Page 25 of Not Mine To Love

“Old? Aren’t you like my age?”

“I’m thirty-seven.”

“Oh.”

“I have good genes.”

“Clearly. You’re like almost forty but you still look good.” I immediately wanted to hide my face. Had I seriously just told him that he was attractive? “I mean, you look good for someone who’s almost middle-age.” That was a nice recovery.

“Middle-age?” he said, clearly offended. “Forty is like the new twenty.”

“Ummm twenty is the new twenty,” I couldn’t help but say.

He laughed, and I smiled. I liked how easily he laughed. I liked making him laugh.

I laid my head back against the headrest and was going to close my eyes when he said, “I had a stuffed teddy bear named Walter that I carried everywhere with me until I was at least twelve.”

My eyes widened, and I looked at him in confusion and then I remembered. “So that’s your secret that you don’t tell anyone?” I wanted to laugh.

“Not a soul,” he said with a smile.

“Walter,” I said to myself as I closed my eyes again, “cute.”

Julius was full of surprises.

* * *

“So how’s the new job going?”

“Pretty easy,” I said to Dana. “The guy I’m following around is so hot.”

Dana gave me a nod of approval. “Finally, some eye candy. Maybe he could be the one.”

“He’s getting married, remember?”

“Oh yeah, oh well… so are you following him around today?”

“Nope. I’m meeting him and his future wife at a fancy botanical garden place. I need to take photos for their wedding invitations.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“I mean, I’m also supposed to find some evidence that he’s a terrible person.”

“That shouldn’t be hard. Most people kind of suck.”

“Dana….”

“Well, they do.”

“Anyway, I really don’t think I’ll find what my client wants me to find. He seems to be a genuine guy. Really nice.”

“I don’t know… you can’t really trust the nice ones.”

“Carter’s nice.”

“He’s the exception.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re too much.”