Page 84 of Debugging Love

“So how is it going?” She locks eyes with me like she’s daring me to look away, like she has Vulcan mind meld powers without the touching. She doesn’t have to try so hard. I don’t want to look away.

“It’s…going,” I answer.

“That’s it?”

I’m in a whirlpool with a beautiful woman, who is in my JustInCase file but didn’t even warrant a callback. Maybe my methods are flawed. Or maybe they just need a little improvement. “I’m sorry I’ve been difficult.”

Danni’s chin drops to the waterline. “You? Difficult? No!”

Fair. I’ve been called hard-headed before. Mostly by family members. “I like that you take a hands-off approach.”

An awkward laugh spills out of Danni’s mouth.

“It shows me you’re willing to trust your coders,” I add.

Danni purses her lips and looks at me sidelong. “Did you really give me a choice? I couldn’t even get you to use BrainyJ.”

“BrainyJ is for newbs. It adds–”

“Cruft,” we say in unison.

“Yeah,” I confirm. “I said I’m sorry for being difficult. You should try Visual Studio Code. It’s freeing.”

“Like a dude ranch in Montana.”

“Exactly.”

She plays in the bubbles some more, cupping them in her hands and letting them flow through her fingers.

“I could show you around,” I say.

“Where?”

“My dude ranch.”

Danni looks shocked and amused. Mostly shocked. I guess she thought I was trying to be romantic. I just meant I’d show her my Visual Studio Code setup.

“Um…no thanks.” She leans forward and stands, the water trickling down her contours, tempting my eyes to follow. “I think I’ll brave the pool.”

Danni

I’m not sure what Chance meant by showing me his dude ranch, and I’m not sure Idon’twant to see whatever it is. I hadto get out of the bubbles. They were like tiny hands exploring my… What’s the opposite of dude? Nope. These thoughts need a thorough washing in chlorinated pool water.

I plunge headfirst into the deep end. My silly feelings for Chance are so beyond professional. I shouldn’t have come out here.

“Care if I join you?” Chance asks. He’s sitting on the side of the pool, the water up to his sculpted shins. What exercise makesshinsgrow muscles?

I dive under to let the cool water soothe the heat in my cheeks. When I reach the shallow end, I emerge and say, “Sure.” Which could be taken two ways, so I clarify. “Sure, get in.”And I’ll stay over here, and you stay over there.

He swims to me, a confident breaststroke with his head above water. Mercifully, he crouches so I can’t see his muscles. I don’t think I could handle them right now.

“You swim like a fish,” he says.

“I was on the middle school swim team.”

He seems impressed, but adds, “Why not high school?”

“They make you get up at five in the morning. And swimming is hard.”

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