Page 73 of Until You Came Along

“Have a good day, darling, call me as soon as you finish your meeting with your friend,” he requested, and then gave me a kiss on the lips, but it wasn’t a simple kiss, it was a passionate one.

“Have a good day too.”

He waited for me to enter the building and only after I did so did he get back in the car and leave.

When I got to my apartment, I felt like I hadn’t been there in a long time, but only 24 hours had passed. Life with Hermes was so dizzying that I even lost track of time.

After changing my clothes, I called Serafina to arrange what we would do that night.

“Hi, Seri,” I greeted her.

“Hi, Delfi. Are you at your office already?”

“No, I’m still at home, but I’m about to leave.”

“We’re still on for today, right? Because I imagine you have a lot to tell me.”

“You imagine correctly, I have sooooo much to tell you. What should we do?”

“Just give me a preview—did you work things out with that hottie Hermes Darwich?”

“I don’t know if ‘worked out’ is the right phrase, but I can tell you that I’m dating him. In fact, I stayed at his place last night, and he just dropped me off at my apartment so I could change.”

“Are you happy?” she asked cautiously.

“Being with him is what I want, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I’m terrified. I’ll tell you everything later.”

“Okay, Delfi, I’ll let you go because I’m also heading to the office.”

“Just to let you know, this time I won’t be able to stay at your place or have you stay at mine because Hermes wants to pick me up so we can see each other.”

“Two nights in a row? That man is crazy about you,” she stated.

“It’s just because it’s the first few days. I don’t think it will be like this later.”

“The novelty or ‘heat’ of the early days,” Serafina said.

“Something like that.”

“Well, we’ll talk about it later. Have a good day,” she said goodbye.

“You too.”

???

The day at the office was busy, starting with a meeting that went on until after noon, and after grabbing a quick lunch, I had two more meetings. I barely had time to respond to a message from Hermes asking how my day was going, and Serafina and I agreed that she would come by my place and then we’d go out to dinner at a restaurant. Baco also wrote to check in on me because we hadn’t spoken in days, and we agreed to coordinate a time to see each other in the coming days.

I couldn’t leave the office until after seven in the evening, and I was truly exhausted. I got to my apartment and the first thing I did was take a long shower, then I put on comfortable clothes and went to make a coffee and something to eat because I had barely eaten anything all day. I was savoring my sandwich when my phone rang—it was Hermes.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Hello, darling. Where are you? Are you with your friend?”

“I’m at home because Serafina hasn’t arrived yet.”

“And have you decided what you’re going to do?”

“Not yet, but we’ll probably go out to dinner. How was your day?”