Page 101 of Margo's Got Money Troubles

“Sure,” he said, and nodded.

“Okay, you find a highchair,” I said, and took Bodhi with me to go wait in line. I was hungry, so I really went for it: a Classic Beef ’n Cheddar, the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich, a French Dip & Swiss, a Corned Beef Reuben, two orders of curly fries, and two vanilla shakes.

“It’s so good to see your face,” I said, when I got back to the table. I slid Bodhi into the highchair JB had found and he immediately shrieked, so I fished in my bag for something to entertain him and came out with a teether toy I knew wouldn’t work at all. I gave it to him, and he screamed and threw it on the ground. “Hold on a sec,” I said, and ran to grab a handful of straws. Bodhi had never been allowed to investigate a bright red plastic straw before. He held it wonderingly in his hand like a magic wand and then stuck it deep in his throat and gagged himself, removed it and eyed it with curiosity and respect.

“Okay,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ears.

“I don’t know whether to dive into everything or wait until the food is ready,” he said.

“Gosh,” I said. I was a little unnerved that he seemed to have prepared a presentation: “Eight Reasons You Should Date Me.” In this TED Talk, I will...

“To get this out of the way,” JB said, “I just want to say—I don’t think we should be together. Romantically.” My face must have been one big record scratch. JB laughed. “Caught you off guard with that one!”

“Hells yes,” I said, “you most certainly did.”

Just then they called number sixty-eight.

“Hold on,” I said, and went to get our food.

“Holy shit, Margo,” he said when I returned. “This is enough for six people.”

“I’m nursing,” I said. “And this way you can try everything!” I was still trying to parse how I felt about what he said. He didn’t think we should be together. Yet he had flown out here. He thought we needed to talk. It didn’t add up. I wasn’t sure if he was lying to me or to himself. But there would be time to find out, and I’d be eating curly fries in the interim. I opened the lid of my milkshake so I could dunk.

“Which is this one?” he asked.

“Beef ’n Cheddar, start with that one.”

He nodded, carefully unwrapping the sandwich, and for a moment he looked like a serious little boy.

“So you don’t want to date me?” I asked.

He indicated that he would answer when he finished chewing. I waited. “Okay, so it’s not really a matter of not wanting to date you. You’re the one who is saying you can’t commit to a relationship right now, and I respect that. But I got to thinking, you know: How do we find a way to not waste this? Like, should we throw away this great connection just because it’s not the right time?”

Bodhi dropped his straw on the floor, so I gave him a new one. I felt like I knew where this was going. “The thing is, JB, it’s not only about the timing or needing to focus. I’ve kind of gotten through the custody crisis. But I saw the look on your face when I talked about rating dicks, and... I don’t want to make you feel like that. I also don’t want to quit my job. I get it, that it may be incompatible, like, I don’t think I would feel great if you were flirting with women online all day even if it was for money. Switch?” I asked, holding out the French Dip.

“Sure,” he said, trading me for his Beef ’N Cheddar.

Bodhi could smell the food and was desperate for some, but I wasn’t sure if he would choke on the meat. I gave him a tiny gossamer shred of roast beef and he gobbled it down, signed feverishly for more.

“What was that?” JB asked. “What he just did?”

“Oh, it’s baby sign language. He signed for more because he likes the roast beef.”

“Huh!” JB said. “The French Dip is not as good.”

“Try the brisket,” I said, nudging it toward him.

“So anyway,” JB said, as he unwrapped the Smokehouse Brisket. “As everything was happening with you, massive shit was going down at work. And D.C. has just changed since the election, it’s a whole different vibe. And I realized, you know, I hate my life. Like, I hate my job, I hate where I live, I have a few work friends but they’re all married with kids.”

“Right,” I said. It hadn’t occurred to me that JB and I were in a similar situation. I was isolated because I had a kid and none of my friends did, and he was isolated because he didn’t have a kid and all his friends did.

“I feel like I’m taking too long getting to the point,” JB said. “The point is, I started to think: How could Margo and I keep this? How could we grow it into something real and substantial? The brisket is pretty good. A little sweet.”

I nodded, still busy shredding roast beef and feeding tiny shards of it to Bodhi, who had gone into a total beef frenzy.

“Margo, I have a business proposition for you.”

For some reason this made me bust up laughing.

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