Her Bundles Of Joy

The pizza they’d ordered arrived as soon as the singer was out the door. Evan clapped his hands together and smiled brightly. “Damn, that looks delicious. Thank you, Matteo.” The young Italian man that had served them smiled politely and left Evan and Nicole to greet a couple that walked through the doors of the cozy restaurant.

“Uh, thank you for offering me a ride. You really don’t have to,” Nicole said once she was over her initial shock about Evan’s offer.

“I insist,” he said politely. “So, have you and Brandi been friends for long?”

“Not really. I just met her three weeks ago. She’s keen on us becoming friends, though. Said she thinks I’m going to make it to her list of people she can trust,” Nicole finished with a small chuckle.

“Well, Brandi is a very intuitive person. If she liked you from the minute you guys met, then you really must be a nice girl.”

“Thanks,” Nicole smiled sheepishly. Clearing her throat, the dancer asked, “What about you guys, though? You guys worked together before?”

“Not really. We’ve known each other for a while now, but this is our first time embarking on a joint project. We didn’t want to mix friendship with business, you know?”

“How did you meet her, then?”

“At a night club. My cousin opened a dance club at the Village last year and Brandi showed up the night of the inauguration. I tried to flirt with her but she put me back in my place right away. We became friends immediately after that.” Evan smiled as he recalled the night that they met.

“I suppose you’re also in her list, right?”

“You could say that.” Evan’s nostalgic expression turned into a serious one. “Can I be very honest with you?” Nicole nodded silently. “You do realize that Brandi is trying to set us up, right?”

The young dancer almost choked on her food. “You noticed?”

“Of course. I’ve known her for months, remember? She has this tendency of trying to set me up with every woman she meets.”

“Really?” Nicole raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know why she felt slightly disappointed at this revelation. Maybe because for a minute there she’d believed that Brandi really saw the potential for something between her and Evan, but apparently the singer saw the same potential between the blonde man and any random woman. “Well, you don’t have to worry, I already told her to stop.”

Evan raised a questioning eyebrow and Nicole’s heart skipped a beat.

“I mean, don’t take it personally. It’s not that I think you’re hideous, not at all. It’s the total opposite, actually. I’ve never met a man as handsome as you, and that’s something coming from me because I’ve met tons of handsome men before. You’re seriously in the top 3 of the hottest men I’ve seen in my life. In a completely platonic way, of course. I’m not delusional to think that you’d be interested in me. I mean, not that I want you to be interested! I just…sorry, I’m rambling.”

Evan laughed and her heart fluttered at the melodic sound of his laugh.

“It’s okay…” He went silent for a while. “So, you think I’m handsome?”

Nicole threw a french fry at the blonde man. She wished a hole in the ground would swallow her whole right now. Nicole wasn’t used to rambling in front of strangers, let alone in front of a very handsome stranger. It just wasn’t part of her personality. There had to be something different about Evan but Nicole chose to forbid her thoughts from heading down that direction. There was absolutely no space for feelings in her life at the moment.

“You’re a dancer, huh? Are you from New York or did you move here to pursue your dreams?”

“I’m from this small town in Ohio called Lansor,” Nicole answered. “I moved here a few years ago, but it’s been enough time for me to be sure that I don’t ever want to go back home. New York City is my home now.”

“That’s nice. I used to visit Lansor all the time back when I was in high school. I’m from Torly, West Virginia, it’s a two-hour drive from Larson. I used to play football and the Larson Titans were our biggest rivals back then.” Nicole did recall that the entire student body would come to watch those games. The Larson Titans playing against the Torly Red Rages was always a big event at school. Their rivalry wasn’t new, it had started back in her grandfather’s days. Nicole couldn’t remember the exact reason, despite her grandpa having told her the same story time and time again. Grandpa Johnson had been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s when she was 16. It was a difficult time.

“And I keep going back and forth between the Big Apple and Torly, though. Can’t say I consider this place my home,” Evan continued his story. Nicole refocused her attention on the blonde man sitting across from her. “My family’s first and largest farm is still in Torly, so I can’t really leave my hometown behind.”

“You said your name’s Evan Campbell, right? Are you related to the company?”

Evan let out a breathy chuckle. “Yes, I am. Wouldn’t it be funny if I were a Campbell working for Campbell Brothers but in reality I wasn’t really related to them? But, yeah. My uncle is the current president. He and my father started the company together, but my dad… I’ll be in charge of the company once my uncle retires but I’m not really looking forward to that. It’s too much work. Thank God uncle Desmond says he’ll stop working only after he’s dead.”

Nicole chuckled at that. “It’s interesting how he’s so dedicated to work. I mean, your uncle owns one of the biggest companies in the country. It’s not like he can’t hire someone to do his work for him, right?”

“Yeah, but I guess it’s a family thing. My grandfather always encouraged all of us to work hard for what’s rightfully ours. He used to say that no one will take better care of your stuff than you. The employees, the company isn’t theirs. Why would they dedicate their lives to it? That’s why we come to work every day on time and leave only after everyone’s gone home already. Uncle Desmond and I are the only ones who’ll sacrifice themselves for Campbell Brothers, that’s why we still work this much even after having already built this big of an empire.”