Page 72 of Until You Came Along

“And what am I supposed to do with my car? Leave it forever in my office parking lot? Don’t you see how illogical that is?”

“I was thinking of putting a chauffeur at your disposal so…”

“What?!”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that little question,” he joked, but my sense of humor had completely vanished.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear what you just suggested because it’s absolutely insane.”

“It’s not, think about it more carefully.”

“I don’t need to think about anything. This topic ends here,” I declared, and this time I was the one who left no room for other options.

“Sometimes it’s necessary. I have a chauffeur on staff and sometimes I get around with him.”

“Good for you,” I said, taking a long sip of my coffee with milk.

Hermes looked at me, but he must have realized it was better to end that topic because he didn’t mention it again, though he brought up another subject where we also had different ways of thinking. Did we think alike about anything? I didn’t know.

“We need to talk about Friday. As I told you, we’ll have to go to each dinner for a while, then we’ll see which one we go to first.”

“Where is yours?” I asked, because I still hadn’t decided if what he was proposing was what I was going to do.

“In a hotel ballroom in Carrasco.”

“You’re in luck because the dinner I’m invited to is also in the Carrasco neighborhood. In fact, it’s also in a hotel ballroom and…” as I was saying this, an idea began to cross my mind, the same one that occurred to Hermes.

“By any chance, is your dinner organized by the company ‘Values’?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I can’t believe it! Are we really invited to the same dinner?!” I exclaimed, completely astonished.

“It seems so. Problem solved,” he said, appearing relieved.

“We’ll probably be seated at different tables.”

“Don’t worry about that,” he stated confidently.

And I knew he would do whatever he thought was best, which was probably to make sure we were seated together. After all, if we were dating, that was the right thing to do.

“Let’s go, darling, we need to get going.”

“Yes, let’s go,” I said, getting up from my chair.

The journey to my house was relaxed; Hermes once again seemed calm.

“What I said about your advice on some projects for my company, I meant it. When can you meet with me at my office?” he asked, turning to look at me.

“Don’t you have someone who advises you on these matters?”

“Of course I do, but I also want to know your opinion,” he pointed out.

“It doesn’t seem very ethical to me,” I suggested.

“I can ask for as many opinions as I deem necessary, and besides, you’re my girlfriend and you can give your opinion on my affairs whenever you think it’s necessary.”

“Alright, I’ll see when I can stop by your office and you can show me what you want me to analyze.”

Hermes parked at the entrance to my building and got out to say goodbye to me.