Page 43 of After 5
“Ladies, let’s get to work.”
Everyone popped a donut hole and exited the breakroom.
“Jennifer, I hope your man comes around,” Paulina said to me as we headed toward the front office.
Me, too.
I worked the morning trying to forget about Caiyan. As I was fetching my purse to head out for lunch, Mary, the feisty widow who worked as Eli’s office manager, paged me to the front. One donut hole sat alone in the box on the breakroom table. I ate the sole survivor and headed toward the front of the building.
When I entered the front office, the girls were standing at the window, mouths open slightly, drooling.
“What are y’all staring at?” I asked, trying to peek over them.
“Forget what I said about your man,” Paulina said. “This one’s got to be better.”
Marco stood in the reception room thumbing through a back issue ofMen’s Fitness.
He looked up when he saw me, and the dimple in his chin winked and enhanced his chiseled good looks.
Paulina sighed.
I gave him a wave and motioned I’d be right out.
“What’s wrong with him? Does he have a small penis?” Mary asked after she closed the sliding window.
Paulina placed her hands over her ears. “If he does, I don’t want to know. It would ruin my dream tonight.”
I ignored Mary’s question and went to meet Marco.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
He leaned down and kissed me on each cheek. The murmur of the office girls from behind the window at the very Italian gesture caused me to roll my eyes.
“I heard about Caiyan, and I came to see if you were OK?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure, because you smell like a glazed donut.” I gave him my best no idea what you’re talking about look then changed the subject. “I’m on my lunch hour. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”
We walked around the square to the Italian restaurant. Marco insisted on ordering a veggie pizza, and I agreed because the string on my scrub pants had to be loosened after the donuts.
I tapped my fingers on the plastic tablecloth while Marco gave the waitress our order.
“So, you want to talk about it?” he asked me.
I wasn’t sure I could confide in Marco. He knew my feelings for Caiyan, but still tried to weasel into my underpants occasionally. He wanted to see what kind of carnal explosion would occur if we had sex. I agreed, when we touched, the heat between us could set an Eskimo on fire.
If things were different between me and Caiyan, I might consider his offer. My inner voice reminded me things were different between me and Caiyan as she held up a save-the-date postcard. Thankfully, the date was blurry. They’re not married, yet.
Maybe there was more to Marco’s visit than his concern over my reaction to Caiyan’s bad choices.
“Did Caiyan ask you to keep an eye on me?”
“Not this time.” He paused as the waitress brought our drinks.
“Do you know if they’ve set a date for the wedding?” I imagined it would be an extravagant affair. I sipped my sweet tea and waited for his answer.
“I haven’t heard anything in the social circles.” He held his gaze steady with mine. “Jen. I’m worried about you. McGregor’s making you crazy with his irrational behavior. He’s never going to make you happy.”
