Page 6 of Home With You

"You could always come here," I say, tossing out the idea. "It'd be easy to get a job in a city this size."

"Not sure I could handle all that fresh mountain air," he jokes.

I smile. "It'd be good for you. So anything new back home?"

"Kristen's the new secretary at work."

"Kristen from high school?"

Greg had a huge crush on Kristen but they never went out. She dated one of the guys on the football team and ended up marrying him and moving to Texas.

"She's divorced now," he says. "Moved back here last week. I knew that marriage wouldn't last."

"Did she say what happened?"

"No, but word is he cheated on her."

"Is she living with her parents?"

"For now, until she saves up some money. I want to ask her to dinner, just to catch up, but I'm afraid she'll turn me down. I don't think she's ready to date yet."

"Doesn't have to be a date. It could just be two friends having dinner."

"Yeah, we'll see. So any women at the law firm you got your eye on?"

"I'm not even looking. I don't have time to date with this job. I get the feeling I'll be working a lot of hours."

"C'mon, there's gotta be at least one woman you're interested in."

"It's not a good idea to date at work. In fact they might even ban it. I think I heard that in the orientation today although I kind of dozed off halfway through it."

"You can't make work your whole life. You're in a new city. With new people. New girls. Go out there and meet some of them."

"I will if you ask Kristen to dinner," I say with a smile, knowing how much he wants to but won't unless I force him to.

"Fine, but if I ask her, you have to ask someone out too."

"Deal, but it may not be this week. I just got into town. I need to meet some people before asking someone out. As for Kristen, you shouldn't wait. If you do, someone else will ask her."

"She's not going to date me. She'll only agree to this as a friend."

"You never know. You're both older now. Maybe she sees you differently than she did in high school."

"Maybe. So how's the apartment?"

"Great views of the city but the place is really small. It's a studio loft so just one big room. The bedroom's on a different level but it's still open to the main living area. I might hang a sheet to give it more privacy."

"Why? It's just you living there."

"Well, yeah, but I'm kind of hoping to make some friends. Have people over for drinks. Watch some football."

"Already replacing me, huh?" he kids.

"Never. You're always my number one friend but I need to make at least few more."

"It's gotta be noisy living downtown like that."

"It is, but it's something I have to get used to it. I also have to get used to all the homeless. We don't see that back home."

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