Heni walked over and passed me a cup of the coffee he’d brewed with the beans he’d brought back from Ethiopia. I inhaled the aroma as he sat down next to me.
“Well it’s our duty as your best friends to inquire about this young man’s situation. Sanjay informed me of what’s been going on and we’re doing our due diligence.” I shot some side-eye in Sanjay’s direction. “Uh, that’s really not necessary.”
“We failed the last time, and you ended up married to Maxwell.” He held up his hand, anticipating my protest. “Who is a nice guy, but who we knew was not right for you. So we’re being proactive this time. When can we meet him so we can assess?”
They were ridiculous.
“You’re not meeting Camilo any time soon, because he and I aren’t dating.”
Yet.
“So far we’ve been discussing the project I’m funding at his place of work.” I got two variations of very over-the-top eye rolls at my stuffy answer. “Also, who says either of you had any business telling me who to marry? I admit things moved fast with Maxwell, but I have no regrets. I have Libertad and even though he and I weren’t right for each other, I think we’re doing a pretty good job raising her.”
This last statement seemed to mollify them both. They were on this new kick of being more in touch with their straight man feelings, and it was getting old.
I pointed at Sanjay, knowing exactly how to end this line of questioning. “Sanjay, Priya would tear your balls off if she knew you’re ganging up on me with Heni.” This time he actually looked scared at the mention of his wife.
I laughed again and shrugged. “I really like Camilo. He’s been…surprising. Being with him reminds me of how much fun the three of us had building Nuntius, the pride we felt in that, you know? When we thought our ideals would help us take thebusiness world by storm. Even the hard parts had joy. Same with Maxwell and Libertad. There was a lot of pain, but there was joy in that struggle, too. I don’t know, I guess he’s just made me think about things differently.”
When I finished, Sanjay and Heni were both staring at me slack-jawed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you get this deep about anything, even when we were running the business.” Sanjay’s amazed look again matched the one on Heni’s face. The comment about not remembering me being deep about anything before stung, but it was a fair one. I was cautious with my feelings, of showing too much. Camilo was teaching me by example that to find someone’s love, I had to be bolder.
Heni lifted his hands in defeat. “We take back what we said. You do you, take your time.”
“I do hope you guys can meet him soon. Believe me, I’d love for him to take pity on me and let me take him on an actual date. Not these made-up meetings we’ve been doing for the last month.”
They both nodded but didn’t say anything. So I didn’t volunteer the fact that I was thinking of asking Camilo out to dinner tonight. I wasn’t sure I could wait anymore. Thankfully it seemed like we were done talking about our feelings for the day. I clapped my hands and moved to the table.
“Now can we please switch the conversation to tech startups in Tanzania?”
Camilo
“Well don’t you have a pep in your step? Headed home, Mr. Briggs?”
I rolled my eyes at Ayako’s teasing tone as I put my scarf back on and grabbed my bag from the corner on the floor where I’d left it. “You know exactly where I’m going.”
“Remind me again.” I ignored her and her smartass tone as I walked out of the old computer lab at the shelter where we’d had our dance therapy class. Our residents had already gone up to their rooms, but Ayako and I stayed behind to put everything back in order. I’d been rushing, so I wasn’t late to my meeting with Tom.
I also didn’t want to risk running into Melissa and getting another one of her, “I know I can trust you, Camilo” pep talks.
“Wow, what’s happening in there?” Ayako asked, swirling a finger in the vicinity of my ear. I was about to answer when one of our clients walked by and waved at us, a smile on her face.
“Another great class, except no one can ever keep up with Camilo.”
I grinned at how happy she looked. I loved that we could offer something here where she could take a break from everything she had going on. I called after her in a teasing tone, “I don’t know about that, Yesenia, you were giving me a run for my money today.”
She laughed as she took the stairs to her room. “Well I try.”
I turned to Ayako who was still standing there, waiting for my answer, and pointed to my office at the bottom of the stairs. “Come on, I need to get my keys and then head out. I told Tom I’d be there by five-thirty p.m. and it’s almost five p.m.”
She rolled her eyes as she walked in and closed the door behind her. “It takes five minutes to walk to Red Rooster from here. You’re rushing because Tom Hughes has you in a bad way.” Her smirk was fucking annoying.
I almost deflected or did my usual “deny, deny” routine, but today felt different. From the moment I opened my eyes this morning, my skin was buzzing, and I knew the reason for it had afirst and last name. It’s not like I didn’t usually feel good; I loved my job and I had a lot to be happy for, but I could not remember the last time I’d felt thisexhilarationwith someone. Like I could show up and be exactly who I was, and it would not only be okay, it would be exactly right.
I sighed and looked at Ayako—or, as I thought of her lately, my No.1 Enabler. “I’m excited so see Tom. I’d deny it, but your pushy ass probably wouldn’t let me leave until I admitted it.” I grabbed my keys from my desk as I glared at her. I turned to the window and looked at myself. I didn’t exactly look like I was going to a business meeting with the billionaire who was donating money to my agency. But I did look like I could be meeting my boyfriend for an after-work drink.
Ayako’s whistle jerked me out of my spell just as it was getting good. “Wow, you’re legit daydreaming about Big Dicked Tom.”
