Page 23 of D.I.E.T. (Did I Eat That?)

The damage was already done. What else could I do but answer truthfully? “No kidding.”

“I like that secret, sunshine. Joining that boot camp was the smartest decision I’ve ever made. Unfortunately, I’ve got an early meeting, so I have to let you go now. Get some sleep, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” I replied, hanging up. I’d be lying if I said Mr. Rabbit didn’t get a workout that night. But this time it was Sinjin’s face that I pictured.

The next day work went the way work always did. Work-y…Workish? When it was time, I left, heading to the Secretary of State’s office, all my paperwork sitting on the passenger seat next to me.

What I didn’t expect was to see Sinjin’s truck with Sinjin inside the truck sitting out front of the Secretary of State’s office. I pulled into a spot then he pulled into a spot about two spaces down from mine. When I climbed out, he climbed out. A car park tango.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Sunshine, you didn’t think I’d let you tackle the boredom of the Secretary of State’s office alone, did you? Have you learned nothing about me?”

Oh yes, my feelings were running a little bit deeper thanlike.

When we walked in he held the door open for me so I could go in first. I checked in at the kiosk, and then he and I took our seats. We played a new game, calling it,Who’s a Chad? Who’s a Karen? and Who’s a Susan?Some of them were too easy; we just knew right away when a woman was going to act like an entitled Karen or a guy was totally going to be a Chad. The Susans were a bit harder because you never could tell who understood technology and who didn’t. Especially when we watched a woman who looked no more than maybe in her early thirties get very confused when the employee behind the desk tried to talk to her about options she could choose on the website. But then a wrinkly old woman who looked probably a hundred and fifty was right on top of it. As we listened to their various conversations, we laughed and made comments. Who knew the Secretary of State’s office could be so much fun?

When my number was called Sinjin came with. The process went relatively easy because I’d gotten on the website. Clearly, I wasn’t a Susan and knew exactly the papers I had to bring with me, so we filled out the forms and got everything good to go.

The only problem was getting my passport taken care of used up all my lunchtime and I didn’t get any lunch. But Sinjin even fixed that by running into a Subway to grab me a salad and an iced tea. Not only that, but he used the app to order while waiting for me to finish, and left to pick it up a few minutes before my business concluded at the Secretary of State’s office. By the time I pulled back into the salon I saw his truck idling out front. He opened his door, the siren songs of Sinjin and food calling to me.

“What time do you get out of work tonight, sweetheart?” he asked, climbing out of the front seat swinging the Subway bag on his finger. The man brought me food. I might have just replaced that blueberry smoothie as my future baby daddy.

“I’m out at 6:30 tonight.” I answered.

“I want you coming over to my house tonight,” he said as I snatched the plastic handles, clutching it to my chest with a big smile. “Do you remember how to get there or do you need me to give you directions?”

“No, I remember. Why do you want me to go over tonight?”

“Because sunshine, best friends have sleepovers, and the state you left me in last night just wasn’t fair.”

“Didn’t you work that out at the gym this morning?” I asked. “Besides, I thought you wanted to keep me tethered to your bed for an entire weekend.”

“There’s only one way to work it out of my system, Geet, so you can understand why I can’t wait until the weekend. We’ll call this ‘extended weekend plans.’” He brought his fingers up to make air quotes like an idiot and I rolled my eyes. “Bring clothes for a couple nights; we’ll go to boot camp together, then I’ll drop you off at work and pick you up at the end of the day, and we’ll come back to my place and get naked all over again.”

Holy cow. He wanted to get naked with me. I left him in a state. We couldn’t have that. “Okay,” I found myself answering. “I’ll go home after work, grab a few things, then I’ll come to your place.”

“I’ll have dinner waiting for you.”

“I’ll have boobies waiting for you.”

He barked out a laugh. “I have to go to another staff meeting where I certainly foresee them giving me the side-eye again. I’m gonna have to bring you in there, introduce you so they know that I haven’t lost my mind. Maybe I have over you.” He threw that last part in almost as an afterthought, like he didn’t actually mean to say it out loud. I had to admit, the thought of Sinjin losing his mind over me made my insides squishy.

Instead of replying to that, I simply said, “Bye, studly.”

“Bye, sunshine.” Oh, wow. My stomach dipped in the best way possible, just knowing that awesomely crazy man was going to have dinner waiting for me and he wanted me to spend the night and then he wanted me to spend the next night, too. Whose world did I step into?

Eight:

Dion pounced on me the moment I stepped inside, calling me out in front of his clients. “Why didn’t you bring that luscious piece of man-meat inside?”

“Good to see you, too, Dion. I’m good. Thanks for asking,” I responded, my smirk firmly in place.

He looked over to one of his regulars. “You should see Geet’s new man. Now you know I’m head over heels for my Henri, and he feeds me—big plus. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the assets of another who so willingly put himself in my line of sight for our sweet Brigeeta.” Dion ended his little rant by licking his lips then biting the top one with an overexaggerated body roll as if he were turned on by the mere thought of Sinjin.

Mrs. Riley, Dion’s regular, was sixty-five, looked forty-five at most, was widowed and had a twenty-five-year-old boyfriend. No kidding. “And you didn’t bring him in here to meet us all?” she asked,tskingme after taking a bite of complimentary Godiva chocolate.

“I was afraid you’d steal him away from me,” I joked, and we all snickered.

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