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“I don’t know where he gets the energy from. I was a quiet kid.”
“Me too. Hang on one second.” Marissa went to the doorway leading to the two small bedrooms in the back. “Theo, you almost finished? Daddy’s here.”
“I’m almost done,” her son called back.
“Well, you heard him. His bags are ready at least.” She nodded at the backpack and small suitcase near the sofa.
“He’s good. I’m a little early because I wanted to talk to you about something. My sister and her husband are taking their kids to Disney World. I thought I’d take some vacation time, and Theo and I could join them.”
“When?” Marissa moved around the living room, straightening the remote and piling magazines on top of each other on the coffee table.
“The second weekend in June. I’d pick him up for the weekend as usual, and we’d spend the following week in Florida, going to Disney and spending a few days with my parents. It’ll give you a week off.”
“Works for me. He hasn’t seen his cousins in a while, and he’s wanted to go back and spend time with your mom and dad ever since he visited them two summers ago. He loved going to the beach and still has the drawings taped up in his room.”
Theo often drew pictures of events where he had a great time, and he posted them on his wall. There were multiple pictures of him and his grandparents at the beach and at least five drawings of the birthday party he had at school last year.
“Great. I’ll make the arrangements then.” Stuffing his hands in his jean pockets, Chet watched her straighten up in silence. “How’s work?”
“Nothing exciting going on. Staying busy as always.”
“Same here. Yesterday we had a situation where one of our servers went down, but after a few hours, we were up and running again. Being the manager is a lot of work, but I’m enjoying the challenge…”
Chet had recently been promoted to IT manager at the law firm where he worked. The new role meant more responsibility and an increase in pay.
Marissa half listened to him talk, her mind wandering to Bruno. He was on a date tonight.
What were they doing right now?
Over the past few weeks, he’d adhered to the agreement they struck in his office. He seemed to have lost interest in her, but there remained an odd type of tension radiating between them. Their conversations were friendly enough but short. At least he was concentrating on the women she introduced to him.
Her biggest success had been when he went on three dates with Yanique, an up-and-coming plus-size model. After their coffee date, he called to give Marissa an update, indicating he’d enjoyed himself and wanted to see Yanique again. During the model’s debriefing, she’d expressed a desire to continue seeing him too.
Marissa gave them each other’s number to work out the details of a second date. A week and two more dates later, Bruno called to say he wanted to keep looking. Marissa was confused. With the previous women, there had been specific issues to point to. With Yanique, there was none. He admitted she was nice enough, but there was ‘something missing,’ and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Very vague. Yanique had been heartbroken because she thought they’d had a good connection.
Tonight, he was attending a gallery opening with Ashleigh, the daughter of a wealthy financier and closer to his income bracket than any of the other women. In the meantime, she had put out feelers for women outside the Atlanta area with the hopes of finding a good match for him. At the very least, she’d like to find someone who’d last more than three dates.
“You look great.”
Chet’s words jolted Marissa from her thoughts. She didn’t think she looked particularly “great,” as he’d proclaimed. She never dressed to impress Chet and was wearing a washed-out burgundy T-shirt and joggers. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun with loose tendrils hanging around her face. She looked anything but great.
“Thank you.”
He gave her a tight smile. “You look pretty good too, Chet. Oh, I do? Thanks. I just threw this on to pick up Theo.”
“Are you fishing for compliments?” Marissa asked, heading into the kitchen.
He followed and stopped on the opposite side of the bar. “Would it kill you to pay me a compliment?” he asked in a mild tone, though she sensed his underlying displeasure.
“Do you want something to drink?” she asked, not in the mood to argue.
“Why do we keep doing this?”
Standing in front of the open cabinet, Marissa blew out a frustrated breath and let her head fall forward. “We are not doing this. You are.” She turned to face him.
Chet lowered his voice. “Our lives could be different, and you know that. We could buy a house together, with a big yard, and live in a nice neighborhood with good schools. All the things you said you wanted. You and Theo and I could live there together as a family. Everything you want is within reach, Marissa.”
“All I have to do is forget what you did, right?”
