, so I went outside and turned right, heading down the block to a popular throwback restaurant. It had been in business for over half a century and was the kind of place where once men met for what they called a “liquid lunch.” Women rarely entered, at least at lunchtime, except the waitresses who, in the framed pictures on the wall, wore uniforms not too far from those I’d expect to find at a gentleman’s club. Short skirts, low necklines, high heels nobody carrying trays around should ever have to wear, and hairstyles reaching for the ceiling.
The Duke had fallen out of favor for a decade or so, and the new owners had managed to combine the best elements of the old and new to create a great place to meet colleagues or clients or even friends for a relaxed meal. Sure, they had a full bar,and the waitstaff was often quite good-looking, but they weren’t treated as sex objects, and I hadn’t seen anyone just having drinks for lunch there in the years I’d been going.
My associate was there when I arrived, and although we had a good lunch from their updated-but-still-somehow-retro menu and a productive conversation, a part of my mind remained in the elevator with Hal.
