Page 22 of Scoring Chance

I rack my brain. Is this a trick question?

“I might be getting a new car?” I offer.

Stan rolls his eyes. “Des, you love to keep us on our toes. Apparently, you filed to change your insurance plan today…because you got married.”

Suddenly, all eyes are on me. Not the kind of focus I prefer. I take a breath, tight and shallow.

“I did,” I say slowly. Very slowly.

“This is news to us!” Stan says, slapping his knee. “We never thought you would get married.”

“That came out of nowhere,” Kyle adds. “Did you get drunk and marry someone in Vegas?”

“No, Kyle,” I mutter.

I want to remind him that his dad allegedly did just that on a wild work trip years ago, but I don’t want to burst his bubble.

“Oh, you know…it was just time,” I say.

Myrna looks at the form. “Tanner. That’s your friend, isn’t it? He came to the holiday party with you a few years ago.”

She never forgets a face. Ever.

“We’ve been friends for a while.” I think about Tanner and our dopey text chain. The times on his roof. That adorable sweetness that radiates off him. “We’ve known each other since high school. We played on the hockey team together. We’ve just…been through it. Through highs, through loss. And over the past few months, we realized this friendship was something more. Something deeper.”

Despite myself, a smile crosses my face. I remember that I’m in advertising, and my job is to sell people on new realities, and I’m damn good at my job.

“He’s funny. He’s sweet. Sometimes I don’t know how he stands me, but…he does.” My colleagues hang on my every word. They may be more emotional about this than about Stan retiring. “We realized we wanted to make it something more permanent.”

“Dude, you just up and got married? You said you were taking it easy this weekend,” Craig says.

“When you’ve been with someone this long, and know them this well, you don’t need a whole ceremony. That can come later. With school starting, and the kids going back—Lulu’s starting kindergarten, Lena’s starting high school—there’s just a lot of transition. We didn’t want to add to that. So we kept it low-key.”

“He has kids?” Stan asks.

“Four. I’m crazy about each and every one of them.”

“That is so sweet,” Myrna says.

“So you’ve been together exclusively this whole time?” Kyle asks.

“It’s been a few months since we decided to be exclusive. You know, when you get to our age, you know what you want. What you don’t want. You don’t need all the pomp and circumstance. We went to the courthouse.”

Some coworkers let out an aww at that. I flash back to those crowded chambers, holding Tanner’s hand as I slid the ring on, feeling a slight nervous tremble in his fingers.

“You are so in love. It’s so cute. I never thought this day would come,” says Rishi, an account manager sitting across from me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mention anything.” I turn to Stan. “But don’t worry—I’m still laser-focused on my work.”

“I hope so,” he says. “Because you have four new dependents. And kids are a handful. Wonderful, but a handful.”

Myrna nods and laughs. I wonder if this is some kind of HIPAA violation, reading my life out loud in front of everyone.

“I love being a father,” I say, grateful I didn’t choke on that absurd statement. “But as I said, Stan—I’m ready to help lead this agency. We’re gonna get Silq. So don’t worry about any distractions.”

“Oh, I’m not,” he says, waving away my concern. “Des, you’ve been a bachelor for so long. That can be fun. But having a marriage and a family…it gives you stakes. Now there’s a real reason for you to come into work. You’ve got mouths to feed. People to support. Something real.”

He smiles. I feel a little dinged at his opinion, though. As if I wasn’t serious about my job when I was single.