Zach, what the hell?
James laughed. “No. I loved teaching. It was a nice change of pace. But I missed running a business. Well, yeah, and I guess I got an amazing girlfriend out of it.”
“Weren’t you still married when you moved to Delaware?” Zach asked.
Is he purposely trying to torture me?
James cleared his throat. “I had filed for divorce before moving.”
“I was reading about your first wife too,” Sierra said. “It’s so sad what happened. Were you really childhood sweethearts?”
James looked uncomfortable. “No. It’s a long story. Did you guys want refills?”
“That would be great,” Tavon said.
“I’ll be right back.” James squeezed my shoulder and walked toward the bar.
“Oh my God, he’s even sexier in normal clothes,” Sierra said as soon as James had walked away. “I’ve never seen him in jeans before.”
“What is wrong with you guys?” I said.
Zach laughed. “We’re just trying to get to know him.”
“No, I agree with Penny,” Tavon said. “You guys are being embarrassing. Sierra, stop flirting with him.”
“I’m not flirting with him,” she said and crossed her arms.
“Penny?” Tavon was looking at me for help.
“You kind of are.”
“I’m so sorry. I’ll stop.” Her face had turned slightly red.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“And Zach, why are you attacking him?” Tavon asked.
Zach shrugged. “Just trying to figure him out.” He was looking at me. “Gauging his reactions to different things.”
“Zach, I asked you to drop it…” my voice trailed off when James came back over. He had a beer in his hand and a waiter was following him with a tray of drinks.
“I opened up a tab for the table,” James said as he sat down. He immediately draped his arm back around my shoulders.
“Thanks, man,” Tavon said. “So what made you get into tech in the first place?”
“Honestly, it was forced on me.”
Everyone laughed. I looked up at James. I had never asked him that question and I was curious about the rest of his answer.
“I liked reading in my free time. And my parents hated that. They put a computer in my room and kept giving me games to play on it until I finally got interested.”
“You do realize that’s the opposite problem all our parents had with us, right?” Sierra asked.
James laughed. “I think they knew there was an opportunity for advancement there. Whereas being an author wasn’t something they wanted for me. My older sister was already interested in literature. And they were right. The opportunities in this field are endless.”
“So you originally wanted to be an author?” Sierra asked.
James shrugged. “No. I don’t know. I was young. I didn’t really know what I wanted to be.”
I bit my lip. He was never allowed to dream about what he wanted to be. His parents had decided that for him early on.
“Did you play any sports growing up?” Tavon asked.
“Some. Never for very long. I always went back to tech.”
“So, were you like a nerd in school?” Sierra asked. “I can’t picture that at all.”
“I’m still a nerd,” James said.
“You are definitely not nerdy looking,” replied Sierra.
James laughed awkwardly and turned away from her. “What about you, Tavon? Did you play sports?”
“Soccer. Second team all-conference my last two years in high school.”
“My little brother was good at soccer too. I used to love going to his games,” James said.
I took a sip of the beer that the waiter had handed me. I knew that Rob had played soccer growing up. He liked to brag about how awesome he was.
“You like beer?” Zach asked me.
I turned toward him. “I’m used to hanging out with the guys.”
He smiled. “I pegged you for only drinking girly drinks.”
“You pegged me wrong.”
“And what about you, Zach?” James asked, cutting our conversation short. “Any sports growing up?”
“I ran track.”
“Do you still run a lot?”
“Almost every day through Central Park before or after work.”
“I like running through Central Park too. I always try to get Penny to come with me, but I haven’t convinced her yet.”
Sometimes James ran with Mason. They always made everything a competition. Whenever James came back completely worn out, I knew he had been racing Mason through Central Park. Bee and I always joked that they complained about us on their runs. But I had a feeling that they just talked about real estate. Or mergers and acquisitions or something super boring. Bee and I went to yoga classes together at least once a week and we never complained about James and Mason. We were happy. There wasn’t anything to complain about.
“You should try it sometime,” Zach said, pulling me out of my own thoughts.
James pulled me a little closer to him.
I laughed. “Running? Oh, no. I do not like running.” As far as I was concerned, James gave me plenty of cardio exercise. Although, I’d never pass down a walk through Central Park with James’ hand in mine. “I’ll stick to yoga,” I said.
“You do yoga?”
“A few times a week, yeah.”
James cleared his throat.
“I played volleyball in high school,” Sierra said.
“So did I,” I said. “What position did you play?”
“Outside hitter,” Sierra said and turned her attention back to James. “James have you ever played before?”
“Just in gym class,” he replied. “And I guess some beach volleyball, but that’s pretty different.”
“Beach volleyball is the best. Where have you played?”
James shrugged. “It’s been awhile. The last time I played was probably spring break my senior year of college.”
“That’s not that long ago,” Sierra said.
“For you guys, maybe.” James laughed. “I’m turning 30 next month.”
“Thirty isn’t so bad. Isn’t that the new 20 or something like that?” Tavon asked.
“It sure doesn’t feel like it.”
I smiled up at him. Was he upset about turning 30? He hadn’t mentioned it to me. But it was definitely a milestone. Everything that was going on was a lot of change for him too. I needed to plan something really special for his birthday. Meggings weren’t going to cut it.
“At least you got the whole hot young wife thing going on,” Zach said.
I laughed awkwardly.
James set his beer down on the table. “Penny, do you want to dance?” He stood up before I had even answered.
“That sounds great.” I grabbed his hand and let him escort me onto the small dance floor. There were only a few people dancing.
“Zach seems to like you quite a bit,” he said and pulled me in close, despite the fact that it wasn’t a slow song.
“He doesn’t. He’s purposely trying to push your buttons.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s trying to see how you’ll react.”
“He wants me to knock him out?”
I laughed. “No, I don’t think either of you want that.”
“He’s certainly tempting me.”
“I think he’s more so trying to see if you’ll hit me.”
“What?” James pulled back slightly.
“Remember when I told you that one of the interns thought you were abusive because of the bruise on my cheek? That was Zach.”