We text back and forth all morning in coded, dirty messages. I can’t believe it, but I’m turned on and frustrated because of them. The frustration is somehow titillating and just as thrilling as the messages themselves. Never have I been hot and bothered over texts like this, let alone for this long. And as though fate really is on our side, my boss comes by to thank me for the presentation, and that I can have an extra hour for lunch as a thanks.
We arrange to meet outside of my office building at noon, and by eleven I'm so wound up that I’m not sure I’ll actually be able to sit through a meal before jumping his bones. The minutes pass by agonizingly, despite the fact work usually breezes by for me. Just as I start to collect my things and prepare to clock out, there’s a knock on my door. Looking up, I’m stunned to see Caroline standing there.
“Hey,” I breathe.
“Hi,” Caroline returns awkwardly as she steps inside. “Do you have a minute?”
“Uh,” I mutter and look at the time. There’s ten minutes before I’m technically supposed to head downstairs. Sighing, I nod. “Yeah. What’s up?”
She sucks in a deep breath and clasps her hands in front of her. “I wanted to let you know personally that I’ve uninvited mom from the wedding.”
“What?” I exclaim, blinking. “What happened?”
She shrugs and looks down to the ground. “After we went our separate ways, she followed me and kept bad mouthing you in an attempt to blame you for everything. That you were the one driving a wedge between everyone, not her. I suppose I sort of… Snapped. You’re the one that’s always been there for us, not her. And she couldn’t even admit her own fault in everything. Even if you overstepped a little, I know you and I know you didn’t mean it in a selfish way.”
I nod and add on, “She drives me nuts but I can deal with her rude remarks. I was tired of her making it about anything else but you.” I tilt my head side to side. “Okay… Maybe it was a tiny bit for me too.”
Caroline laughs and I snicker along with her. She rushes over to me and throws her arms around me, squeezing me tight. “I’m sorry for everything. Of course you’re still invited to the wedding.”
“Thank you, though you have nothing to be sorry for,” I assure her and squeeze her back. We talk a little more about what still needs to be done before the wedding, but I can feel the minutes flying by. At another glance at the time, I know I need to clock out and get going. Looking at Caroline, I know that she’s likely going to ask to have lunch together and I might as well bite the bullet. “I hate to rush you along, but I have to get to lunch… I have a date.”
“A date?” she beams, her blue eyes sparkling brilliantly at me. “With who?”
My lips press together and I hold back the name for a moment. Even though I once worried what she would think about me seeing the man altering her dress, I know better. Caroline won’t even think about how it could potentially impact her, she’ll just be happy for me because that’s who she is. She doesn’t see the dark side in anything. “Emanuel, from the dress shop.”
“Really?!” she practically squeals. She then claps her hands together rapidly and does a little dance. “Oh, that’s so exciting! Don’t let me keep you but I want to hear everything later. Okay?”
“Sure,” I smile, though I blush deeply. I’m sure she thinks it’s because I haven’t been on a date in so long, but it’s mostly because I know what Emanuel and I have in mind for this lunch. And I certainly won’t be sharing those kind of details with my baby sister. She hurries out before me, giving me enough time to clock out and grab my purse before heading outside too.
Waiting just outside of the door, sure enough, is Emanuel. I can’t decide whether his custom suits look better on him, or his t-shirts and sweats. Maybe everything looks good on him—especially the grin on his lips right now. “Shall we?” he asks, offering me his arm.
I take it with a ridiculous smirk on my face before asking, “Where are we going?”
“Well, I thought about suggesting this pub just a couple blocks away, but apparently there’s a festival today on the other side of this block,” he says, nodding toward the corner we are walking toward. “Saw some food trucks and games. Wanna go check that out?”
“Sure,” I nod.
We are both smiling like a couple of lovesick teenagers as we walk toward the festival. Sure enough, the side street is blocked off for a spring festival. There’s at least a dozen food trucks in sight, booths with stores and farms selling their goods, and community groups that had games like cornhole, darts, and competitive hula hooping.