“I’m eating with you,” she said while pulling out a container of pasta salad. “Much nicer view in here.”
At first I thought she was making a comment aboutme, but then I realized she meant the window. “I keep forgetting your office doesn’t have a good view.”
“I can see a tiny sliver of the sky across the hall!” she said, kicking her feet up on my desk. I tried not to look at her smooth legs. “But sometimes Allison closes her door, and then I can’t see anything. Watchya working on?”
I pulled out my own lunch and shot the shit with her while we ate. Ginny was definitely a lot friendlier this week; it wasn’t just my imagination. A few times, I was even certain that she wasflirtingwith me. I felt like I was getting all the green lights from her today. But I was still afraid to make a move. I liked that she was this comfortable around me, and didn’t want to do anything to risk changing that.
And when her pasta was gone, she popped up from her chair and stretched her hands over her head. “Thanks for the lunch date. Back to these donation grants.”
Lunch date. I wondered what she meant by that for the rest of the day.
I went home after work, hit the gym for an hour, and then went to August’s place for the cocktail event. As soon as I walked through the door, his dog Bernie came charging across the penthouse toward me, nearly knocking over two servers carrying trays of appetizers.
“I know, I’m the best,” I said while crouching down to let the dog lick my face. “I’m not a stranger like allthesepeople. Yeah.”
Bernie followed by my side as I went to find August. He was in the kitchen talking to a woman I recognized as the president of the charity. August was nodding along solemnly while she spoke.
“…has allowed us to givesevenmore scholarships for the upcoming semester!” she was saying.
“That’s so incredible,” August replied. He reached out and touched her arm. “I know nothing can ever replace your husband, but I’m glad to know his memory lives on through your organization, and through the grants we provide.”
“Thanks to some new donations,” I said, joining the conversation, “we should be able to make thateightscholarships next semester, Candice. No promises, of course, but fingers crossed.”
“It’s great to see you, Michael!” she gave me a big hug. “You always remind me of my late husband. He had the same build as you.” She gave me a pained smile. “I’m going to go mingle.”
As she walked away, I told August, “You really do know how to turn on the charm when the job requires it.”
“I’m just buttering up Candice for you,” he replied. “You hear her? You remind her of her late husband. She could be your rebound. I bet she knows how to stop, drop, androll, if you know what I mean.”
“Aaaaand you’re back.” I shook my head. “Candice is nice, but she’s thirty years older than me.”
“Which means she’sexperienced,” he replied. “Think about all the tricks she knows.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Dude…”
“Settle down, I’m only joking. Stay the fuck away from Candice. She’s an angel, and she’s too good for you. If you actually tried to put the moves on her, I’d knock you out.”
I raised my eyebrow at him.
“Fine, I probably can’t knock you out. But I’d sucker punch you, and then you’d hit me back, and your knuckles wouldreallyhurt. That’s a win in my book.”
A waiter walked by with a tray of appetizers. I grabbed a little plate with some sort of mini quiche on it. I devoured it in a single bite.
“I hate this fancy bullshit food,” August complained. “It’s like these people think receiving food in Barbie Doll portions somehow makes it taste better. The next time I’m forced to host one of these, I’m going to have a guy walking around with a plate of Big Macs.”
“You could have done that tonight,” I said. “Then we’d be eating like kings instead of…”
I trailed off as a gap formed in the party crowd. Over by the front door washer. Ginny. She was wearing the same pencil skirt and blouse she’d had on at work, and was looking around like she didn’t know if she belonged.
“Did you invite her?” I asked.
August leaned over to see who I was staring at. “Oh, yeah. Of course I did. Glad she showed up.”
“Did you invite anyone else from the office?”
“I asked Allison, but she had a thing. Grandson’s baseball recital I think.”
“Baseballpractice?”