Chapter 8
Jane Smith hadn't attempted suicide. She'd just run to her room to cry, and got locked in. The kids were fine, and her husband reacted in a better way than I expected.
"So, he's not going to abandon her?" Lula asked me.
"For now, it seems he's standing by her," I replied.
"That's amazing," Connie commented. After we'd helped Hank to calm Jane down, they'd both gone with us to get her re-bonded. Hank didn't like what Jane had done and that she'd lied to him, but he said he wouldn't abandon her.
"This all makes no sense," Vinny said. Lula and I had gone back to the bond office after everything had been sorted out. "This fine religious woman has a sexy meeting with a male hooker, and is possibly pregnant by him now. Yet, her husband isn't going to leave her? What gives?"
Lula, Connie and I shared looks. Vinny was the last guy we'd ever expect to react like this.
"I don't know Vinny," I said. "How come your wife hasn't left you?"
"We've been separated before," Vinny argued.
"But that ring is still on your finger," Lula said. "Your wife has forgiven you every time. What's to stop Hank from forgiving his wife who screwed up only once, and probably never again?"
"I see your point," Vinny conceded. But then he added that if he were Hank he would have dumped her sorry ass.
"Hypocrite," I called him. I understood perfectly well why Hank and Jane weren't going to break up. It was because their religion doesn't believe in divorce. And despite the fact that she could be carrying someone else's baby, I knew they wouldn't abort it either. Likely, they'd raise the kid together, and probably the kid would have a hard life because his parents would be raising him like he was half Satan worshipper. Or maybe they'd give it up for adoption. That would be better.
"It's 4 pm already, wow," I said.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Connie said with a mischievous grin. "Don't you have somewhere to be in 2 hours?"
"Huh?" I asked. But then I remembered it like I'd been slapped in the face. "Oh crap! My date!" And I rushed home to get ready.
As soon as I was home I jumped in the shower. I was extremely nervous during the entire preparation process. It had been a while since I'd been on a date. With Joe it had gotten to the point where dates were routine, I was used to them. But I'd never dated Adam before. I almost felt virginal. Almost.
Barely a few seconds before 6 pm, I was ready. I was showered, primped, and pumped. I sat in my kitchen and waited. At 6:05 I got even more terrified. Adam was late. If it was Joe or Ranger I would have been whatever about it. But this was a new guy. This all made me really nervous.
At 6:13 I heard a knock on my door. I went to open it, already prepared to yell at him for keeping me waiting. But as soon as he and I were face to face, I lost my ability to speak. Adam was dressed in no particular heartbreaking outfit, but his face fit that description. He wasn't wearing his glasses tonight, so I was able to see his face better. His dark blonde hair was tossled accidentally on purpose. And his eyes were blue like the ocean. I wanted to slap myself for making that comparison in my head. But he had me in awe.
"Sorry I'm late," Adam said.
"…It's okay," I finally managed to say. And then I wanted to slap myself again. What was wrong with me?
"Some of my date preparations didn't go according to schedule," he explained, stepping into my apartment. "Nice place, it's a lot better than your car."
"Thanks," I said. After I'd gotten over the shock that was his sex appeal, I was back to being myself. "I put more effort into this place."
"It's nice to be in an apartment that doesn't smell like burnt pizza," Adam complemented me. He turned to look at me and complemented me further. "You look amazing." It took all my energy to not giggle like a schoolgirl. But he made that hardship easier with his next sentence. "I'm glad I got to see you on a good day."
"Flattering," I said in the sarcastic tone that I'd used the most in our relationship so far.
"Yeah, tact hasn't always been my strong point," Adam told me. He seemed to find it amusing instead of seeing it as a bad thing. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, about that," I said. "I thought you didn't have a car?"
"Yeah, about that," he copied me. "Come on," and he took my hand. We went down to the parking lot and walked to the farthest edge of the lot.
"Are we walking the whole time on this date?" I asked. "If so, I need to change shoes."
"Please don't do that," Adam told me. "I like them." Talking about my features reminded me of Joe and Ranger. Those two were the last people I wanted on my mind right now.
"Then where is your car?" I asked, still not believing he had one.
"You're standing in front of it," Adam said. I looked at the car nearest us, and immediately became jealous. It was a topless white Aston Martin convertible. Made my red Sprint look like a garbage bin on wheels.
"Oh my god," I said in disbelief.
"You like it?" he asked.
"It's…decent," I tried to sound cool.
"Decent?" he questioned me.
"Well, I've driven Porsche."
"Don't you have a Sprint?" he laughed at me.
"I said I've driven Porsche. Never said I owned one," I admitted.
"And you think a Porsche is better than an Aston Martin?" Adam asked, opening the passenger door for me.
"No," I said, wondering how I'd gotten myself into this conversation.
"What do you like about Porsche cars?" he asked as we drove off.
"They're fun," I told him.
"And?"
"I like driving them."
"And?"
"They're fast."
"And an Aston Martin isn't?"
"Porsche's are…pretty," I floundered. I wasn't going to win this argument.
"I repeat my previous question." Apparently Adam wasn't going to give up.
"I don't know."
"You acted like you did," Adam argued further.
"All I said was that I like to drive Porsche."
"Yet you own a Sprint."
"Up until today you didn't have a car at all!" I tried to jab.
"And now I own an Aston Martin," Adam said with a cocky tone. "And, you?"
"I…" I was loosing so bad. "You…I…uh…damn it!"
"This was fun," Adam said. And then he sped down the road in victory.
By the time we'd gotten to the restaurant, we'd moved past our silly car argument. I now knew full well that Adam liked to debate and enjoyed winning. I'd dated cocky men before. I was familiar with his kind. But I hoped that there was more to him than this. I was done lying to myself. I wanted to be swept off my feet.
We ended up going to a sports restaurant. The kind of restaurant that had sports memorabilia on the walls and peanuts that you could throw on the floor. I suddenly felt like I was over dressed.
"I know this isn't particularly romantic," Adam said as we entered the establishment. "But as a sports journalist this place greatly represents me."
"No, it's fine," I told him. "Sports are a big part of your life, I get it."
"Next date we'll go to an Italian restaurant," he said. "Then you'll be greatly represented."
"To really represent me we'd have to go to an Italian-Hungarian restaurant." I said. "I don't think one exists."
"Yeah it does," Adam said. "Your parents house." And that made me laugh, for the first time that night. And I ended up laughing a lot more afterward. Adam was a tad obnoxious, but he was also very funny. I got more confident about us as the night went on.
Until that is, Adam asked a big no-no question.
"So tell me about Morelli," Adam said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Just curious," Adam replied.
"There's not much to tell."
"According to your mother and her neighbors, that's not true."
"I would take anything you heard from them with a grain of salt."
"They said you two were engaged once." Adam said. "You've lived together on an off. And this has been going on for years. I think there is definitely something to tell."
"Well, technically yes," I conceded.
"Your grandma said he was your first," Adam told me.
"Did she?" I asked. I was going to kill her.
"Yeah, and apparently there is a sexy poem written about you on a wall somewhere?" I was definitely going to kill Grandma.
"That's technically true too."
"Is the poem truthful?"
"You'll have to find out for yourself."
"Oh really?" Adam got cocky again. I threw a peanut at him.
After dinner, we went to a movie. He let me pick, and didn't specify what kind he didn't want to see. So as revenge for what had gone on that night, I chose a chick flick. Which backfired, because I hated it too.
When we got out of the movie, we didn't waste much time waiting to bash it. We managed to entertain ourselves for the entire drive home with talk of how nauseating the film was. When we got back to my place he walked me to my door.
I decided to welcome him in for a beer.
"So, if I asked you something you might not want to answer," Adam asked me. "Are you going to try to get drunk to ignore it again?"
"I think I've grown out of that tendency," I said.
"Well," Adam looked nervous, which was weird considering his over confident nature. "Considering our age difference…"
"Just 3 years," I reminded him.
"I was wondering, what your rule was?" He asked.
"My rule?" I asked.
"You know, how many dates until…"
"We jump in the sack?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"It depends," I told him.
"Depends on what?" he asked.
"If the relationship is at that stage."
"Is ours?"
"We've only had one date, Adam."
"And how many more dates will we have until the big one?"
"It depends," I repeated.
"On what?" he asked. He wasn't getting it.
"It just depends."
"Well, I'm confused," he said.
"Well, tell me this," I asked him. "What's your rule?"
"I don't know," he told me.
"Do you have one?" I asked.
"Maybe I don't," he told me. I could understand that. I didn't think I had a specific rule either. We sat in silence for a moment. A moment that was long enough for a troubling question to pop into my head.
"I hope I don't offend you or anything," I told him. "But are you a virgin?"
"What?" he said; completely surprised by my question. "What? No!"
"Then how long do you wait until you sleep with girls?"
"With my last girlfriend we waited until we thought we loved each other."
"Oh dear," I said in dread. Despite being only 3 years older than him, I was in a very different stage than him dating wise. "How many partners have you had?"
"…Just one," Adam replied, in a very embarrassed tone. Oh dear. "We dated for a really long time."
"I see," I said. Basically what he was saying was that he was still practically virgin flesh. I was definitely too old for him.
"I hoped I wouldn't have to tell you that," Adam said. "But I wasn't sure how our relationship was going to work. I generally have had girlfriends. We didn't date prior to having those joined labels."
"I get it," I assured him. "You've never simply dated before."
"Yep."
"Well, my advice about this considering your past experience is that we should take it slow."
"As slow as I took it with Ashley?"
"Whatever you're comfortable with," I told him. What was I doing? I was 30 years old. Experience wise I was vastly ahead of him. Well, maybe not vastly, but I was certainly in a different place. We clearly shouldn't be dating. But I couldn't tell him that. Not with him looking so hurt.
"I don't want to wait like I did with her," Adam said, trying to man up.
"Well, even I think that the first date is too early," I told him.
"Is 5 dates too early?" he asked.
"That's generally a good rule," I told him.
"Want to try that?"
"Sure," I said. He felt he'd be ready to sleep with me in 5 dates. And I was pretty sure, that if he and I were wrong for each other, by the 5th date I would call it quits. Maybe that wasn't fair leading him on. But I felt I was in a situation I couldn't get out of at the moment.
"Looking forward to it," he said with his old cocky tone. The confident Adam was back. I shook my head at his double personality and sent him home. This was definitely a new type of situation for me. It probably would end badly, but I was still going to give him a shot.