Page 83 of Playing With Secrets
What is that about?
The server brings us our lunch, giving Melanie the chance to throw me off. She directs the conversation back to me.
“What did you decide to do? Go speak to Jami andHunter individually or let it naturally play out?” She dips a french fry into her sauce.
“My gut says I should talk to each one of them, but not to pressure them about where we stand. It would be more like a visit to see if they volunteer any information.”
“Why?”
“I’m afraid if I start talking about my feelings, I’ll end up saying something that picks us up right where we left off, and I’ll restart all of this chaos again.” I stab my salad with my fork.
“Good point. I think you should plan the visits because if you just wait for them to transpire, you’ll go out of your mind.”
“How so?”
“You’ll make up all sorts of stories and everything will fall apart again.”
“You’re always right about these things. Help me plan it so I’m not doing anything stupid that’ll lead me back to the land of straddling two worlds again.”
“There’s no way I’ll let you restart all this BS.”
“I’ve hurt them both enough as it is. I don’t want to do it anymore.” I drop my fork into my bowl, realizing how selfish I’ve been.
She taps the table with her fingers. “This is going to sound like a bad idea, but hear me out before you judge.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Hunter still wants you and said he’s not giving up, so I think you need to meet him in the office. Just try to make it over the lunch hour so fewer people are around.”
“Why did you believe I would think that’s a bad idea? Talking to Hunter in the office sounds like a brilliant plan, but what do I say?”
“Start with how he’s feeling about things. Ask him something like, since you haven’t talked with him a lot lately,you were wondering if he had anything he wanted to share. It leaves it to him to direct where it goes.”
“That could work as long as he doesn’t start off with questions about when I’ll be ready to start things up again.” I pick up my fork and move my food around. “How do I approach Jami?”
“Jami’s the exact opposite. If you talk to him at work, he’ll make sure you stay on a business topic.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, he’s too controlled around his feelings for you. With him, you need to go to his place and surprise him. His defenses will be down and you’ll have the opening you need to get him to open up.”
“I agree with that, but what if I run into Hunter outside of work?”
“What’s the likelihood of that happening? You ran into Jami once after all this time and he’s around. Hunter travels and is gone half the time.” She picks up her hamburger and takes a bite.
“All great points. I think we have a plan. I just have to find the guts to implement it.” I rest against the back of the booth.
She swallows her food. “Don’t think too hard. Put it in your calendar and treat it like it’s mandatory.”
She taps the screen of my phone with her fingertip.
I lift it. “Okay, here’s to following your advice.”
Usually, I dread Monday mornings, but I’m itching to get into the office today.
After my meeting with Jonah, I’ll be able to visit Hunter and Jami to see if anything has changed with them.
Hunter’s door is closed, but muffled voices come through,so I know he’s in today. I hurry to my office and prepare for my meeting with Jonah. He calls me into his office a few minutes later.
