Page 31 of One Good Reason

“If you feel like that then why are we staying there?”

“It’s neutral to the location of the gala.”

“Oh okay. What’s this gala for?”

“Autism foundation. A buddy of mine has twin daughters that’s on the spectrum. He throws it annually to raise money for the cause.”

“I love that.”

“As do I.” I nodded.

Watching her pick at the food on her plate was agitating me. The only thing she ate from breakfast was her pancakes. Surely it wasn’t enough to hold her over. She was sitting on the corner of the table with her plate in her lap, swinging her feet back and forth. “Less talking, more eating, Talitha.”

“You will soon learn that I don’t eat a lot.”

“Why is that?”

“Growing up being made to eat all of your food will have moving differently when you can control what you consume.”

My eyes dipped in confusing prompting her to add. “When I was younger, my egg donor was the type of person who made you sit at the table until you finished everything on your plate.”

“Your mother was one of those types?”

“Surely was.”

“At least she cared enough. Mine didn’t give a fuck if I ate or not,” I conferred.

“Believe me… my mother is no saint either. Why you think I called her my egg donor?”

“I heard that, I chose to skip over it though. I didn’t want to pry. You shut down on me yesterday when we were talking.”

Tossing her head back she laughed. “You were in my business yesterday.”

“I was trying to get to know you on a more personal level. You were the one mentioning me not knowing your age like it was a requirement.”

“That’s not how I meant it. I was just saying, surely, you looked at my resume and application.”

“Resume, yes. Application, no. Marsha handled all of that. When she was secure with her options, she gave me your resume to peruse, and I went with who I presumed was the best fit.”

“Oh, okay. Well in that case, back to your original question… I’m thirty-four.”

“Too young for you to let life bypass you.”

“I could say the same for you, ya’ know.”

“Do tell.”

Elongating her neck, she turned toward me. “People talk, ya’ know. I’ve heard things.”

“Things like what?”

“Your ex. The one I replaced… No one really knows what happened. I heard she was there one day and the next, she wasn’t. Everyone on staff assumes her abrupt absence has something to do with the two of you splitting. You affirming your singleness pretty much confirmed their suspicions.”

“Nowyou’rethe one in my business,” I chuckled. “But yes, to confirm your suspicions the last director was indeed my lastpartner. The relationship ended and unfortunately, she saw no reason to continue her employment at the youth center.”

“That really sucks. Those kids really loved her, hell, it took them at least a month to get used to my presence alone. Let’s not even mentioned how long it took some of them to warm up to me,” she chuckled.

“I can see that. Dahlia was really something special.”

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