“What am I misreading?”
“You’re… You’re young and beautiful. I’m forty-five years old.”
“So?”
“So, how old areyou?”
“Twenty-seven,” Sharon replied. “And I don’t care about age. I want a person who wants me. I want to be happy and make them happy. I don’t care how old they are. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true – I don’t really want someone younger than me.”
“No? Why not?”
“I want someone who’s ready to be settled, and I don’t know that many people younger than me are. I’m sure there might be some who are, but I’m not seeking them out. I put that in my application for the event: I wanted someone older.”
“How much older? We’re talking almost twenty years here.”
“I’m almost twenty-eight. When do you turn forty-six?”
Debra laughed and said, “In about eight months.”
“Okay. So, I’ll be twenty-eight, and you’ll be forty-five. That’s only seventeen years, not twenty.”
“I saidalmosttwenty.”
“Well, I’m okay with it. Can you not see yourself with a younger woman? Because that would be an issue, obviously. I can’t exactly change my age.”
“I can. I never have been, but I can. I just didn’t think a woman in her twenties would be into someone like me.”
“Why wouldn’t a younger woman want you?”
“Let’s see… I’m a homebody who’s just started going through menopause. When I was asked about my dream vacation earlier this week, I said a rustic cottage in the English countryside, where I read books by a fire and drink tea. The most exciting part of that trip would be walks.”
“Around the English countryside?”
“Yes. Exciting, huh?”
“Sounds good to me,” Sharon said.
“For your dream vacation?”
“For yours,” Sharon replied and turned to her, sitting cross-legged on the bed. “Mine would be a little different, but not by much. I like to relax. I spend all day right now making expensive coffee drinks for people. I’m on my feet for eight to ten hours and barely make enough to make rent. I’d love to siptea, not coffee, by a fireplace, and that’s especially true if someone is there holding me. I might add time on the water in a sailboat or just picking up pebbles or shells on a beach and relaxing there, but that sounds pretty perfect for me.”
“You said right now.”
“What?”
“You said you were a barista right now.”
“Oh. Iwasa recruiter. I got laid off, so I’ve been working at a coffee place while I try to find something else.”
“Do you like recruiting?”
“I love it. I don’t know that I want to do it forever. I’d like to work my way up at a company, maybe in HR. I heard you mention that you’re an accountant earlier?”
“I am. Well, I’m the head of finance in a corporation, but I’m also a CPA.”
“Why did I hear you say that you’rejustan accountant, then?”
“Because Iaman accountant.”
