Page 26 of The One

Gillian grabbed the plate of chicken that she’d made with one hand and the plate of stuffed peppers she’d baked with the other and put them on his island. “I’ll wrap these up for you if you want.”

“Thanks,” he said. “There is stuff in the pantry. Anyway you want to do it, works for me.”

When she was done wrapping up his food, she got water and started to wipe down his table. He was going to tell her she didn’t need to, but she’d already started so he let it go.

“All set now,” she said. “What do you want to do?”

“This,” he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her the way he wanted.

Her arms went around his neck and held on, as his tongue nudged her lips open and swooped in, the two of them standing there in the kitchen making out like teenagers did when they were horny.

He was starting to feel like one himself, but he knew they weren’t going any further than this kiss so he was going to make it count.

“Damn,” she said, moving back. “I was right that you were teasing me earlier.”

“What was it we said, a little kiss was better than nothing? But now you know there is more. Like frozen versus fresh?”

She laughed at him and he figured it was a stupid analogy, but grabbed his face and gave him a loud kiss on the lips. “You get it.”

“I guess I do,” he said. “Why don’t we go sit and talk. I’ll tell you a bit about my journey here. You don’t have to share if you don’t want. My guess is yours is much more personal than mine is.”

Anyone that was in a ten-year relationship that didn’t last had a lot more going on.

“I’m not sure what I’ll say. It’s not horrible but more that I feel like a fool.”

He nodded his head. “No reason to feel that way. I could say the same too. You asked if I was married because of my age and being single. I guess you wanted to know what my feelings are on commitment.”

Her face flushed. “It’s one date.”

“It is,” he said. “But we are both at an age that if there is no chance of being on the same page, then why bother? I get the feeling that is how you are looking at things.”

“That makes me sound crazy.”

“No,” he said. “Practical and logical. I’ll tell you some about me and you can decide the rest.”

“You’re leaving it up to me?” she asked. “That makes it sound like you don’t want more.”

“That’s not the case. It’s really not. This has been a great night. I hope to have more of them with you. But one of us has to start this conversation and I thought I’d do it. I’m wondering if you’re thinking I can easily walk away from things and that isn’t the case.”

“Why don’t we just talk and go from there then, like you said.”

“I had all these dreams of making it big. I wanted to work in the corporate world. I wanted to make a difference with technology. I got hired at Google right out of college and loved it. But I soon learned with a big company you are just a piece of the puzzle.”

“That is normally what life is about,” she said.

“I wasn’t thinking those things back then. So I worked my ass off to be the best I could.”

“Married to your job?” she asked.

“Yes. I moved up a few times but still didn’t feel like I was making a difference in what I wanted or thought. One of my friends decided to do his own thing. He needed help. He was good but not as good as me. I wasn’t one to leave a great thing and give up a job, but I wanted to help.”

“A startup company or something? I think I’ve seen things like this on TV. What was that show?Silicon Valley?”

“They idolize it all on TV, but you get the gist of it. Dean was married. His wife had a good corporate job and told him he had one year to do this and then he had to go back and get a real job.”

“That was nice of her,” she said.

He snorted. “I guess. It was in the beginning. But it can suck you in. It did to both of us. I was working my full-time job and then putting in almost as many hours as Dean on his idea.”

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