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11
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By week’send I was proud of myself for being able to forget her at least part of each day. It was only in bed, at night, alone, that I miss her crazy ass.
I got back to our city late in the evening a week later and the first thing I did after picking up my dog was to check my messages on the answering machine.
She’d filled it. I only listened to each message long enough to be sure that she wasn’t sick or in danger before erasing all of them. I’ll call her tomorrow.
The next day was Saturday and I was planning to just lay around the house and relax. I’d had a long week of meetings and all I wanted to do was unwind.
When Dana called around noon and said I’d missed some calls that might be important I told her to hold off until Monday, but she had a good point. Come Monday there’d be more shit to deal with.
“Fine, why don’t you meet me at the club around two.” I suddenly had a hankering for their eggs benedict anyway.
I didn’t think anything of asking my secretary to meet me for brunch. I’ve had lunch with the one before her hundreds of times.
Of course Connie was in her sixties, but I didn’t see this new one any differently even though she was more than half her age.
I took a quick shower, made sure the mutt was okay and headed out the door. Maybe I’d get a few holes in while I’m there.
I was pleased that I didn’t even give Jillian a second thought since I rolled out of bed this morning with morning wood. It looks like my little experiment had worked. Out of sight out of mind.
As was usual for this time of day on the weekend the place was crowded. The hostess gave me a warm welcome and took me to my favorite table.
I only thought of Jillian because this used to be our table when we came here together. I haven’t really been since the divorce, only to hit a few on the green once in a while.
But even that had lost its shine when I didn’t have my inept partner to play with. Fucking girl couldn’t play any kind of sport to save her life, but she was good for a few laughs. Dammit, will I ever be free of her? Or will I see her in everything I do?
It was being back in town, that’s all. And coming here. I convinced myself that I could put her ass back on the back burner and carry on with my life.
I’ve lived without her these past six months and survived. I’ll call her next time I get an itch, or better yet, maybe I’d have found someone else to take to my bed by then.
I knew I was only kidding myself when the only face I saw was hers, and the very thought of fucking anyone else made me sick to my stomach.
That’s the way it’s been since the split. Not that I’d been in any hurry to get tangled up with another female, but whenever I’d let my mind take me there I could only see her. And it still hurt to think of anyone else taking her place.
I ordered a Bloody Mary though I hate the shits, but it beat ordering a vodka tonic that early in the day. I’d be damned if she’s gonna turn me into a fucking drunk.
Dana showed up right on time. I only made notice of how unprofessionally she was dressed because of the bright color of her flirty dress compared to her usually dark skirt suits at the office.
It was her day off and she was doing me a favor by being here, but really, what did I care? If her smile was a little too wide and friendly I didn’t notice for any other reason than to note how completely different it was to her more severe appearance in the office.
The truth is, she’s been working for me for a couple of months now and unless there’s a call or I need something done I hardly notice she’s there.
I wasn’t dead enough inside not to notice that there was some interest there on her part. And now that she was here and I was thinking clearly, it was obvious that this meeting out of the office was some kinda move forward in her plan to catch my eye.
She wasn’t a bad looking woman by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just that my ex nut has neutered my ass and I can no longer see anything in a skirt.
I even let myself look at her, to see if there was even a twinge of interest, but nope. Nothing! My boy was asleep and didn’t even stir. If I needed any proof, there it was.
I was polite as I wasn’t born in a cave, but it took her a minute to catch on to the fact that I was ignoring all her little signals. Poor thing, she didn’t stand a chance.
I got right down to business and kept my tone neutral and that imaginary cold distance between employer and employee, so there was no way she could misjudge anything here today.
I was already regretting the choice to ask her to meet me here. I wasn’t in the mood for business or company and it showed.
Shit only went from bad to worse when I saw who walked in not twenty minutes later. I ignored the reaction of my body and focused more on the more imminent problem.
