7. Lawton #2
“At least she cared enough. Mine didn’t give a fuck if I ate or not,” I conferred.
“Believe me… my mother is no saint either. Why you think I called her my egg donor?”
“I heard that, I chose to skip over it though. I didn’t want to pry. You shut down on me yesterday when we were talking.”
Tossing her head back she laughed. “You were in my business yesterday.”
“I was trying to get to know you on a more personal level. You were the one mentioning me not knowing your age like it was a requirement.”
“That’s not how I meant it. I was just saying, surely, you looked at my resume and application.”
“Resume, yes. Application, no. Marsha handled all of that. When she was secure with her options, she gave me your resume to peruse, and I went with who I presumed was the best fit.”
“Oh, okay. Well in that case, back to your original question… I’m thirty-four.”
“Too young for you to let life bypass you.”
“I could say the same for you, ya’ know.”
“Do tell.”
Elongating her neck, she turned toward me. “People talk, ya’ know. I’ve heard things.”
“Things like what?”
“Your ex. The one I replaced… No one really knows what happened. I heard she was there one day and the next, she wasn’t. Everyone on staff assumes her abrupt absence has something to do with the two of you splitting. You affirming your singleness pretty much confirmed their suspicions.”
“Now you’re the one in my business,” I chuckled. “But yes, to confirm your suspicions the last director was indeed my last partner. The relationship ended and unfortunately, she saw no reason to continue her employment at the youth center.”
“That really sucks. Those kids really loved her, hell, it took them at least a month to get used to my presence alone. Let’s not even mentioned how long it took some of them to warm up to me,” she chuckled.
“I can see that. Dahlia was really something special.”
“If you don’t mind me asking…” She hesitated before further prying, “Why did the two of you call it quits?”
“Well.” Clearing my throat, I scratched at the back of my neck.
“While there were a multitude of reasons, the main one was us going in two separate directions.” I kept my answer vague.
I was trying to move past my relationship with Dahlia.
The two of us were no more and I saw no reason to keep rehashing what was or what could have been.
“I can understand that too,” Talitha confirmed.
“Says the woman who admitted more than once that she doesn’t have time for anything but her beloved Gema,” I tossed out just to fuck with her.
Pointing her fork at me, Talitha laughed. “I’ve dated before, you know. ”
Leaning back in the chair, I folded my arms across my chest. “You found time to date? Why do I find that hard to believe?”
“Why would it be hard to believe? I’m not a nun, Law.”
“Could’ve fool me,” I chuckled.
“Go to hell, Lawton Harvey.” She pouted.
“As long as you’re along for the ride,” I followed up with a wink. “I’m basing all of this off the conversation we had yesterday.”
“A very brief conversation,” she surmised. “In fact, so brief that it wasn’t enough for you to draw any type of conclusions. So, I would deduce that you were merely guessing. Grasping at straws to be exact.”
“We can dive deeper if you feel that way.
Talitha huffed and rolled her eyes. “Anyways, back to New York.”
“What about it?”
“Shopping on tomorrow. The gala on Saturday. What’s the plan for Sunday?”
“Well, since I’m dragging you to this event with me, I figured we could spend Sunday doing whatever it is that you want to do. You mentioned this being your first time visiting so I guess I could take you around the city… do touristy shit.”
“Really?” She smirked.
I shrugged. “It’s the least I could do.”
“That’s so notable of you.”
“Trying to exercise that gentlemen spirit that I’ve been known to have.” I chuckled.
“Shit!” she groused. “All of this talk about nonbusiness had me forgetting. I spoke with someone about the vacant school. My sources say the city may be willing to sell it being that it’s sat vacant for so long.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I figured we could go check it out when we get back from New York.”
“Give me a time and we can make something happen.”
Her eyes slanted as she stared at me with her head cocked to the side. “Just like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“I say something, and you just make it happen.”
“Time wasted is time we can’t get back. If you feel like we could lock down this location, then the sooner we get on it, the faster we can submit the application. Time is of the essence, and we are racing against the clock.”
“I know,” she sighed. “The more we talk about it, the more my excitement bubbles. I pray that we can see it through.”
“We can and we will,” I affirmed.
“Good.” Closing the Styrofoam container, Talitha leaned over and tossed it in the trash before wiping off her pants and standing from the table. “Let’s get the rest of this seminar out of the way. I’ve gotta pack and go spend some time with Gema before I disappear on her for the next few days.”
Looking down at my watch, I nodded. “Yes. Let’s get back to work. I, myself, need to handle a few things before we leave.”
I had preemptively told Mia I would see her tonight and now I was going to have to decline.
Since this was Talitha’s first time in New York, I wanted to take her out on the town for our last night and leave her with a lasting memory.
I needed to spend the rest of my evening setting everything up for her.