“The guy says it’s for you,” she replied, and I noticed the box was from the pizza place that Kristo and I always ordered from when the two of us were just hanging out at home. I grinned to myself as I opened the box and looked at the pizza, loaded with my favorite toppings. Fuck, that looked good.
“Did you order it?” she asked, as I handed a generous tip to the driver and sent him on his way.
“No, I didn’t.” I shook my head. “I think it must have been my, uh, my man.”
“Well, get me a man like that if you’ve got any sitting around,” she replied, and then she corrected herself. “Actually, get me them if they’re actually women. That I could live with. But no pizza is worth giving up girls for.”
She took a seat next to me at the table, and I pushed the box toward her. The pizza was big, and I knew if I had this whole thing, I would be asleep in my office before I knew it.
“You sure?” she asked, and I nodded.
“If you can handle my weird toppings,” I replied, and she grinned, grabbed a slice, and took a huge bite. She closed her eyes with satisfaction as she ate, and I started in on my own slice. Mmm. How long had it been since I had ordered from this place? Too long, that was for sure. I made a mental note to call Kristo and thank him as soon as I was finished. Who else would have thought to do something like this for me? He was so sweet, so thoughtful. He must have remembered I didn’t have anything to eat before I left the house, and he had gone out of his way to get this for me. I wasn’t even sure my work was in their delivery radius, yet here it was, likely thanks to a generous bribe from Kristo. Because he was thinking of me, and he wanted me to know it. In the form of pizza.
I took big bites and enjoyed the food, glad to have something to fill my belly after so long and touched by Kristo’s thoughtfulness. Any panic I might have been having about whether he was going to keep things interesting as long as we were together fizzled away. He was thinking about me, and that was all the assurance I needed. I chewed on my pizza happily, and Darla and I chatted a little about the stuff we had been working on, everything we’d been gathering together for a new department of the library. I enjoyed her conversation, her sharp brightness, and she leaned back from the table when we were done and patted her belly.
“All right, that was amazing,” she told me. “Can you get him to send over pizza more often? I’ll pass along my regular order if that makes things easier.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I chuckled, and she dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and grinned at me.
“Hey, so, this man of yours, does he have a sister?”
“Huh?” I raised my eyebrows stupidly, not understanding what she was getting at.
“Does he?” She grinned playfully, and it suddenly clicked—what she’d said earlier about giving up girls and now this.
“Yeah, he has a sister,” I admitted. “But I’m not sure if she’d be your type.”
I tried to imagine Cleo, socialite extraordinaire, and Darla, a big ball of attitude and intellect, getting together, and I nearly burst out laughing at the thought. Yeah, maybe not.
“We’ll see.” Darla smiled as she began to pick at the crusts, and I grinned and sipped on my water. Yeah, we’ll see.