Page 39 of More Than Pen Pals

How Leslie and I are going to be around each other while keeping our hands—and lips—to ourselves, I don’t know. But we have to hold back if we want to think straight, although not touching or kissing her is going to be a giant distraction as well. The anticipation might kill me.

The waitress finally appears and takes our order for both drinks and food, which annoys me, as it means my time with Leslie will be shorter than I hoped.

I ask, “Do you feel comfortable telling me what happened with your ex-boyfriend?” If the man broke up with her, he’s an absolute idiot.

She laughs. “Compared to some of the other things I’ve told you over the past two days, this’ll be easy.”

Leslie is beautiful when she laughs. Then again, she’s beautiful no matter what she’s doing. There’s no doubt we’re going to have to limit our time together for the foreseeable future, though that’s the last thing I want.

“His name is Glenn,” she says. “We met my first year after college. I was a reporter for thePeoria Journal Star,and he worked in advertising sales. We started out as friends and eventually decided we might as well try dating. It was comfortable. Nothing earth-shattering, but we enjoyed spending time together.”

She deserves earth-shattering. I want to tell her that, but it’s the kind of thought I’ll need to keep to myself for a while.

“I left that job after two years and took a position in PR at a small local agency,” she says.

“Why did you make the switch from news reporting to PR?”

“I wish I could give you a noble reason, but it was money. I barely made enough to pay the bills, and I lived with two roommates in a run-down duplex. My financial situation wasn’t going to change anytime soon in that job, so I needed something that paid better. Glenn and I had been together for a year, and I wanted to see where things might lead with him, so I didn’t look into moving away at the time.”

“What made you want to come to Chicago now?”

“It turned out I enjoyed PR. And you know I’ve always wanted to live in a big city. When I first started talking about looking for a job in Chicago, Glenn was supportive. I thought if I got a job in the city, he’d move here, too. He’s in sales. He can do that anywhere. I never dreamed I’d get this job, though. One of my college professors grew up with George Carter’s wife and gave me a glowing recommendation, as did my former boss at the newspaper. I’ll admit, I’m not sure I’m ready for it, especially jumping right in with—” She claps her hand over her mouth.

“Diego Sanchez? I know,” I say. “I’m one of the few people you can talk to about him. I spent some time on the phone with his agent today. I took the NDA over to Carter-Jenkins for you to sign this afternoon, but you weren’t there.”

“I was with Diego at the Drake.”

“Wendy told me.” And I don’t like it one bit. The man has a reputation with the ladies—or at least he did before he got married a couple years ago. But since that’s no longer an issue, I wonder if he’ll go back to his old ways. And Leslie could be his prime target—especially if she spends much time alone with him in his hotel room. If that man even thinks about laying a hand on her …

“I signed the NDA when I got back,” she interrupts my thoughts. “There were some interesting clauses in there.”

“It’s not uncommon when you work with celebrities. They often include clauses about not asking them for personal favors, tickets, autographs, and so on.”

She nods.

“Back to Glenn …” I redirect the conversation.

“He was surprised I got the job, too, and he wasn’t excited about it. Turns out he didn’t really think I’d move away from him. He thought I’d spend some time applying and interviewing for jobs and after a few rejections I’d realize I had it pretty good in Peoria and give up on the job hunt.”

Anger surges through me at the knowledge her ex didn’t expect anyone to hire her. “And then when you got the job, he broke up with you?” I guessed.

“Not immediately. I think he didn’t want to seem like a jealous jerk, but my last night there, he ended things.” She shrugs. “Was I angry? Sure. I’m still mad at him.”

She is. I can see it in her eyes, which helps me understand her reluctance to be with me.

Leslie continues, “I’ll probably be upset about it for a while, which is why we need to cool things down here. But I know breaking up with Glenn is ultimately for the best. I wasn’t certain we were headed toward marriage, anyway. We dated for two years and although we talked about getting engaged, we never did.” She shrugs. “Maybe we both somehow knew it wasn’t going to last.”

I want to ask if she loves him, but I won’t. I want to ask how long she thinks I’ll need to wait for her, but I don’t do that, either.

“One thing I know,” I say, “is he’s a world-class moron to not know what he had.” But I’m glad he’s a moron, or I wouldn’t be sitting here wondering when Leslie will let me kiss her.

She blushes. “I wasn’t the perfect girlfriend, by any means.”

“Nobody is. But it sounds like this breakup was much more about him than about you. He didn’t want to consider what you wanted or what was best for you.”

She looks away from me. “Glenn’s a good man. He never did anything to hurt me.”

I don’t like that she’s defending him. “Except break up with you because he wasn’t your only dream?”

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