Two

He worked in the hotel industry. He was too busy building a career, didn’t have any time to be married and have a family, or so he said. With his looks, he probably didn’t want to be tied down with just one woman. Typical, she assumed. But it was better for her that way.

He said he was on leave, which he rarely gets, and spent it reading at his favorite coffee house, by himself. He claimed he wasn’t very social and didn’t have many friends. That part was believable, she was doing most of the talking for hours.

Richard came off as reserved, a man of few words. When he did speak, his voice was deep and cool. He never goes into details whenever he answers her questions, then again, she didn’t ask too many either. Too much detail was not good for her plan.

Judging from how relaxed his body language was, he must be at least a Manager at the hotel he worked for, or perhaps the General Manager. She wasn’t the only one who was doing the assessment, she could tell he was observing her too.

“Do you want to get out of here and grab some lunch?” she asked.

He hesitated.

“It’s a nice day outside, I was thinking we could grab a hotdog at the food truck by the pier,” she persuaded him.

He lifted an eyebrow, “You want to walk there?”

“Um … hmm … “ she nodded.

“In that case … let’s grab some lunch,” he said.

He pricked up his index finger at her as a signal to wait. He got up to the counter and whispered something to the barista. He took out a $100 bill and put it in the tip jar, then he turned to her, “Shall we go?”

Show off, she thought. She smiled and stood up to leave.

“Have a good day, Sir,” the barista said.

“You too, Steve,” he called him by his first name.

Richard was tall, and from his posture, she could tell he worked out regularly. His biceps were visible from how his sweater shaped around his shoulders and arms. He pulled up his sleeves and his hairy forearms showed. Not too much hair, enough for her to imagine that he probably had some chest hair that she really liked.

He put his hands in his pockets and walked two steps behind her.

“Why are you walking behind me?” She was blunt.

He curved a half smile, “I’m letting you lead the way.”

She smiled, “Fair enough … we’re just going to the pier, you know where it is, right?”

He thought for a moment, “I’m guessing you will lead us there.”

It was weird for someone who lived in Lancaster not to know where the pier was. She didn’t think too much of it, she kept walking.

“What do you do, Margot?” He studied her from behind.

“I’m a freelancer … I work where and when I want to … I find it more liberating.”

He nodded, “Do you make a lot of money working as a freelancer?”

“It depends on what you mean by a lot of money … I can’t afford to buy a yacht if that’s what you mean.”

They laughed.

“But I’m making more than enough, if I can afford to have a roof over my head, food on the table, some money to travel the world … I’m happy … you can’t measure that with money.”

He nodded, “That’s true.”

She bought them hot dogs and fries at one of her favorite food trucks at the pier. To pay for the coffee she spilled, she said. They sat on the bench and ate their hotdogs, even though it was almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon, it was lunch.

“I’m guessing marriage is not in your future plan either?” he asked.

“What makes you say that?” she sucked the mustard off her fingers, she never mentioned that she was married once.

“Well … you don’t want to be tied up in a company, you chose your own time to work, also … traveling the world is your plan … rather than starting a family … it’s pretty obvious.”

“Travelling the world sounds a lot better than settling down, don’t you think?”

“Depends on how you see it … all good things are better when you have someone to share it with.”

He closed in after he said it. Neither of them wants to get deeper into the topic. She went on telling him about her back-packing experiences that she enjoyed so much. Solo traveling to exotic places in all corners of the world. Unattached to anything or anyone, it was clear from the start, that she was a free soul. Something that was not familiar to him.

Margot lured him in with her wits and smarts. Maybe it was her traveling, maybe it was her reading, maybe it was the various jobs she worked on that made her so insightful. There was an ease about her that enticed him, she was easy to be with.

Before they knew it, the sun was setting at The Heaven’s Gate Harbor. He watched in wonder as if he has never seen it before. “The last time I saw the sunset from this pier … was probably fifteen years ago,” his gaze was far into the past. “Funny how that turned out,” he mumbled to himself.

“You should get out of the hotel more often,” she teased him.

He scoffed lightly and shrugged it off. They were silent for a moment to enjoy the scenery. By then, they had spent more than half of that day together. Usually, the guy would already assume that sex was going to be involved, or at least he would try to include it at the end of the ‘date’.

“Where do you live, Margot?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He furrowed his brows, “So I can take you home.”

She laughed, “You’re sweet … cool, and calm … but sweet.”

He realized the day wasn’t over yet, and she never intended for it to be anything more beyond that day. He took a deep breath and leaned on the railing. “So where do you want to take us now, Margot?”

Game on, she thought.