Chapter 4

Topher was in a meeting at NationComm on Thursday morning when his phone rang. He held up a finger to Steve Lang, the manager he'd once coded for and now provided coders for. "I need to take this." Before anyone could object, he stepped out into the next conference room and closed the door.

"What's up?" Allegra asked when he answered the phone. He'd texted her to ask her to call when she could, not wanting to interrupt her work.

"I found a boxing match this weekend ... a mixed card on Saturday night. It's in Atlantic City, though. I haven't found anything in New York."

There was a pause. "Are you inviting me to go to Atlantic City with you?"

"Yes."

"Will we be staying overnight?" asked Allegra.

"That's up to you," said Topher. "The fights will probably run until midnight. If I hire a car to drive us there and back, you could be home by three thirty or so."

Allegra laughed. "And if I'd rather stay?"

"I'll rent a car and get us a suite at the Borgata," said Topher. "We can drive down Saturday and back Sunday morning."

"You do know this will be only be our third date. Right?" Her voice was playfully suspicious.

"About that..." said Topher. "We were originally planning to go out Friday night. Would you be interested in meeting Estrella and Reggie for dinner?"

That got another laugh. "You're good - dangling the mystery woman in front of me as an incentive to accelerate our dating schedule."

"Estrella's not a mystery woman. She's a Kindergarten teacher." Topher found himself grinning simply to be bantering with Allegra.

"I was hoping you and I could talk on our next date," said Allegra, voice suddenly serious. "Just the two of us. There are some things about me you should know before you decide you want to go any further."

A small butterfly of worry fluttered in Topher's stomach, but he didn't give it voice. He couldn't think of anything Allegra might say that would make him want to stop seeing her. He wanted to reassure her, but figured nothing would be really reassuring until he'd heard what she wanted to say. And there was always a chance that his imagination just wasn't up to the task at hand. He said, "If you like, we could get together for lunch today. I'm at NationComm."

"What are you doing here?" Allegra asked, sounding a touch startled.

"Trying to convince a room full of managers that the laws of physics apply to software development," said Topher dryly. "And that they can't repeal those laws by throwing money at me."

Allegra's laugh sounded a bit relieved, like she'd been afraid he'd specifically come to see her... "Not the worst problem in the world to have." She took a breath. "I'm sorry, Topher. I can't do this over lunch."

"All right," Topher accepted gracefully, even though he'd been hoping they could shoehorn in two dates between now and Atlantic City, making it the fifth date. "Would you just like to have lunch, then? Not a date ... just two people working in the same building who like each other enough to share a meal. We can talk about the weather or sports or whatever it is coworkers talk about."

That laugh was heartier. "All right. But you're going to have to carry the conversation. I know very little about sports."

Friday night, Topher was the first to arrive at the Brazilian restaurant he'd invited everyone to join him at, coming almost a half hour early just to make sure he wasn't late.

"Buy a girl a drink?"

Topher turned and grinned at Estrella, who strode up in a simple, black evening dress cinched with a gold belt and kissed him on the cheek. He grinned at her. "You're looking awfully nice tonight."

"Of course," said Estrella. "When Reggie tells me how much more beautiful I am than your new girlfriend, I'd rather not make a total liar out of him."

Topher laughed. "She's not my girlfriend yet."

"Fine." Estrella took the stool next to him and signaled the bartender. "So, I want to look better than your future girlfriend. It's a very human instinct. Competition is in our DNA."

"But you don't even want me," pointed out Topher. "And I can't imagine Reggie and Allegra making a love connection. Can you?"

"It seems unlikely," acknowledged Estrella. "But I'd hate for this to be the night he decides I've gotten too old for him and he needs to start looking for an upgrade."

"Reggie? He's crazy about you."

"He is," Estrella said wistfully, then more sharply. "And I'd like to keep him that way."

"Well, you have nothing to worry about." said Topher. "You look good."

Estrella accepted her drink from the bartender. "You know, your social skills are getting better every time I see you. Not that long ago, you never would have thought to reassure me about something like that."

Topher smiled. "Give me a couple more years, I might even be more advanced than the kids in your class."

"I would say you already are, but some of those kids are really precocious," said Estrella. "You haven't lived until you've been smooth-talked by a kindergartener."

Allegra stepped in from outside, looked around, and beamed at Topher. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder green dress and had her hair up again.

"Damn," said Estrella, spotting her. "You weren't kidding."

Allegra came and placed a kiss on Topher's cheek. "Kidding about what?"

"Topher was just telling me how pretty you were and I thought he must be exaggerating." Estrella rose and kissed the younger woman on the cheek.

Allegra blushed and looked at Topher. "Really?"

"I've been telling her all along how attractive you are," said Topher, neatly skirting between lying and calling out Estrella on her own fib. He wasn't sure why so many of his friends seemed to think they were doing a favor by lying to Allegra about him.

"We should get our table," said Estrella. "If we wait at the bar for my husband, we may end up drinking dinner."

Reggie was often habitually late and they'd all shown up early, but he surprised them by arriving ten minutes before he was due. Once he'd sat down, he said, "You must be Allegra. It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you," Allegra said. Her voice was quiet and had a note of timidity that had Topher and Estrella exchanging a look. They'd been having a normal, relaxed conversation up until that point.

Topher put his arm around Allegra, addressing Reggie. "We haven't ordered anything but drinks yet. Did you have any trouble finding the place?"

Reggie shook his head. "The grid's pretty straight up here and the subways were all running on time. It's nice when everything works."

"Where were you coming from?" Allegra asked, her voice clearer now.

As Reggie answered, Topher watched Estrella watching Allegra. He had a feeling his friend had spotted something he hadn't. They were interrupted by the waiter coming to take their orders.

"Topher, Estrella tells me you're not coding anymore ... that you've gone into management." Reggie said it casually, but Topher knew the subtext. Reggie was a project manager and former database developer. Topher had inadvertently criticized him when he'd taken the promotion three years earlier. He'd only meant to speak abstractly.

"Not really," he said. "I've gone to more of an architect's role and I've got some more junior coders building out some of what I created, but once I get back from vacation, I'll start looking for another project to work on."

"Oh? Where are you going on vacation?" Reggie asked.

"I've narrowed it down a little," said Topher. "I was looking at Machu Picchu yesterday."

"You're thinking about going to Machu Picchu?" Estrella sounded surprised.

"No. I've decided that I'm definitely not going to Machu Picchu. It's way too much work for too little payoff." Topher sipped his wine. "I do like the sound of Angra dos Reis in Brazil, though. Allegra wants to go there."

Reggie exchanged a look with his wife. "You're going to Brazil together?"

Topher opened his mouth to answer and realized he had no idea how to. He certainly hadn't discussed going on vacation with Allegra, but he had found himself daydreaming about it. He still wanted to go on vacation, but the idea of going away for a month and not seeing her made his chest ache in a way that seemed out of proportion with the amount of time they'd spent together. He glanced at Allegra.

She leaned in, rescuing him. "Topher's been planning this vacation since before we met, but we are going to Atlantic City together this weekend."

"Really?" Estrella leaned forward as well like she was expecting Allegra to stage-whisper a secret. Topher hadn't told her about this yet. "I guess things must be going well for you two, then?"

Allegra reached up and interlaced her fingers with Topher's, drawing his arm a little more tightly around herself. To Topher's surprise, she did stage-whisper. "I think that's what we want to find out this weekend."