I shake my head. “Exactly. This is breaking a major rule for me. I’m struggling to get past it, but I want to.”
“Well, how necessary is she as an employee? That would be my first question.”
“She’s good at her job. I can’t fire her. She needs it, and that would just make me feel worse about the situation. No one should have to choose between their job and being in a relationship with someone.”
After taking another swig of his beer, his eyes wander off to mine. “Wait, relationship? So, you want to go full out with this girl? That changes things. If it is just a fling, then I would say hell no, but Hudson, you deserve to be happy. Don’t push her away just because of those rules of yours.”
Leo is giving me some perspective that I’ve taken into consideration myself, but to hear it come from someone else’s mouth besides family means I should try. Stop pushing her away, and letting myself think there’s no way it can work.
We spend the rest of the hour talking about his job and missing his wife. Poor guy. She passed away from cancer a couple of years back, and it really hit him hard. For a little while, he became a version of me, pushing everyone around him away, and even took a leave from his work to figure some shit out. Nobody could blame him. I mean, they were together for almost twenty years, since eighteen. I can’t imagine losing someone with that kind of history.
“Well, maybe you can invite some friends and we can have a bonfire tomorrow night at my house. I have this huge backyard and no one to invite over.”
Socializing is something I’m trying to do more of right now. “Yeah. I can invite some military buddies from work and you can meet Laurel. Well, if everything goes well after talking to her tonight.”
We drink the last of our beers, pay the check, and exit the bar.
“I’ll text ya tomorrow. Maybe grill some steaks or something. It’ll be nice to meet some new people. Catch ya later, bro.”
My phone goes off.
Laurel: Can we talk when you get home? I really need to get some things off my chest.
No boombox, but if I’m going to do this, then I have to be all in. No overthinking it or pushing her away.
I deserve to be happy.