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“You always look nice.”
“Yeah. At my last date, I felt out of place in my work clothes.”
“I have date clothes in my car, too. I can’t show up to a date in this, either.” He gestured to his work clothes. The knees of his cargo pants had a couple oil spots.
She looked shyly behind him, almost coy, which he didn’t think was possible. “I have extra outfits in my office so I can be spontaneous and go on a date that’s not on my schedule. Like you said.”
“See!” He nudged her gently with his elbow again. “Let’s be online dating buddies. I can help you and you can help me. We’d be a perfect match.”
She was still looking over her shoulder when she smiled, highlighting the rise of her cheeks and adding a twinkle to her eye. Coy was too sweet of a word for her. Astute. The word came out from the depths of some school vocabulary test. And pretty. As he’d thought while standing at her office door, she looked smart, and that was part of her prettiness.
“Okay. You talked me into it.” She was too busy adding a gallon of milk and all the sugar from the Caribbean to her coffee to look at him.
Talked me into it. He had to laugh. If he wasn’t full of confidence, being around her would make him deflate like a balloon. Which had probably been her date’s problem. He’d taken one look at her, realized that she was smarter than he was, better looking and made more money. Jason guessed the only thing left for that man’s ego was try to win by being the bigger gorilla.
No man would win Marsie over by beating his chest.
“When’s your next date?” he asked, pulling a cup from the stack and filling it with coffee.
“Um, Sunday. The guy and I are meeting for coffee,” she said, still stirring the contents of her cup. It always took her several minutes to stir her coffee, and he wasn’t certain she ever got all the sugar dissolved.
“Mine’s Sunday, too. Drinks at like five or so. I think I’m probably the last in a series of three dates, but I won’t judge, I’ve done it myself.”
She stopped the cup halfway to her lips. “You’ve had three dates in one day?”
“I’ve left one date that was going pretty well so that I wouldn’t be late to another one.”
“Huh. The thought of having three dates in one week leaves me exhausted. Like completely wiped out.” She stopped at the lines to the cash registers, then went to the one with the longest line, because that was the woman whose daughter Marsie had helped get into college. Coming down to the cafeteria with Marsie was always fun.
He came down and chatted with all the people who worked here. They shared a common sense of being blue-collar in white-collar business. They joked, and he shook hands with some of the guys. But when Marsie talked with some of the women, she softened.
Or, no, that wasn’t right. Marsie was still sharp, but her sharp points sparkled in the light. More diamond than blade. She didn’t rush through with jokes, but stopped to talk to the people she knew, ask about their families and share a little bit of herself. Never intrusive, but a care deep enough to move mountains.
As usual, he stood back to watch. Also as usual, their conversation resumed after they’d both paid and she could give him her full attention.
“How do we go about being online dating buddies?” she asked.
“Let’s meet Monday after work. There’s a Cuban restaurant near the Park. Their food’s pretty good. And their beer selection is all right.”
“It’s like a date to talk about our dates,” she said, smiling as she pressed the elevator button.
“Right.” A date with Marsie. That was a funny thought. He liked her. He thought she was pretty, but there was no spark.
Though he was beginning to wonder if he’d be able to find the spark with anyone.
“I’ve got a meeting in a couple minutes on two, so I’m going to get off there rather than head back to my office,” she said, completely unaware that he was adrift in the sea of dating.
“No problem. Anything you need me to take to your office?”
“No, but thanks.” The doors to the elevator opened, and they stepped in.
At least they were adrift together.
