Page 56 of Win Some Love Some
“I am. You?” She said.
Peter nodded and I felt something drop in my gut. He was going to ask her to the wedding. Right in front of me. Which of course shouldn’t matter. We were not on a date.
No, we were pretending that I never heard her say she loved me.
But it was the principal of the thing. The dude didn’t know where things stood between me and Nora. Asking out a girl when she was sharing chili fries with another guy was a dick move.
I was about to open my mouth to say…I had no fucking clue what I was going to say, when he stood, “Great, I’ll see you there and maybe we can discuss this some more. Great to see you, Nora, and I really hope you’ll consider my idea. It’s a win/win for both of us.”
There was another hand squeeze and finally he turned, his trench coat whirling out behind him.
“Win/win,” I muttered.
“What is your problem?” Nora hissed at me.
“What’smyproblem? Are you seriously thinking about letting him write andsellyour story?”
“Hell no. You think I want all that embarrassment and humiliation in print? I was trying to be polite.”
That consoled me. I wasn’t wrong about Nora. She wasn’t interested in controlling the story, she wanted it dead and buried. In the same way I wanted Rene dead and buried. We were in complete accord.
“Good,” I said and pushed the fries towards her. “Eat some more.”
She pushed the fries back towards me.
“What was your deal anyway? You were acting like you wanted to bite off his head.”
“I wouldn’t have bitten off more than his hand.”
Nora sighed. “I don’t need a protector, Nick.”
“You absolutely do,” I corrected her.
She flung herself into life, like someone would always be there to catch her, and that someone used to be me. She didn’t believe it right now, but I was winning her back. Chili fries were proof of that. I pushed the plate towards her again.
She made a face but she ate a few more fries.
“I have an idea,” I said. It was the kind of plan that had been waiting all along. Waiting to be noticed and then accepted and now said out loud. It was the best plan. Natural. Perfect for everyone. I had total faith in this plan.
Nora, of course, would fight me.
“I don’t want you to say no right away. Because that’s what you’re going to do, but when you think about it, you’ll know it makes sense.”
She sat up straighter. “I’m listening. And I would not say no right away. I’m very open minded. I like to consider all angles before making a decision and-”
“Come work for me,” I said.
“No.” She took another fry and looked up for our waitress. “I’m thinking I might need a milkshake to wash these down.”
“What happened to open minded?”
“Did I say open?” she asked, so innocently. “I meant closed minded. Very close minded.”
“It makes sense. I need to hire someone, you said it yourself. You need a temporary job while you figure shit out. And you already know the accounting software. Hell, you’ve done most of it already this morning.”
“What are the hours?” She asked, giving me some side-eye.
“Whatever you want them to be. The garage opens at ten am, but I’m usually downstairs by eight to work on longer projects. You can do the paper work whenever. I’ll give you keys. You can come and go.”
