Page 150 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I
“Hi,” I say.
“You’re still alive!”
I sit up straight, smiling as brightly as the sun. “Lake? What a pleasant surprise.”
“Are you busy?”
“Nope. Your ears must have been itching. I was going to call you.”
“I wanted to wait until you called me—give you space and all—but I have a proposition for you that could go away in a blink of an eye if you wait too long to say yes.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Something New
Paisley Grove
Itold Lake I could be at her apartment around three o’clock. I needed time to transcribe the code by hand then permanently destroy its footprint from my computer. While transcribing, I couldn’t miss one symbol, number, or letter. When I was done, my fingers felt cramped as I checked and double-checked what I had written. Then I asked Greg if he could drop me off at the train station, but he insisted on driving me into the city instead.
Greg and I have a great conversation about his nephew, the great physicists Ron Ashton. Ron just released a new book and has been all over the world promoting it. Greg tells me about the photos Ronald sent him of the places he’s visited and the famous people he’s rubbed shoulders with, which included Max and my uncle Leo.
I’m processing several things at once when I say, “Wow. Congratulations, Greg. I know you’re very proud of your nephew.” But why is he rubbing shoulders with Max and Leo? I can only suspect that Max is learning from Ronald all he can about the possibility of solidifying NZNN, negative-zero non-nomenclature light.
“I mentioned you to him,” Greg says, his statement dragging me out of my head and back into the moment.
Chuckling nervously, I squirm, making the soft leather squeak. “Greg, are you still playing the matchmaker?”
He laughs. “No…” He protests too ardently for it to be true. “I figured the two of you would hit it off. You’re both brilliant. You should at least know each other.”
“You mean date each other.”
Grinning, he winks at me. “That wouldn’t be so bad either.”
He’s pushing so hard. Under any other circumstances, I would jump at the chance to have dinner with the brilliant Ronald Ashton. But I wouldn’t be a great date for any man at the moment. Unfortunately, my heart still belongs to one man.
“Listen, Greg. Seriously, I just broke up with someone,” I admit. “It wouldn’t be wise to go out with someone as brilliant as Ron Ashton while carrying a torch for… someone else.”
“Oh… Sorry to hear that, Pais. The guy must’ve been a fool to let you go.”
I look down at my lap, simpering while missing Hercules so much, my heart actually hurts. “Thanks.” I release a shivering sigh then look up, choosing not to let Hercules get to me anymore—or at least not right now. “What about you, Greg? Any new dates you want to tell me about?”
He tosses his head back and laughs louder than I’ve ever heard him laugh. “Me? Dating?”
“Is that much of an impossibility?”
“No. No, it isn’t.” His shoulders still shake as he continues snickering. “As a matter of fact, I am dating someone.”
I turn my head slightly. “You are?”
“My ex-wife.”
“You have an ex-wife?” I bet my parents didn’t know that.
“We got married after high school. After three years of giving each other hell, we divorced and went our separate ways. I saw her at my father’s funeral last Monday.”
He goes on to tell me that his ex-wife’s name is Laura. She has three adult children and is divorced from her second husband. On the day of the funeral, she stayed and helped him clean up after the repass. They talked throughout the night and into the wee hours of the morning, rehashing the past and trying to figure out why their three-year marriage ended so terribly.
“Laura said we wanted too much from each other. Things that we were too young to give,” Greg says just as he turns down the street in front Lake’s building.
