accident two years ago which worries me.
“ Hello?”
“H-hey Nicole, I hope I’m not imposing on you,” he says in a timid voice.
“No not at all, I’m wide awake. What’s up, is everything okay?”
“Things are going just fine. I was wondering if you had time today to meet me for lunch today.”
“Okay, you’re making me a bit nervous. You hardly ever call me and now you want to meet for lunch. Do you mind tell me what this is regarding?”
He gives a deep laugh that disarms me. I’ve always thought that he’s had a sexy voice and his laugh is even more intoxicating.
“Don’t worry Nicole, I’m not bringing any drama to you. I just want to talk to you. How does 11 a.m. sound?”
I think about my schedule and I have a meeting at 9 so 11 will work perfectly. I decide to move on with my day and agree to the time that he wants to meet. 11 o’clock isn’t too far away. I ask him where he wanted to meet and we settled on the location. I had to put our meeting out of our mind and set my attention on my first appointment of the day. I was able to catch up with the designer that I was looking for 3 days prior. It was my intention to snag her designs for 2 of my client’s boutiques.
He and I would be meeting soon enough.
*
I arrived at South City Kitchen in midtown Atlanta a couple of minutes late but I was riding high from my success. The designer was more than happy to sign on for the deal that I proposed. After meeting Joshua I would go to my office, draw up the paperwork, and send it to her in a fax. I knew that my clients were going to be over the moon when they found out who was going to be in their boutique. Sharia was a new designer but she’s hot, highly selective, and rightfully so. She protects her brand with an iron fist and so she’s exactly the kind of person that I want to work with.
I spotted Joshua at the table and he didn’t look irritated so that’s a good thing.
“ Hey Joshua, how are you?”
“I’m doing good Nicole,” he answered as he rose to meet me. He kissed me on the cheek and pulled out my chair.
“So what’s going on?”
“Geesh, I see that you like to cut right to the chase. You’re looking really good by the way. You work in that outfit? How do you keep the men from falling at your feet?” he asked playfully.
I forgot about what a big flirt he was, it’s one of his many charms. I cocked my head to the side as I evaluated him. He was beating around the bush regarding what he wanted to talk about and I couldn’t help but wonder why.
“Thank you very much Mr. Crocker, you’re looking pretty good yourself. Now please tell me what you wanted to meet about. My stomach has been in knots since this morning.”
“Well, I spoke to Kenneth yesterday and he told me about you seeing him with Amelia. I was wondering how you were doing because that couldn’t have been easy for you,” he shifted in his seat nervously.
I narrowed my eyes, “Of course it hasn’t been easy, it downright sucked. How dare he disrespect me like that, after all we’ve been through. When you talk to him tell him I said that he can go fuck himself.”
“Well, tell me how you really feel about it, don’t hold back. I don’t think that you got your point fully across,” he said sarcastically after he took a long sip of water.
His attempt at humor lightened the mood and made me laugh.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to explode like that on you but what he did really got under my skin. I’m still processing it all.”
“I want to take you out,” he said quickly.
“What?” I ask, as I stare at him open mouthed.
“I’m serious, I’ve liked you from the moment that I’ve met you and I didn’t want to say anything because I respected your relationship.”
“Yeah, with your best friend,” I said in a high pitched whisper.
“ I know, but I had to tell you how I felt or I