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She grabbed the phone and swiped the answer icon. Breathlessly, she said, “Hello?”
“Hey there,” he greeted cheerfully. “You’re back online.”
“Oh? Did you try to call me?” She tried to sound surprised and like she didn’t already know the response to her question.
“Yeah, but I got sent straight to voicemail.” He asked, “How was your Sunday?”
Confused. Headache-causing. Embarrassing.
“It was great,” she lied through her teeth. “I got a lot of cleaning done and caught up on a few shows.”
“Great, great, great.” He paused for a long beat before asking, “So when should we meet and talk?”
She wasn’t expecting him to come out with all guns blazing. Stunned speechless, she squeaked, “H- huh?”
“When should we meet and talk?” he repeated.
Despite the odd lump blocking her throat, she croaked, “Talk about what?”
Barry was silent for a while until she thought he’d hung up on her. But then he murmured, “So that’s how it is?”
She answered with silence.
“Okay.” He chuckled. “I’ll let it slide for now.”
Was that his way of saying that they didn’t need to talk about the kiss? God, she hoped so.
He continued, “But you’re still in my debt. I couldn’t even move around yesterday because all my muscles were on fire from lugging around all of Cam’s stuff.”
“Oh!” Her embarrassment and anxiety was immediately forgotten as concern for his health took precedence. Sitting straighter in her seat, she asked, “Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor? I can_”
“No, it’s not bad enough for a doctor. But you should still compensate me for my pain.” There was a teasing note in his voice, he said, “I want to be rewarded in cash.”
“Cash?” Xolani was shocked. “Like money? You want me to pay you?”
“No. I don’t want you to give me cash. I want you to spend cash on me.”
“Like a gift?”
“Hmm.” He thought about it. “No, just something little. Buy me a drink.”
She sighed in relief, glad that he wasn’t one of those people who offered a favor then hit you with a huge bill afterward. Chuckling, she said, “I can buy you a drink. When do you want it?”
Barry asked, “How’s tonight for you?”
“Mm.” She checked the calendar on her wall. “I’ve got some stuff until six then I’m free.”
“Six is great for me too.” He proposed, “Call me when you’re done with your work.”
“I will,” she assured him. He ended the call.
It was only several minutes later that Xolani realized that he’d expertly conned a face-to-face meeting out of her. She was so screwed!
She was wound up like a clock spring for the rest of the day. As it got closer to six, she became more nervous. More than once, she considered postponing their drinks because she was afraid the kiss would come up. But she decided that if ‘the talk’ was inevitable then it was better to get it over and done sooner rather than later.
At five-fifty p.m., she texted him. ‘I’m done with my work. You?’
‘I’m done too,’ he wrote. ‘Meet outside the building?’
