Page 87 of Business Casual

I scurried out the door and headed to the elevator, never looking back. I checked my phone and breathed a sigh of relief. I lost track of time when I was with him. It felt so good to be in the moment with him. So, I was glad there was plenty of time to make it to my hair appointment.

There was so much I needed to do in preparation for the event. But it got so late that I had to do some of it Saturday. By the time I’d gotten home, I was exhausted. It took no time for me to fall asleep.

“Hey,” I greeted him sleepily.

“Hey, were you sleep?” Tre asked.

“Yeah, but it’s okay.” I yawned. “I’m glad you called. I didn’t see your texts until now.”

“I’m sorry to call you so late. I thought you might still be up.”

I could hear the worry in his voice, so I rolled onto my back. “What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing you need to worry about. Go back to bed.”

“No, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Did Josephine see you leave the office today?”

“She wasn’t at her desk. Why?”

“Just something she said. I don’t know. But if she wasn’t at her desk, we’re good.”

My eyes were wide open. “What did she say? Is there something I should know?”

“I’m probably trippin—it’s late and I just left the office. I have to wake up early tomorrow to do something over at Hamilton so don’t worry that pretty little head of yours. Get some rest and hit me up tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? Did she say she saw me or something?”

“No, nothing like that. I swear. If she said she saw you, I would’ve called you right then. It’s not anything like that. It could all be in my head.”

“Tre—”

“Baby, it’s cool. I don’t want you to worry about anything. Go back to sleep. We can talk on Sunday about it. We’re still on for Sunday, right?”

My stomach fluttered. It was the first time he’d ever called me baby outside of a sexual situation and I got distracted.

“Yes,” I answered. “You want to do lunch?”

Maybe it’ll lead into dinner.

“Lunch is good. I’ll text you when I can tomorrow, but you and me on Sunday.”

“You and me,” I repeated.

We said our goodbyes and as I curled up under the covers, I smiled into my pillow. But when I woke up, I couldn’t stop thinking about Tre’s call.

I called Keisha as soon as I woke up. Unfortunately, she was not available to talk until I was on my way to the gala.

“…and IknewJosephine knew something,” I continued as I parked in the parking deck. “Tre kept saying that she didn’t know anything because she would’ve told his dad. But now I’m thinking maybe this whole thing is a set up.”

“Wait…what?” Keisha replied.

“Hear me out…” Looking across the street at the building where the Finance and Technology Gala was being held, I sighed. “I’m going to show up to this event and sit at a table with Tre and his parents. As soon as someone takes my business card, Mr. Franklin is going to be like ‘so did you think fucking my son was going to help or hurt your career’ in front of the whole table.”

Keisha burst out laughing. “That is not going to happen.”

“It could,” I argued. “All because I can’t resist him.”

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