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“What do you say to the nice man?” I asked her.
“Thank you.” She said in her tiny voice. Leon was smiling throughout.
“Are you seeing someone?” he asked all of a sudden.
“What?”
“Do you have a man in your life? Are you in a relationship?” he asked, making his question clearer.
“I’m sorry but I don’t think that’s any of your business,” I responded. It came out a lot harsher than I wanted it to. He didn’t flinch, but he seemed unphased by the response.
“It is my business because I need to know how hard I need to work to get you to go out to dinner with me, just once.”
“I…” I was cut short by a woman calling him.
“Leon. Is that you?” the dark-haired woman said as she walked towards us from the entrance. He turned around to look at her.
“Paula. Hey.” He said, and they hugged briefly.
“I thought it was you. I wasn’t aware you still came here.”
“Please, I never get tired of great coffee.” He responded, then he looked over at me as I awkwardly stood there.
“Uhmm… Paula, this is Valentina. She is an amazing artist and she owns a nice gallery downtown. Valentina, this is my favorite cousin, Paula.”
We shook hands and she said hello to Ava. She was very polite to us. Her attention went back to Leon.
“You’ve not responded to my text about the date.”
“I’ve been busy,” Leon responded, scratching the back of his head.
“Well, my friend Karen, the one I told you about is back in town and the whole date is ready to happen,” Paula said, smiling at Leon. He glanced at me and then looked back at Paula. An unusual feeling of jealousy enveloped me and tore at my chest.
“Please, let’s talk about this some other time.”
“Why? Karen is excited to meet you. You promised.” Paula said as she took her vibrating phone out of her purse. “I have to go, my love; I’ll see you later.” She hugged him and to me, she said, “It was nice meeting you, Valentina.” With that, she put the phone to her ear and walked out the door.
Like on cue, the lady at the counter called out, “Valentina!”
I turned. “That would be me.” I carefully collected my order and turned to Leon. He looked like he wanted to say something but I didn’t have the time to listen. I suddenly remembered the delivery man waiting for me at the gallery.
“I see that you’re quite busy going on dates, you definitely don’t need another one. I’ll see you some other time, Leon.” I said and was out the door, holding Ava’s hand in one hand and our order in another. Carefully, I strapped her back into her chair and continued to the gallery.
After receiving the painting, I didn’t feel like driving home. I was also still trying to sort out the feeling of jealousy that I had felt earlier.
To get my mind off things, I started working while putting an eye on Ava, who was playing games on my tablet. I packed up with Ava and went home when Vivian called and told me that she was home and she came home with dinner.
Chapter15
Leon
I left that encounter with Valentina and Paula feeling bad. The little girl I saw with Valentina came to mind. I wondered how old she was and a funny possibility that she could be mine crossed my mind. I started a thread of imagination on what being a father would feel like. Quickly, I shook those thoughts off.
I went over to Logan’s house, and we had lunch together, speaking about work and our mutual friends. After that, I headed home. On my way home, I got another text from Paula, which I opened and responded to. She sent me her friend Karen’s number and told me of the location of the date. It was set to hold Sunday evening, which was the next day. She told me that everything had been planned out and I just needed to show up and sweep Karen off her feet.
I sighed and kept the phone beside me while thinking of Valentina. Different ways I could have handled the situation with Paula kept playing on my mind, and I was filled with regrets. The next day, as I got out of the shower to get ready for dinner with Karen, Miguel called me.
“Hey, man.”
