EIGHTEEN
Jade
I woke up before him the next morning. As I laid next to him, his bare back rising and falling as he breathed. I smiled to myself. It hadn’t all been a dream.
Had I finally found a man worthy of my time? Two years after meeting him in Afghanistan? Our story would be so fun to tell around the dinner table.
Carefully, I slipped from under the covers and got out of bed, trying not to wake him. He groaned and rolled over, but he appeared to be a heavy sleeper.
Was he a morning person or super grumpy before he had coffee and breakfast? As I grabbed his white robe from the top of his dresser, I realized how little I knew about him.
At the same time, none of the mystery mattered. It made our blossoming relationship that much better. In the kitchen, spotlessly clean, I started a pot of coffee in his fancy machine.
While it brewed, I returned to the bedroom where I found him still asleep. I gathered up my clothes and got dressed quickly because I needed to go home to change and shower before work.
I hated to go into work, but I needed the money. A little time and space between Cooper and I wouldn’t hurt anything. I needed to think everything through. It all seemed to move so fast.
Before I left, I wrote a quick note telling him I’d gone to work and would call him later that evening. He had a set of banana magnets on his refrigerator, so I used one of those.
Outside his door, in the small foyer with the elevator, I saw a door leading to a set of stairs. A quick three flights would help me wake up, I figured as I opened it and started down.
By the time I reached the lobby on the first floor, I realized I had to get in shape. The doorman, same person as the night before, smiled and nodded his head as I passed in a hurry.
I hailed a cab when I got outside Cooper’s apartment building. The driver yammered on about some festival happening in Brooklyn later that night. I nodded politely but said nothing.
When the cab driver made it to my building about ten minutes later, I paid him before getting out. I saw Max leaning against the brick wall next to the front door.
Ugh. I don’t need this now, I thought, wondering if I should just walk away and go to work in yesterday’s clothes. My workmates wouldn’t mind. Before I decided, he spotted me.
He smiled as we walked over. Everything about him was broad, his shoulders, his gait, even his thinking. The latter was the main reason I wasn’t interested in dating him anymore.
“Hey, girl,” he said, stopping in front of me.
“Hey, Max. I’m in a hurry.”
“You weren’t home last night.”
I tilted my head to the side and studied his face.
“How do you know that?”
“Oh, let’s just say I’m a protective person.”
“That’s creepy,” I said, walking around him. “I need to go.”
“Hold on,” he said, grabbing my arm.
I looked at it then up to his eyes, showing him my anger with my face. He let go.
“You still haven’t confirmed our second date.”
“I’ve been busy, Max. And, to be honest, I’m not interested.”
“You got someone else?”
“No,” I lied. “But even if I did, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
The two men had known each other in Afghanistan, but I was sure they didn’t talk anymore. As long as I didn’t tell either about the other man, I would be fine. Cooper was the one I wanted.
“Damn. When did you grow so cold?”
“That’s not helping your case. Like I said, I’ve got to go.”
“Fine, I’ll call you later,” he said as I walked away.
“Please don’t,” I called over my shoulder.
My hands trembled as I fumbled with my key to unlock the front door of the building. When would I be able to afford to live in a place with a doorman?
Inside my building, I slammed the door shut and turned to look outside. Max had left. I breathed a sigh of relief before going upstairs to get ready for work.
* * *
Max was still nowhere to be seen when I left the building for work. On the entire walk to the nondescript office building about a mile from my apartment, I thought about him and Cooper.
I had slept with him again. Did I finally have him out of my system? He satisfied my physical needs, but I felt like he could offer me so much more.
At work, I ran into Laura in the break room as I got another cup of coffee to keep me going. She smiled when she saw me. I waved and walked over to the where the coffee machine sat on the counter.
“You weren’t answering your phone last night,” she said.
“Oh, I might have hooked up with someone,” I said with a bounce in my step.
“You? Hookup with someone? I need the details.”
Laura and I had been friends for years. We shared practically everything with each other.
“Maybe later,” I said, grabbing the pot of coffee and pouring a mug. “How are you and that new guy working out?”
“Which one?” she asked.
“The tall one with the beard. I can’t remember his name.”
“Jason? He was like two men ago. You need to keep up.”
“Are you ever going to find a decent man?” I asked then took a sip of coffee.
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “There’s like no good guys who aren’t already in a relationship.”
“Right?”
“Was it the guy from Afghanistan you hooked up with last night? Max?”
I frowned, staring down at my coffee.
“No? Tell me more.”
When I looked up, I saw a look of excitement on her face.
“It wasn’t Max. I met another guy in Afghanistan too.”
“Cooper? Yeah, you told me about that crazy night right before you left.”
“He caught up with me a few days ago.”
“And Max found you like a week ago? That’s weird.”
“I guess.”
Both of us took another sip.
“You should hook me up with Max if you’re not interested in him,” she said.
“Really?”
“Why not?” She shrugged.
“He’s not my type of guy at all, but I won’t judge you.”
“Better not,” she said.
I smiled.
“I’ll send him your number. Is that cool?”
“Yeah. Who couldn’t use a little more muscle in their life?”
Whether Max and her hooked up or not, hopefully it would distract him enough, so he would quit stalking me.
All my thoughts circled back to Cooper in one way or another. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to get him out of my mind.
“I should go,” she said.
“Yeah, me too. I’m on chapter thirty-two of editing this novel, and I need to get it finished today.”
“Good luck.”
“Only four more chapters to go, but this author can go on and on, dragging scenes out way too long. I never know what to expect.”
“Can’t be any worse that the one I’m editing right now.”
I took a step toward the break room door.
“You doing anything for lunch?” she asked.
“No. We can get something together.”
“Sounds good. Don’t send Max my number yet. I want to think about it more.”
I raised my hand in recognition as I walked out and headed toward my desk for another day of work, helping other people with their written words but writing none of my own. It didn’t bring me joy, but it paid the bills.