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“If you had rejected me and MeToo’d the whole situation,” he countered. “You could’ve sued the firm for millions.”
“I could have?” she asked, jokingly. “It’s not too late is it?”
“You never think ahead,” sighed Jim. “Anyhow, Vicky was working in the secretarial pool at the law firm. I could not believe how attractive she was.”
“So, he started stalking me at my cubicle,” Vicky continued.
“What? I never stalked you,” dismissed Jim.
“What would you call it? You kept coming by looking for reports I didn’t have,” laughed Vicky.
“Well, I had to talk to you somehow,” shrugged Jim. “Seemed the best way.”
“He was like flirting with me in the office,” laughed Vicky. “We had just seen an HR video on the subject, and he did almost everything you should not do!”
We were all laughing at the table and feeling relaxed. Leo even took my hand to give more of the impression that we were a couple. It felt good as we listened to Vicky and Jim continue their tale.
Clearly, the couple had different interpretations of what happened. I, for one, was just glad that they were running with it and I didn’t have to talk. Plus, they seemed to like to tell the story.
Vicky had always been that way. She’d hold court and everyone would listen. Jim seemed like a perfect counterbalance to her saucy attitude.
In mid-story, the waitress brought our food. We started to eat, and James just played with his food. Vicky tried to feed him a couple of times, but the toddler was grumpy and pushed her hand away. Vicky gave up and continued with her story.
“So eventually, we started dating. Fortunately, we were in different departments, so the firm didn’t seem to care,” relayed Vicky. “He took me to a lot of high-end restaurants. When does that start happening again?”
“Uh, never,” joked Jim. “That time is over. You’re married now!”
James through his entire plate on the floor, chicken fingers and all.
“James,” scolded Vicky. “That was very naughty. You don’t throw your food on the floor.”
“I don’t want it!”
“That’s not the way you act, young man,” she scolded. “That’s it. No more.”
James burst into tears and buried his head in his arms. Vicky looked tired. Clearly, James had been running her ragged ever since entering this stage. Fortunately, since he had buried his face in his arms, he muffled most of the noise.
“The best story was how Jim proposed,” Vicky continued, trying to change the subject. “We were on a boat out in the middle of nowhere. He gets down on one knee, get out a ring and then fumbles with it and it goes overboard.”
“Oh, my God,” I said. “Seriously?”
“It was a fake ring,” smiled Jim.
“Yeah,” said Vicky remembering. “Then he did it a second time!”
“Also, fake.”
“That’s funny, but why?” asked Leo.
“I just wanted to make sure she knew who she was going to marry,” shrugged Jim.
“I thought we were going to die on that boat,” recalled Vicky. “The fog rolled in and you couldn’t see anything.”
“I know what I was doing out there,” Jim said confidently. “There’s plenty of equipment on that boat.”
“What if the equipment had failed?” asked Vicky.
“We’d just wait until the morning,” shrugged Jim. “You worry too much, babe.”
“My husband is crazy, just so you know,” Vicky said, looking at Leo and me. “You hear how he treats me?”
“You married me!” pointed out Jim.
“I’m a glutton for punishment,” Vicky noted.
“You guys really put on a show,” I laughed.
“Yeah, you should go on the road,” suggested Leo. “Married stories from Vicky and Jim.”
Suddenly, James lifted his head up. While he had buried his head in his arms and had been crying, he hadn’t stopped. His face was beet red and tears had run down his face. The moment he straightened up, he let out an ear-piercing scream that stopped the restaurant cold. Suddenly, we had to pay attention to him.
“James,” scolded Vicky. “Stop that.”
He screamed again. It was loud, but not that loud.
The waitress rushed over to help. “I’m sorry,” she apologized for no reason. “Is there anything I can bring him that would help?”
“Sorry, he just needs a nap,” apologize Jim. He leaned over to try and reason with the boy. “Hey, buddy, you want anything else to eat?”
The toddler squealed his high pitch squeal. James was determined to get all the attention immediately, even if he didn’t remember why he wanted it in the first place. The scream was so loud, my ears kind of rang with it several minutes after.
I caught Leo’s eye. We both automatically smiled at each other and deep in my mind, I started imagining having kids with Leo. He was so laid back. He would probably be a great dad.
What would our kids look like? Would they have his good looks, with the blonde hair and green eyes? Or would they favor me?
