Time to Tell Scott

A beautiful, long stem rose appeared in the small opening of my driver's side window. It almost startled me as I looked up from my cell phone.

"Aw, babe," was all I managed as I lowered my window to take the rose from Scott's hand. "What's this for?"

I looked up at Scott, who shrugged. "A guy was selling them on the subway and it made me think of you." He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Can I drive?" He quickly asked.

"Sure," I responded without really thinking about it. I don't mind driving but I'll always let other people drive if they offer. I hate concentrating so much on the road.

Once Scott began driving, though, I realized that we hadn't discussed a place to eat but he was driving without saying anything to me. "Where are we going?" I asked as I leaned back in the passenger seat.

"You'll see," Scott replied with a wink.

Ugh, why did he have to be so perfect right before I was about to be such a bitch? I felt bad enough about keeping this potential job a secret, but now I felt even worse. I asked him about work, hoping to fill the car ride with a pleasant discussion before arriving at our dinner destination.

"Stressful," he replied without taking his eyes off the road. He began telling me more about why it sucked and I sympathized as he tried explaining the major problems. Some of them went over my head because math is hard.

"Is your boss any better?" I asked, remembering that a couple of weeks ago his boss was making his job a lot harder than necessary.

"Yeah, he's been cutting me a lot more slack and I actually think he's realizing how unreasonable he was being."

"That's good," I replied, reaching my left hand over to his right arm and rubbing it. "You work too hard."

"Thanks," he said as he cracked a smile. "He briefly mentioned something about a promotion, but knowing him, I'm not getting my hopes up."

I sat up more in the passenger seat. "Scott, that's great," I exclaimed. "You deserve one!"

"We'll see," he said as he quickly turned toward me and smiled again. "Have you heard from Mike at all about your resume?"

My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't even thought about Mike and if he had any leads with my resume. I also wasn't ready for the conversation to be turned to me. I wondered how close we were to Scott's mystery destination.

"Um, not yet," I responded. "Maybe I'll email him tomorrow."

Scott silently nodded. "Yeah, if he can't find anything for someone as hard working and skilled as you, he doesn't deserve to make it as a recruiter."

"Aw, you're making me blush," I replied with a smile. Then, I brought up something that I had been so curious about but was too nervous to ask. "It's so strange to me that you aren't uncomfortable with my ex-boyfriend trying to get me a new job."

Scott laughed. I was glad he wasn't sensitive about the statement. "I don't know," he replied. "You're exes for a reason, right? Should I be uncomfortable?"

I smiled. "No, I hadn't thought about it that way, though," I honestly answered. "Most guys wouldn't be so cool about it."

A moment later, I knew where Scott was driving us. We were on the south shore of the island where a strip of seafood restaurants were located along the water. It was a really nice area to go when the weather got warmer.

We parked the car and began walking along the strip. We picked a nice restaurant that didn't seem to have a long wait. There was a small table near the bar that had a great view of boats going by.

"So, I wanted to tell you something," I began after ordering drinks. Scott's eyebrows went up but he just looked at me, patiently waiting. "I met this woman, Lillian, at the conference in San Francisco. Anyway, I didn't want to say anything until there was a strong possibility that it was going somewhere, but we've discussed a possible job opportunity. She works for Web Matcher."

"Caroline, that's amazing!" Scott quickly interjected. He actually got up from his seat and pulled me in for a big hug. "Wow, I'm so happy for you, babe," he continued into my neck.

"I don't have it yet," I modestly replied. "And, um, even if I get an offer, I don't know if I will take it."

"Why wouldn't you take it?" Scott asked as he settled back into his seat.

I wanted to stall so I began telling Scott about the job description.

"It sounds awesome," Scott replied, puzzled.

I looked into his eyes. "Yeah," I replied as his gaze pulled at my heart strings. "The only thing is, it's in Santa Monica."

Scott's face instantly deflated. "Oh," he began. "I see."

I slowly nodded as I looked down at my lap. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Babe, don't cry," I heard Scott say, but that only made it worse. I had to look away. Damn it, I hate crying in public!

I wiped my eyes as I saw the waiter come over with our drinks. I smiled at him and let Scott order our meals. Good thing I told him what I wanted before my cry fest.

I waited a moment, as I sipped my drink. Scott wasn't saying anything and it freaked me out. I finally looked up at him and decided to break the silence. "I don't know if I'll get it."

"You'll get it," Scott replied, meeting my eyes. "You're so smart. But, why don't we take it day by day, okay?"

I nodded. At least he didn't dump me. Day by day, Caroline.