Page 75 of A Table for Two
“I think it’s as close to finished as we want,” Darius answered. “We’ll play around with it for a couple of days to see if there are still any bugs to be worked out.”
“Sounds good. I’m going to start working on a marketing angle. Can you send me all the specs?”
“I’ll bring it to your office when Gabe and I are done.”
“Thanks. Anything else you need from me before I log off?”
Gabriel and Darius had nothing else for him.
“Okay. See you in a bit, D. Oh, before I go, how is the relationship with Serenity going, G?”
Gabriel should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to conduct the call without one question. “It’s fine.”
“Fine, as in it’s no big deal, just a friends with benefits kind of thing, or fine, as in you finally realize you really like her and she has potential for something more?”
As much as he wanted to say it was the former, he was marching toward the latter and couldn’t do a thing about it. “I don’t know.”
A slow grin spread across Brent’s face, as if he didn’t believe that lie any more than Gabriel did. “Whatever you say.”
Darius shook his head. “I told him he should think about staying a little longer to decide, especially since Nana said she wasn’t moving. Period.”
Gabriel sighed. “In case you forgot, we have a company to run. In Atlanta.”
“True,” Brent said. “And we’ve been running it just fine these past two months. It’ll continue to be that way, regardless of location. The last time I checked, technology is pretty advanced that way. By the way, you said you didn’t know whether the relationship had the potential for more, but everything you’ve done with her points to exactly that. See you later.” And he was gone.
Gabriel shot Darius a dark glare.
“Don’t look at me like that. You know I’m right, bro. Glenn did the same thing when he was fighting falling in love with Toya. You see how that turned out.”
Not wanting to dive into his muddled emotions or the fact that Brent had been correct in his assessment, he changed the subject. “I made some notes on the new video game.”
Darius laughed. “Okay, I can take a hint. Whatcha got?”
For the next two hours, they discussed the game that would take place on an island where a player tried to reach a safe zone. The beauty of the game would be that each time a person logged on, they’d have a different and new experience. No two games would be the same.
“I like this. We can vary the experiences from fun to survival. Since it’s on an island, we can include pirates and jungle animals.” Darius angled his head thoughtfully. “I’ll see what else I can come up with. When do you want to start?”
“A couple of weeks maybe. That’ll give us time to figure out all the specs. And I wanted to get started on the kids game.” Gabriel noted the time. It was already after three, and he’d planned to start writing the codes for the children’s educational game. He thought about Brianna and wondered if it would be something the little girl would like.
“What are you smiling about?”
He hadn’t realized he was smiling. “I was just thinking about a little girl I met, Brianna. She’s one of Serenity’s patients she’s known since birth. She invited me to a tea party.”
Darius threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Are you going?”
“Who knows. I haven’t received an official invitation yet. And I’m not sure I can see myself sitting at a little table sipping tea out of one of those kiddie plastic teacups.”
“Me, either. I’m glad it’s you and not me.”
“Anyway, I’m going to get started. I need to run to the grocery store later. If you think of anything, let me know.”
“Will do.”
They ended the meeting, and Gabriel stood to stretch. He also wanted to see Serenity but knew if he’d divulged that information, he would’ve had to endure more teasing. He picked up his phone to send her a text:Dinner is on me tonight. Just come on over whenever you’re ready.Potential for more? Yeah. Maybe. He felt like a car careening down a hill with no brakes. He’d never met a woman like her and he suspected he never would.
Chapter 20
After the long week, Serenity was glad to see the weekend. She, Natasha, and Terri had piled into Dana’s car, and the four of them drove to Napa for a mini spa day. After full-body massages, they sat in chairs clothed in robes while enjoying manicures and pedicures.
