Business and Pleasure

            I didn’t mention this before, since I was so focused on everything happening back at home, but last week Will had to take a business trip, so I never really got a chance to thank him for the date, but decline any future romantic outings. He’d been texting me during this trip, being a little flirty (but never inappropriate) and I want to be his friend, so I answered him, but I avoided all flirting. I never said anything suggestive or even used any emoticons. Still, he got back from his business trip this week, and Monday night at dinner was the first time I saw him since the date, and he didn’t seem to get my hints.

            I’d just gotten out of my own car when Will hurried out of his, not bothering to pull up to where the valet took it, and hurried over to embrace me. It wasn’t a friend hug. It was a I-really-hope-I-get-to-do-more-than-this hug. And I’m pretty sure he sniffed my hair before whispering in my ear, “I missed you.”

            I pushed him away as quickly as I could. But I wasn’t able to tell him I really didn’t want this kind of relationship with him because Dad, Eliza, Ruth, and the secretary were waiting—Eliza about ready to breathe fire and Dad seeming surprised but pleased, while Ruth smiled proudly, as if she forgot I’d planned to turn him down.

            At dinner Will and Dad talked business, while Eliza glared at me and the secretary supported my sister in this endeavor. Toward the end of the meal, Dad said he hoped that our dinner with the business he’s been trying to schmooze, the Dalrymples, would be much better than what we’d just eaten.

            “And Anne,” he said, “Make sure you don’t order anything with garlic or onions, your breath will smell atrocious.”

            I told him I wasn’t going to the dinner tomorrow, I was visiting a friend. Dad became angry, because supposedly this Mrs. Dalrymple likes family businesses, and I was the only family he had in the business with him. I had to come and represent our strong family bond.

            But he hadn’t told me we were going to dinner, and I’d made plans with my friend Sam. It’s been over a week since I’ve seen her and she looks forward to our times together so much I couldn’t bear to disappoint her again. So I repeated that I wouldn’t go to dinner, because I had to visit my friend.

            Will put his hand on mine and said he admired the loyalty I had to the commitments I’d made, and surely I didn’t need to be at this one meal in order to get across the importance of family in our business. I pulled my hand out from under his, and he looked both startled and hurt that I’d done so.

            With Ruth backing me up as well, Dad had to give up. 

            I wish the night had ended there, but with that little hand maneuver, it wasn’t. Will wanted to drive me home, and I agreed to go with him because we needed to talk so our signals didn’t get crossed.

            In the car, he asked me if I had enjoyed our date. I told him that I had. He wanted to go on another one, but I declined the offer, and he wanted to know why. I didn’t know how to tell him I didn’t trust him, that I couldn’t see myself letting myself be vulnerable to him. It seemed like such a quick judgment to make on one date, but I can’t go back on my gut until I have proof otherwise.

            I did tell him I felt like things were moving fast. We didn’t know each other, and right now I only felt friendship toward him. 

            He dealt with it well. He said he was happy to be my friend and wouldn’t want to lose that, and understood things might be going too fast. But he asked me to not rule him out completely yet, and keep him in the back of my mind.

            So that’s what we’re doing. I very much doubt I’ll see Will in a romantic way, but it can’t hurt to leave that door open a crack.