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“You also have living creatureswho depend on you,” I add, looking down at the furry molasses thatare simultaneously on top of me and all around me. Roxie’s catsclung to me the moment I entered, and are now making sure I neverleave this couch.
To be honest, I love her catsbeing all over me. I love everything about being here, in Roxie’sbeautiful home.
She comes out wearing a simplecream-colored top and blue jeans. Her hair is down, with large softcurls framing her face, and she looks fresh and glowing withminimal makeup.
“You look amazing.” The wordsspill out of me before I can stop myself.
“Oh, yeah?” She seems pleased anda little embarrassed. I’d never seen Roxie Nowak bashful, and it’sadorable. “Thank you. You look mighty dashing yourself.” Then shelooks down at the cats and smiles. “Even more dashing with theadded layer of cat hair. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. They’reawesome.” I try to move the tiny lions off my lap with as littleperturbation as possible.
“You three really hit it off,” shesays. “Doesn’t happen often.”
“They recognize my innatefelineness.”
“That must be it. Shall we?”
Things feel a bit awkward as weride the elevator down to the garage. We lean against oppositewalls and mostly look at our feet, but I glance a tiny smile onRoxie’s lips.
“Would you like to drive?” I askwhen we get to my car. “I have no idea where we’re going.”
“No, you drive,” she says. “Youneed to learn where everything is anyway. We’ll call it Madison 101for Grownups.”
“Where to first?” I ask once we’reboth settled in my sedan.
“Well, first lesson,” she says asshe buckles up. “I don’t know if you’re in love with this car ornot, but you might want to invest in a four-wheel drive. This one’stoo low to the ground for driving in the snow. If you’re in themarket for a new vehicle, a Subaru or an SUV of some kind would dothe trick. It’s March, so you’ve got time, but I don’t want to haveto dig you out from underneath piles of snow come winter.”
“Got it. Get a four-wheel drivebefore winter.”
“I see you are amenable to mycoaching.” She grins. “This pleases me.”
“So, where to?” I ask as I startthe car.
“What did you want to shopfor?”
“I loved your dining-room set. Ihave one, but it can’t hold a candle to what you have. I want toget something similar.”
Her face lights up. “You, sir, arein luck. You are about to have your mind blown by the gloriousnessof Amish handmade furniture.” She proceeds to give me directions tothe store just off the Beltline highway.
“So, what do you do these days?” Iask after we’ve been driving for a few minutes.
She turns to look at me. “You meanfor work?”
“Yeah. And otherwise. How do youspend your time?”
“As I mentioned the other day, I’mthe manager of a software-development group for Qpik HealthcareSystems,” she says. “I’ve been with the company since graduation,almost ten years now. Started as a lowly code monkey, then gotpromoted a few times. I like the job, the pay and benefits aregood, and my colleagues are great. It’s still a sausage fest…” Tothat I snicker, and she smiles and continues. “Yep. The industryremains male-dominated, but I like my team and the larger group ofpeople I work with, and the job is interesting and challenging.Overall, I’m really happy there.”
“Do you like being a manager?” Iask.
“I do. I really do.” She beams asshe talks about her work. “I sometimes miss the minutiae of codedevelopment, which is what I did starting out, but I love workingon bigger-picture problems now, and overseeing the development oflarger projects. And I take pride in getting things done on timewithout undue stress to my team. Poor management leads to burnoutand people quitting. I take care of my people.”
“I bet you are an awesomemanager.”
“Thanks.” She smiles and looksdown at her hands, which are folded in her lap. “I think I am.”
“What about basketball?”
Her voice drops. “Whatabout basketball?”
