I hated she knew me so well, except I didn’t. She’d been my shoulder to lean on many times. “If he hadn’t asked me to go to Frederick with him tomorrow, I wouldn’t have thought?—”
“Wait.” She waved her jangly, bracelet covered wrist in my face, alerting the entire area to our conversation. “I knew you were holding out on me. How’d this happen and why didn’t you ask for my advice?”
I rolled my tie up and watched it flop down. There were so many reasons for him not to like me. “Did I mention he drives a Maserati Quattroporte?”
“Does he want to give you a ride?” She leered at me, but I scowled in response to her horrible joke. “Fine that sucked, but why does it matter he has a Maserati? I know where you’re goingwith this, but he’s not out of your league, Nicky, the question is does he belong in yours?”
Brenda always had my back and tried to boost my confidence. It was, however, a losing battle. I’d had two second dates in three plus years of dating in the DC Metro area. “My league doesn’t even count for rookie ball, let alone the majors.”
“Didn’t I say we weren’t going there today?”
I let go of my tie and swiveled back and forth in my chair. “You did, but now I’m having second thoughts. I mean, he’s hot, rich, and smart. Then there’s me.” I held up a hand to stop her. “Before you get your panties in a wad, let me finish. I know what you’re going to say, but this isn’t about confidence, or a lack of it. Guys barely call me back. In less than an hour, Henry asked me to go out with him.”
“At least you recognize it was a date.”
Did I? Henry confused the hell out of me. “I did, but now I’m…. You know.”
“Assume it is a date, would it be a bad thing?”
She asked like there was an easy, yes or no answer. “It’s not that simple.”
“Nothing ever is, sweetie.” Brenda tapped a fingernail on my desk. “Okay. I have some more questions before I can dispense Auntie B’s world-famous advice.”
I laughed. If her opinions were “world famous” it was because they were terrible on an epic scale. “Why am I scared, Auntie B?”
“Shush. First question: Do you like him?”
Her advice was already living down to my expectations. “No, I hate him, that’s why I agreed to go with him. Of course, I like him.”
“Why?”
The answer to that was simple and impossible. “What’s not to like?”
“Nope, sorry Nick. You can’t get out of this so easily. Why do you like him?”
What did she think kept me up most of the night? “Forget the obvious, but for the record, the obvious would have been enough.”
“No, it wouldn’t. You’re better than that.”
Clearly she didn’t know how shallow I could be, at least for a short amount of time. “He’s funny, smart, has a quirky side—he likes antiques and old buildings—and he’s down to earth. Everything Trev and I own wouldn’t buy the back seat of his car, yet he was right at home seated at our thrift store table, eating the simple dinner Trevor made and drinking wine he paid for from juice glasses because that’s all we have.”
“Good, he’s not full of himself. What else?”
I bit back the snarky, ‘If that’s not enough, no wonder you’re still single,’ comeback and reached for what she wanted. “We just hit it off. He listened, asked questions about me and didn’t try to make it all about him, despite his life being way more exciting than mine.”
“Nice. And then the obvious.” She smiled and it made me feel better about myself.
I didn’t need her approval, and really her advice mostly sucked, but it meant my interest wasn’t just superficial. “Yeah, that too.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Brenda knew me well enough to know why I hesitated. Her attempt to walk me through my own stupidity was annoying. She might usually be right, but this time she was the one who didn’t see things clearly. “This is Trev’s cousin. If this isn’t a date, or if it is and it doesn’t work out, I risk alienating Trev.”
“Ah.” Finally, she saw the problem. “I get it. If he doesn’t feel the same, then you won’t get a kiss goodbye. You will, however,have had a great time riding in your dream car. Enjoy the time and if nothing more happens, move on.”
Then again, shedidn’tunderstand. Others helped me when my parents cut me off, but Trevor was my anchor. Without him, I might not have survived. “Losing Trev isn’t an option. Not even for Henry.”
Henry
