“It does feel right,” I say. “I don’t want to hold a grudge with him simply because I’m scared I might be moving too fast. I want to move on as best we can and hope I can eventually not think about Tammy at all when I’m with him.”
Melissa nods. “That makes sense. I hope you’re able to make it work.”
“Thanks.”
Leslie asks Melissa, “Is there anyone you have your eye on? Any handsome men at work?”
“There’s plenty of good-looking men on the team,” she replies. “You’ve seen them. Youworkwith one of them.”
Leslie laughs. “Yes, Diego Sanchez is quite easy on the eyes.”
“Would you want to date a professional athlete?” I ask Melissa.
“It wouldn’t be ideal. He’d be gone so much of the time, and it would be hard to raise a family. From the interactions I’ve had with players’ wives since I’ve been with the organization, I’ve seen and heard firsthand how difficult it can be. The women support each other, but they all know that at any time their husband could be traded, and then they’re off to a new place to start all over again.”
I say, “Anybody in the front office you’re interested in, then?”
“Not really. I’m not sure I want to date someone I work with every day.” She cuts a glance at me. “That could get awkward if things don’t work out.”
“Hear, hear.” I raise my glass to her.
“What about Bobby Jacobs?” Leslie asks. “Could anything happen there?”
Melissa shakes her head. “I don’t think he likes me very much. Whenever he’s in the office, he gives me one of those man-nods and rarely speaks.” She shrugs. “He also seems like he really gets around, and he’s like twice my age.”
“No, he’s not,” Leslie says. “He’s thirty-five.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Really? I figured he’s much older than that, considering his success and reputation.”
“Is a ten-year difference too much?” Leslie asks Melissa.
“I don’t know, but it’s a moot point with him. He’s not interested, and I’ve overheard him on the phone with more than one woman. When he’s around, he’ll sometimes use the empty office next to mine to make phone calls. It’s hard not to overhear.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Yeah, if he has multiple women in his life, you don’t want any part of that.”
thirty-nine
“You’re driving me crazy,” Ash says. “Please get out of this apartment and go do something.”
We spent most of the day yesterday with Mom, and now it’s late Sunday afternoon and I’m anxiously awaiting the women’s return from the lake later today. I don’t know whether to expect Wendy to call me or want to see me tonight.
“I don’t have anybody to do anything with,” I say as I flip through the TV channels for the seventeenth time in the past hour.
“You need to find some more friends.”
“I know. But how? I’ve never had to go out and find new friends before.”
It’s true. At school, it was easy, because I was constantly around groups of people with similar interests to me. And when I moved back to Chicago after law school, I reconnected with a few childhood friends and was absorbed into their group. They honestly weren’t my favorite people in the world, but they were mostly fun, until one of them slept with my girlfriend. I’m not all that sad to not have them in my life anymore, but I’m lonely.
Ash snorts. “I feel so sorry for you.”
“Come on, man. Help me out here.”
“Well, there’s Bobby.”
“Yeah, and it turns out I like him, but he’s only here part of the time, so that’s not exactly helpful.”
“Anybody at Carter-Jenkins? What about Brian? He’s a good dude.”
