His touch brands me.
Dropping my hand before it gets too tense between us, I step back. Eli clears his throat and rubs his neck. “Rose, once you agree to meet me again, we'll go out to my favorite place in Brooklyn. Wear something nice, like those sundresses you used to love.”
I love how he remembers that detail. Nodding at his suggestion, I turn and walk toward the elevator. He calls my name, and I turn to face him as he winks at me with a broad smile. Then he walks out of sight.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for him.
There’s only one way to find out.
* * *
“You’ll never guess what happened today,” I shout from the hallway while closing the door behind me. It feels so good to take my heels off and stand on my bare feet after the interview and an impromptu meeting with other interns at Bridgeway.
“Did you finally get laid, my little Rosie?” Timmy shouts back from the kitchen. He’s the one who is trying to set me up with all his single friends who fit my preferences.
My dream guy is tall, funny, and employed. It shouldn’t be an impossible combination.
Yet, his matchmaking efforts haven’t been a success. Before Benjamin, the last guy told me that he thinks cats are snakes with fur. It was supposed to be a funny reference to his favorite TV character. I took it personally as a cat person and ended our date shortly after.
He was wrong anyway.
Not all cats have fur.
Shaking with laughter, I walk closer to him. “I wish. You remember my childhood crush from my hometown?”
“Oh, what was that guy’s name again? Elias? No, that’s wrong. Now I remember— it’s Eli, right?” Timmy recalls and greets me with a hug. He is like a teddy bear with his tall, stocky frame. I spot Marianne and Haisley behind him.
Hugging Timmy tightly, I recap what happened. “He’s now Elijah Dalton, the CEO of Dalton Enterprises and philanthropist who likes to give back to the community. He lives in this massive penthouse apartment in the middle of the Financial District near Wall Street. Andrew sent me there to interview him for the magazine earlier today. You can only imagine my surprise when I got there and saw him for the first time in seven years.”
It’s quiet around me as everyone processes my day. The only sound I can hear is Pickles’ purrs coming from the direction of our feet.
Marianne is the first one to speak after a fleeting moment. “Wait, did you sayDalton Enterprises? One of his company’s business units is working on a new project with Fred and his team. They just signed the deal last week. It’ll bring a lot of money to the company,” she explains proudly. Her love and pride for her partner, Fred, are admirable.
Sensing my mood shift, Marianne carefully continues. “How are you feeling about seeing him again?” She takes hold of my hand and leads me to sit around the kitchen table. Timmy, Haisley, and Pickles follow us.
My roommates know I don’t talk about my past much. They only have basic information on Eli after a drunken confession a year ago.
“Well, I thought I wouldn’t drink after last night, but seeing him makes me want to drinkallthe frozen margaritas. Does that answer the question?” I respond sarcastically.
They all look at me with varying expressions. I huff. “Sorry, I’m totallywitchyfor no reason. It was just confusing to see Eli after all this time. I’m mentally not there yet. Let’s see if I feel like talking about it later.”
We all are silent until Haisley breaks the moment.
“Do you remember my ex, Ren? Imagine this. He just got married last weekend. I saw it on social media today. He couldn’t even decide what to eat each night, and two years later, he’s married.” I squeeze her arm to thank her for a subject change.
“Isn’t he the one who left clipped toenails everywhere?” Marianne howls with laughter. I guess she is feeling extra happy tonight. She isn’t as stressed now that the graduation season and her long workdays have ended.
“No, that was someone else. Ren’s the one who only liked the doggy style in bed. I won’t mind it as a primary sex position if there’s something else like oral sex or even good ol’ finger banging. But nope. I hope his new wife is happy,” Haisley chuckles.
“At least he didn’t say something super weird like Timmy’s date last year. Remember? The one who said I look like an ass, and I give ass. He was a keeper,” Marianne says, making quotation marks in the air, trying to cheer Haisley up.
It works when she starts giggling before falling off her chair—more laughter from the rest of us follows. There’s never a dull moment in this house. We all have crazy dating stories that we often like to share. Why date if you can’t share your stories?
Well, other than finding your soulmate, but that’s beside my point.
Later that evening, Haisley shows us a video of a young warthog who just showed up in this guy’s backyard one day. Now the entire warthog family comes to visit him daily. Those warthogs look happy and are highly interested in their new human friend.
Still, the name of the video makes me feel sad for a moment. It’s titledwarthogs need luv too. I can feel that sentence deep in my heart. I know I deserve love like everyone else too. It just doesn’t go well with my plans. Falling in love is the last thing I need right now.
