“You know, it just didn’t work out. I’m going to try and get me one of these guys from our website. It seemed to work for you, so maybe it will work for me, too.”
“I don’t know, it was sort of a lucky break for me,” I said. “I browsed through some of the other profiles and a lot of them are really old. I wouldn’t have gone out with very many of the other guys I saw on the app.
“But maybe if you put a little time into looking through them, you’ll find someone. Margret in marketing said that the really good guys find a woman really fast and then take their profiles down. Maybe it’s just a matter of catching them when they get on.”
“I’ve decided that looks and age are no longer my criteria. I want rich and nice,” she said as she put on a pretend happy face. “I’m fine with dating one of the old guys. I’ll learn to love him, I promise.”
“Are you sure you’re doing all right?” I asked. I could see the sadness behind her smile. “It’s okay to be sad about Markus. I’ll be here no matter what. You have to know that.”
Mattie quickly turned into a puddle of tears as she started sobbing in the middle of the lunch room. Her crying was making quite the scene, but I wasn’t about to try and stop her. Markus was a jerk, and she had dedicated a lot of her time to him, she deserved to have a good cry over those wasted months of her life.
“I loved him,” she whimpered through her tears.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m here. Do you want me to cancel my date for Friday so the two of us can go out?”
“Absolutely not! What, do you think I’m some kind of animal? I need you to go out with this guy and prove to me that there are decent men out there. This has to happen,” she said with a totally serious look on her face.
“It’s still possible that he’s not a decent man, you know,” I said.
“Nope, I refuse to believe that. He sounds pretty damn good to me, and I need you to follow through with this guy. Don’t start getting all freaked out the second the two of you get close. I know it’s hard,” she said. “Well, okay, I don’t know how hard it is to lose a husband, but I know you and I know you’ve been through such a tough few years. You really deserve to just have some fun. This guy doesn’t have to be the happily ever part two guy; he can just be the guy who gives you lots of orgasms and makes you smile.”
“Yeah, that’s the guy I need,” I said. “A fun guy who gives me lots of orgasms and doesn’t cause me any heartache.”
“Me, too. Find out if he has a brother. We could both have the perfect guy.”
Even when I wasn’t up for talking with Mattie, she had a way of brightening my spirits. She had taken my mind off of what was going on at work and moved it onto the delicious Brandon Baker.
“I don’t actually know all that much about him. I know he sold his parts manufacturing company last year for over a billion dollars. I think his parents live out east, and he’s an only child.”
“A billion? Like the letter B?”
“Yep.”
“Wow, he’s a great catch, for sure. I mean, it’s not all about the money and I know that’s not important to you. But he’s got to be really smart if he built a company that was worth that kind of money,” she said. “Plus, he’s really damn handsome and makes you smile from ear-to-ear, so that’s a definite good sign.”
“I also know he lost his son to cancer six years ago,” I said as I let Brandon’s secret out of the bag.
I had debated whether or not to tell her, but I just couldn’t keep that big of a secret to myself. Plus, he was a pretty public figure around Los Angeles, and I figured details about his son’s illness were probably posted on the internet anyways.
“No, that’s horrible,” Mattie said as her normal smiling face turned to a frown.
“I know. I started crying when he told me. I could only imagine how horrible it would be to lose Connor. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know how a parent could move on after going through something like that.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty intense. So, he’s divorced?” she asked with a look of disappointment.
“Yes, but it’s really hard for people to stay married after they lose a child. He said they are still friends and his ex is even getting re-married soon. He seemed really well adjusted about the whole thing.”
“Okay, we need to get out of this sad zone,” she suggested. “Let’s get back to talking about the sex. Tell me all about him.”
The desire to know about my sex life wasn’t new with Mattie. She had an insatiable appetite for everything sordid when it came to me – and anyone else who sat near her in the office. I did my best to keep the main details to myself, but there were a few things I couldn’t help but share with h
er.
“You know, he’s really good with his hands. Like expert massage level good. When his hands pressed against my lower back, I wanted to move things to a massage table and just let him go to town. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good massage,” I winked.
“Girl, me, too!”
“I’m seeing him again Friday, but we are doing the real date thing,” I said. “I’m not going to sleep with him.”