Chapter 12
At home, I took off my clothes, ran a full tub adding bubbles and lavender and slid in.
I needed to unwind. And to think. What was Jack up to?
It was, I had to admit, delightful to be pursued like this.
A handsome, famous man wanting to spend time with me was a big boost to my ego.
Plus, all my efforts at rejection just seemed to slide off him.
He was always cheerful and flirty. The number of times I’d said no to him would have most men either slamming the door on the way out or pouting.
Jack was just… happy. And confident. Like he knew it was just a matter of time till he got his way.
And what did that way look like to him? Was he after a hot night between the sheets? He’d had a couple of opportunities, but he hadn’t tried to pressure me at all in that direction. He annoyed me, but I never felt in the least bit threatened by him.
What did he want? If he just wanted a female companion, all he had to do was sneeze and there would be a crush of women trying to hand him a tissue.
Why me? He could pick just about any single woman, and she’d be more than happy to be added as a notch on the bedpost for him. And plenty of married women, too. Ugh.
He’d never told me what he wanted. With his puppy dog brown eyes and his nibbling on my neck, he’d definitely let me know he was interested.
But maybe I never gave him a chance to tell me what he wanted.
Maybe I’d been so busy plugging my ears and shouting “La la la not listening” that he really hadn’t been able to tell me.
Should I give him the chance to tell me?
Would it be so bad to go for a ride on the Jack Garcia Good Times Cruise?
No, it wouldn’t be bad at all. It would be amazing.
I knew that. But would he want more? Was he capable of more?
I knew my track record, and it scared the crap out of me to think about repeating that train wreck.
When the water was tepid and my fingers resembled raisins, I got out, dried off, put on my pajamas and went to bed. I slept restlessly, weird dreams of dancing on a golf course plaguing me.
When I got to the office in the morning, Diane was already there.
She was in the process of tidying up my office.
Oh no. I’d left all the trash from our evening there.
Empty wine bottle, plastic glasses, the plates, the empty cookie box, and the Famous Vinnie’s tote bag.
Seeing me, a knowing smile broke out on her face.
“I was just cleaning up in here,” she trilled. “It looks like someone had a party here last night.” She smirked as she handed me a coffee. “Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Eve?”
I took a sip and sighed. I just knew this was going to get blown out of proportion. And passed along the gossip chain. “It was no big deal. Jack just called to ask me—"
I was cut off by her squeal of delight. “I knew it! I knew he’d call! Do I get to be a bridesmaid? Where are you going to honeymoon?”
“Diane, you can stop jumping around like a 5-year-old hyped up on birthday cake in a bouncy castle?” She stopped bouncing but looked like it was an effort to be still.
“Yes, he called. He invited me out to dinner, but I said I was working late. So, he brought me dinner.” I didn’t mention that he’d shown up in a pizza delivery guy outfit.
That tidbit would send her over the edge.
“He brought you dinner?” she repeated. “Oh my gosh, how sweet. Was it wonderful? Did you cuddle? Did you make out?”
I tried to keep a serious face, but I could feel the smile breaking through. “No, we didn’t make out. But we did dance.”
Her hands flew to her face. “Oh. My. Gosh! I’m about to collapse from sweetness overload! Did you just melt? Was it amazing?”
I chuckled a little bit and answered, “Yes, I kind of did melt a little. He’s a really good dancer. It felt…yeah, it felt amazing.”
Diane opened her mouth to say something, shut it, opened it again, shut it again.
“Diane, you look like a goldfish. Whatever it is you want to say, just say it.”
“I’m just so happy for you, Eve. You deserve a truly great guy and he just might be it!”
“Thanks, Diane. And I appreciate you cleaning up the trash. Sorry we left a mess.”
“No problem. I’ll get this taken care of and bring you your schedule for the day.” And she went out the door with a wide smile on her face and a little extra bounce in her step.
Fortunately, I had a lot of work to bury myself in today, to keep thoughts of Jack at bay.
I would just plow through the stacks of files on my desk and not once think of those hands on my waist. I would not.
Or dipping, supported by his strong arms. Or the electric fizz of his kiss on my cheek.
Wait, was I humming? That tune was…. “Everything.” Yup, today it was going to be tough to keep my thoughts on work.
I tried to focus. I really did. But my thoughts kept drifting back to Jack. He hadn’t said he’d call me. He had only said good night. No promises were made. But his eyes and his hands made promises. If only I knew what those promises were.
Just as I was looking at the same page for the twentieth time, my phone buzzed.
It was a text. From Jack. I couldn’t help it—I was smiling as I opened it.
There were no words, just a gif of a couple dancing the tango, bodies pressed together, eyes locked on each other, ending in a steamy dip.
I laughed out loud. OK, maybe he was thinking of me as much as I was thinking of him.
I replied with a gif of a penguin in a ball cap delivering pizza.
That got a smile emoji back. Oh, this was fun.
But I reminded myself that I had an actual job to do and couldn’t spend company time flirting with my…
what was he? Not a boyfriend. We weren’t actually dating.
My…friend? That didn’t seem to cover it.
Friends without benefits. I guess that summed it up.
I texted “Need to work.”
He replied “Me, too. Just wanted you to know I’m thinking of you.”
Wink emoji.
I did not blush. I didn’t. Well, maybe just a bit.
I returned to my work and was amazingly able to concentrate and make progress on the file in front of me.
Diane had picked up a sandwich for me for lunch and we ate together in the break room.
I kept her talking about her new, dishy Brit, Nigel, so was spared having to share more details of my dinner and dancing non-date.
Apparently, Nigel spoke 4 languages and had amazingly dexterous toes.
Way more information than I needed, but it kept Jack out of the conversation, so I was happy.
I didn’t hear from Jack again till I was getting ready for bed that evening. I had pulled my hair back into a ponytail and had just slathered a mud mask on my face when my phone tinged. I checked it and found a text from Jack.
Jack: “Hope you had a good day.”
Eve: “I did, other than Diane had to clean up the mess we made last night. Then needed the 411 on what went down. How about you?”
Jack: “It was good, although sadly lacking in time spent with you.”
I smiled at that. He was so flirty, but it was fun. I enjoyed being flirted with and flirting back.
Jack: “So who is this Diane? Someone I should know?”
Eve: “Diane is my PA. She keeps my office going when I’m out town and is inordinately interested in the details of my …
I paused, thinking. Do I say, “love life?” Or does that imply much more than was actually going on? The details of my…relationships? My encounters with Jack Garcia?
Jack: “Eve, I see dots. You’re either writing a novel or you’re filtering”
I quickly ended my sentence with “life” and pressed send. I waited for a moment then dots appeared.
Jack: “I, too, am very interested in the details of your life. Perhaps you could tell me more on our second date.”
Eve: “Second date? We haven’t even been on one yet!”
I had hesitated on whether or not to add the “yet” to the end of that sentence. I didn’t want to seem like I was expecting a date. But he was the one talking about a second date, so I supposed it wouldn’t be presumptuous.
Jack: “Eve, we had dinner and dancing! I’d call that a date!”
I thought about that. Yes, I’d shot him down on going out for dinner, but if he brought dinner to me, did that count as a date? I guess so.
Eve: “I suppose so.”
Jack: “A case could even be made that our first date was in Scottsdale. You were my date for the memorial service.”
Eve: “Heckuva first date. Is that how you normally woo the the ladies?”
Jack: “Nope. You were my first that I used the old, tired ‘need a date to a funeral’ trope.”
Eve: “I feel honored, Jack.”
Jack: “So now that we’ve established that we’re dating, are you available Friday evening for our third date?”
My eyes widened at that. We’re dating? Officially?
Like, a couple? Dating? How did we go from ‘he brought me pizza’ to ‘we’re dating’?
I had to wait for the fizzing in my brain to subside and my heart rate to go down to figure out how to reply.
I thought carefully. I could just say yes and ride the roller coaster and see where it stopped.
If I said no, either he’d find a way around my no, or…
we’d be done. Was I ready to be done? Did I want that? To never see Jack again?
Jack: “Hon, I’m not seeing dots. You checking your calendar?”
Rather than explain my thought process to him, I just wrote,
Eve: “I’m free Friday evening.”
He responded with a grinning emoji.
Jack: “What time are you done at work?”
Eve: “Unless the day goes sideways, I’m off at 5:00.”
Jack: “How about I pick you up from work?”
Eve: “Sure, that could work. Anything in particular I should dress for?”
Jack: “Bring lots of warm layers. It’ll be chilly.”
Eve: “I hope you’re not planning on skating at Rockefeller center. I’m a terrible ice skater.”
Jack: “Nope. Arizona boy here. Can’t skate worth a damn.”
Eve: “Are you planning on feeding me?”
Picking me up at 5:00, he’d better be planning on feeding me!
Jack: “Of course! I’m not a monster, remember?”
I sent a laughing emoji then,
Eve: “See you Friday at five o’clock. Come to my office.”
Jack: “Can’t wait.”
Then dots…
Jack: “Good night, angel.”
I burst out laughing. It was a good thing we weren’t FaceTiming! He certainly would not call me angel if he saw the mud mask.
Eve: “Good night, Jack.”
And I went to wash off the mud and go to bed. And probably dream of Jack.