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. It s not easy tobounce back from stuff is it? He tapped a finger against his coffeecup. What s the deal with you, anyway?People don t just change all of a sudden. I& Again I wished I d pickedanyone other than Rob to talk with.He was the grumpiest guy I knew. I don tlike to whine about what happened to me.That s why I never talk at group.All youguys have suffered traumas inflicted onyou.What happened to me I did to myself.It didn t feel right to complain about it. So what s changed? Anna s smile flashed in my mind. I met this girl. I forced back agoofy grin that wanted to bust out all overmy face. I d figured I was pretty muchdone with dating.I was living one day at atime with as little contact with people aspossible. How d you meet this chick? Rob s shaggy eyebrows knit together as ifhe was trying to figure out whether I dsimply picked up a hooker. In the building I clean. What s the woman do? She s a lawyer. It soundedridiculous when I said it out loud.Why inthe world would a successful careerwoman be interested in a janitor? Oh. Rob sounded as if he d cometo the same conclusion, and he didn t pullany punches. You sure you re not makingthis up? Like maybe you have a crush onher and she has no idea who you are? No.I m not making it up.We wentout this weekend, and it was a barrageof memories of that night swept over me,and I could hardly formulate words good.I think we ll be seeing eachother again. Rob squinted doubtfully. I didn t expect anything like this.It s kind of changed my perspective aboutwhat I can expect out of life.So I m tryingto put forth some effort at group. Well, I guess I could see some girlliking you.You re not ugly.But a lawyer?How you gonna deal with her being successful and rich? I don t care.Stop harshing mybuzz.I m happy for the first time in areally long time.Can t I just enjoy it fortwo seconds? I wouldn t count on it workingout, he continued. It can be hard for aguy to date a really successful woman. You speaking from experience? He didn t answer. So now you vegot this new-lease-on-life thing going.Well, don t expect that to last. I m really glad we decided to gettogether.Your outlook is inspiring, I saiddryly. Hey, man, I m just warning you notto get too pumped.What goes up mustcome down. Rob stabbed a finger in theair. You ve got to find your own way tobe happy, with or without the girl. Like you? I noted his permanentfrown lines. I m happy.I have my interests.Infact, I m glad I got fired laid off, causenow I can do what I ve always wanted.I m going to open a hobby shop. Really? I have the finest collection ofWorld War II battleship models outside of a museum.They ll be featured in the storewindow, and that will bring incustomers. Rob talked about modelshipbuilding and World War II for awhile.He was a quirky dude with nosocial skills, but who was I to judge,considering my special issues? At least Icould count on him to be bluntly honest.Whether he was right about Anna and mebeing an impossible couple remained tobe seen. Chapter Ten Are you ready? Jules asked. Because I have no doubt in my mind thatyou are. My mentor was great atbolstering confidence and soothingfluttering nerves.I nodded. Absolutely. And Irealized I meant it.I was fully prepared topresent our case and squeeze the juicecompany until it was willing to settle.In court, I was very calm as Idescribed conditions at the bottling plantand told about the E.coli outbreak thathad been traced back to Grandpa s Old- Fashioned Grape Nectar.There weren t alot of holes in my case.Grandpa s legalteam called a recess, then settled on a tidysum that satisfied our clients. Good work. Jules smiled at me aswe left the courthouse. Feels good,doesn t it? You were cool as acucumber. I couldn t help but feel smug afteranother success.Good to know all thoseyears of school hadn t been wasted.Infact, I was pretty damn good at my job.The moment my mind wasn t caughtup in the case, thoughts of Jason creptback in.Since our date, I d waffled back and forth between dying to see him againand devising ways to let him down easy.Iwas a broken barometer incapable ofreading my own weather.That afternoon, Isat at my desk and reread our exchange oftexts from Sunday.Jason: Had a great time last night.Hope u did too.Me: I did.Glad you went out withme even tho you weren t feeling well.Jason: Maybe a movie next time?Me: (after several hours ofpondering whether I wanted to go further)Sounds good. Jason: Let me know when.Me: Schedule s tight.Will figuresomething out.Nothing from Jason for severalhours.Maybe he was busy or maybe hewas showing me he could play it cool too.At last he responded.Sure.Whenever.Late Sunday evening I d come to adecision.Any free days this week?Jason: Meet for lunch Wed.?We d agreed to meet in the littlepark by my office building, the one wherethe homeless people hung out.Sincesetting the date, I d spent a lot of time trying to decide what I was going to say tohim.Jason didn t fit into my life.Icouldn t picture having a long-termrelationship.But so what if we merelydated awhile and it didn t go anywhere?Nothing wrong with that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]