Page 101 of The Man I Hate

“Hoe. Lee. Crap.”

“We’ll see if my Hawaiian connection wants it.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

The phone rang. I gestured to it and grinned. “Hopefully, he’s got kids.”

“If not, I guess you’ll have to offer it to someone else. Someone will snatch that deal up.”

I reached for the phone. “There is no one else.”

I answered it. “Well?”

“This shit’s for real?” he asked, seeming hesitant. “No bullshit?”

“You’ve got my personal guarantee that when this pandemic’s over, you’ll get what I’ve promised. Ask around the industry, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

“Your reputation’s sterling,” he said. “Or we wouldn’t be talking. Tell you what. You’ve got a deal.”

“Email me the wire transfer information and I’ll send you the money. This stuff better be on a plane this afternoon. I need it tomorrow. No exceptions.”

“It’ll be out today,” he said. “You have my word.”

I hung up the phone and glanced at Anna. “Well, that’s a done deal.”

“So, you’re getting 125,000 N95 masks?”

“Correct.”

“Can I use 10,000 of them as a bargaining chip?”

“For what?”

“I want a doctor from the hospital to call you and have a one-on-one conversation about your father. I think the masks might be enough of an incentive to get him to do so.”

“Not a bad idea,” I said. “Give it a try.”

She leaned over her keyboard and began typing like her fingers were on fire. Since our agreement to be in a relationship, she’d been in my home non-stop. Six weeks earlier, I would have described such an event as torturous.

Now, I couldn’t think of having it any other way.

She swept the hair away from her face a few times, and then twisted it into a bun. She went right back to typing as if nothing had happened. The corners of my mouth curled up. I couldn’t help it.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I murmured.

She glanced up, but only for a second. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“I mean at all,” I said. “I want you to stay here. I wake up, I see you. I go to bed, you’re at my side.”

She looked up. “Really?”

“Really.”

She smiled. “Sounds fun. I’m in.”

She commenced with her email campaign. I watched her for a few moments, grinning all the while.

I shook my head in disbelief. “This is nuts.”