“Not you bragging on your dick.”
“I’m not bragging. And how many times have I had to listen to you boast about a woman’s number you scored?”
“That’s because I have game, and the bitches love a cool ass butch fem who can switch it up.”
“Can you just allow me to be a tad braggadocious.”
“So the date went well?”
“It did.”
“Will there be a second date?”
I pushed the paperwork aside. “Do you believe in fate?”
“No.”
“I do. I think this was the plan all along, and I couldn’t see it back then because I was too hurt. But maybe we needed to live and grow separately so we could come back together better than ever.”
“Aldridge, I know you like her, but I don’t want you to set yourself up for a letdown.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Danessa didn’t see how great you were before, what’s different now?”
“We were young, she made a mistake.”
“Has she even explained why she dumped you in the first place? From where I’m sitting the only thing that’s changed is you’re a multi-millionaire ball player with money to blow.”
“Danessa’s not like that.”
“How do you know? You haven’t talked in years. People change, you have.”
“Because I know Danessa.” My tone was final. I wouldn’t accept any vilification of Nessa. She wasn’t a gold digger with dollar signs behind her eyes. Parts of me still felt the heartache, a weekend filled with great sex couldn’t erase that. Danessa was my first serious relationship, the first love of my life, and my first heartbreak. Why, was a question I was too scared to ask, because what if she explained only to realize her reasons were still valid?
Worse, what if it was something I did or didn’t do that drove her away? One minute we were eating pie and scrolling through Apartments.com, and the next she was tearfully telling me sheneeded a break. Not from the apple pie or online screen time, but from me.
“Whatever, I’ll send her a grand she looks like she pays a pretty penny for that hair. If there’s anything left, she can use it on her nails, brows, or unmentionables.”
Nori jotted down notes in silence. She was pissed at me for not at least taking her words into consideration. The line between professional and personal were often blurred between us. Nori was one of my favorite people and although she was on my payroll, I thought of her as a friend … shit more than a friend, she was family.
“Are we good?” I didn’t like it when she was cross with me.
“We’ll always be good, Aldridge.”
“I’d really like you to get to know Danessa better.”
“Yep, I’m down.”
“Trust me, you’re gonna love her once you know her better. Are we done here?”
“Uhm … I just have one more piece of business.”
“What’s up?”
“Your father reached out to me.”
Pressure built behind my eyes. I was on cloud nine after my weekend with Danessa and talk about my father would surely drag me down into the pits of hell. “About?”
