“She’ll meet us at the restaurant. It’s easier for her to do it that way. She wants to make sure that everything’s right for the nanny.”
Olivia smiles. “Oh yeah, I forgot that you had kids.”
I sighed. “Four of them. Who the fuck has four these days? But then the way they carry on you would think that they had twenty.”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, Ross. You know that we’re just a bit protective, because of what happened…”
Then there was that uncomfortable silence that happened whenever we talked about Amelia losing her baby. She went through something, something that no woman should ever experience. It was so fucking dark. Craig took a lot of time off work to help her through it. I know that was part of the reason they were part of the Fifty Shades club. It meant that they could reconnect.
“Okay, we wouldn’t want to keep her waiting,” Olivia said. I could tell by her expression that she’d brought up a topic that she shouldn’t have done. Or rather I had. Either way, Craig agreed, and we got into the elevator and headed out.
“Olivia, I think that you’ve put a magic spell on my friend.”
She laughed, “Why do you say that?”
I knew that he was going to say something that would make me regret agreeing to the date night. Two fucking weeks and I was watching shows and doing everything that I’d never in a million years have thought of doing.
The whole thing should have bugged me. Made me want to break up with her, given me that itch. Maybe Craig was right and Olivia was some kind of witch and she’d put me under some magic spell.
“I’ve never been on a double date with Ross, and do you want to know how many years I’ve known him?”
Olivia’s eyes darted to me, but then Craig offered his arm for her to loop in so that they could walk and talk.
“Ever since college, nearly ten years ago.”
Now I was the one doing the laughing, “It was over twelve years ago.”
Craig stops in his tracks. “For someone’s that’s the fucking CFO, You’re kind of crap at maths.”
“I don’t think that it’s the math that’s the problem, just the denial of his true age,” Olivia said. I smiled at her. She had a tendency to say things that a guy would say.
The restaurant was a couple of blocks from the office, so we decided to walk there. Besides, it was a nice night, why not walk and it gives the driver a day off? The man worked too hard.
“Come here,” Olivia called for me to walk on the other side of her. Now she was in between two guys.
“I bet this is your secret fantasy.”
She laughed. “Until I met you I didn’t really think about it.”
“Really?” Craig raised an eyebrow.
She replied, “No, the only thing I wanted to do was get to where I desired in my career.”
“God, you guys are perfect for each other.”
It was then that we reached the restaurant and strangely enough, Amelia was waiting outside.
“What you doing out here hon?” Craig asked as he kissed her on the cheek.
“I hate sitting in a restaurant alone. I prefer to be outside.”
It was then that he kissed her again and said, “So you can smoke?”
I glanced across the curb; she must have thrown it when she saw us.
“Just one night. Come on.” She shrugged her shoulders, and before Craig could reply, Amelia darted toward Olivia. “You must be the woman that’s put a spell on Ross.”
Where had we heard that before?