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Ispent most of the rest of the weekend sleeping and felt much more human by the time Monday rolled around. It was the first day in almost a month that I had gotten out of bed with a spring in my step and no feeling of dread looming over me. I stopped on the way to work to grab bagels and coffee for Max and Jin to celebrate surviving the past few weeks.
The entire atmosphere of the office had changed. When I walked onto our floor, the sounds of chatting and laughter made me smile and relax my shoulders. I hadn’t even realized that they had hunched up nearly to my ears as soon as I had stepped onto the elevator.
“Good morning!” I greeted Max and Jin, holding up the bag with the bagels and the coffee carrier. “I come bearing gifts!”
“Yes!” Jin exclaimed, standing and rushing around his desk. I reached into the bag and handed him the bagel wrapped in paper with his name on it. He clutched it to his chest like I’d just presented him with a priceless antique. “Thank you. I thought this Monday morning couldn’t get any better, but I was wrong.”
“You’re welcome.” I passed Max her coffee and bagel, watching as she threw back half her beverage in one long pull. Jin’s bagel was suspended halfway to his open mouth as he watched. “Uh...rough weekend, Max?”
“Ugh, yes,” she answered, not even looking up as she moved on to her bagel. “You’re a lifesaver, Sut.”
“Care to share with the class?” Jin asked, taking a bite of his cinnamon bagel with honey cream cheese. He must be in a really good mood if he was asking about our weekends.
“If you insist,” Max replied, the mischievous twinkle in her eye making me nervous. “I finally got to go on a date with Richard, and it was amazing! Totally worth the wait.”
Unwrapping my own bagel, I got comfortable at my desk and turned my chair to face Max because I knew there was no way she was letting us off the hook with so little information. I glanced at Jin, who looked like he already regretted asking her.
“What did you two crazy kids do?” I asked, then rushed to clarify, “and keep it PG, Max. I’m going to have to look this guy in the eyes at some point, I assume.”
You know, like at my wedding to Holden.
Where hadthatthought come from? Since when did I start daydreaming about a wedding where Holden was the groom? Although I didn’t hate the idea. He would look so handsome in a suit, standing at —
“Okay, so!” Max’s voice snapped me out of my insane dream. “First, we went to the Grey for dinner, and I had the absolute best meal of my life. Seriously, the oysters were to die for, and I can confirm that they really are an aphro —”
“No!” Jin and I shouted at the same time, eliciting looks from the people around us. Jin mouthed a general “sorry” to the room before shooting Max a look that promised her credit score was about to take a dive.
“We split the beef carpaccio and it legit melted in your mouth, like beef butter.” She closed her eyes and sighed like she was remembering each bite. The thought of beef butter kind of made me want to barf, but to each their own. “He ordered a bottle of viognier, likeactualviognier. It was so good I almost cried when the bottle was empty.”
Jin whispered, “Do you know what that is?”
I shook my head in response. I suspected that even Max didn’t know what it was before her date.
“But what about Richard?” I asked, much more curious about how she felt abouthimthan the food. “Do you feel like there was a connection?”
“Definitely. It’s actually really refreshing to date an older man. He’s way more mature than the children I’ve dated recently. I mean, the man didn’t even know what Tinder is!”
“That’s probably because Grandpa is still using a flip phone,” Jin quipped, earning a scowl from Max.
“He’s notthatmuch older than me.” Max rolled her eyes. “And I don’t need your double-standard bullshit judgment. When an older guy dates a younger woman, all you men are giving him high fives and saying ‘niiiiice,’ so you don’t get to judge me forbeingthe younger woman.”
While Jin and Max debated the finer points of modern feminism, I took out my phone to text Holden.
Me: Has Richard said anything about his date with Max?
Holden: No.
Me: Hmmm, maybe you could ask him? But be casual about it. Maybe ask him how his weekend was. Or if he did anything exciting this weekend? Oh! Or you could say you’re thinking about trying the Grey this weekend but aren’t sure if it’s good.
Holden: Sutton, I’m not really sure what you think I talk to the other partners about but I assure we’re not sitting around talking about our feelings. If I ask Richard about his weekend, it will be suspicious, because I have never once asked the man about anything not work related.
Me: Huh, really? What do you talk about then?
Holden: Work, Sutton. We talk about work.
Holden: And sometimes golf.
Me: Wow, that’s so boring it’s kind of tragic.
