a project by throwing away the trash first, napkins, blank pieces of paper, old coffee cups. So I did that first before I started to organize the papers sitting on your desk. If I lived that way, I’d have anxiety all the time, so I don’t know how you do it.”
“I have a good memory, so I know where I put everything.”
“But still…”
I turned back to my work. “I just need to finish something, and then we’ll go.”
“Alright.” She ate her burger as she sat there, eating the whole thing even though she usually had a salad or something light for lunch. But now she ate like she enjoyed every single bite.
I erased a few things before I added my changes. That way, it would be ready for tomorrow.
She watched what I was doing, as if she understood it.
I raised my chin and looked at her.
“I’m sorry. I’m just always fascinated by the stuff you write down. It’s like you’re doing math but with no numbers. You really have to be a genius to understand that.”
“I don’t consider myself to be a genius.”
“Well, if you consider yourself to be average, then what does that make me?”
“I didn’t say I was average.” I lifted my gaze to look at her, to see the drop of ketchup in the corner of her mouth. I didn’t tell her to wipe it away because it was cute…that she had an imperfection when she was perfect all the time. “I just don’t think I deserve the genius title. I think that reputation is reserved for the great minds that have already passed on.”
“Well, I think you’re a genius. That’s why I call you Super Brain.”
I smiled at the joke that had become an affectionate nickname. “I think about things differently, and since people don’t understand it, they assume it means I’ve attained some level of genius. In reality, I just think in a first-principle mind-set versus the analog mind-set.”
She gave me a blank look. “What does that mean?”
I dropped my pencil and eschewed the work altogether since the conversation took my focus. “First principle means you think about the program, in its barest form, and forget everything you already know about it. And then you work from the ground up, basically reinventing the wheel but finding a new way of doing it. That allows me to do things differently, more efficiently, more progressively. Analog thinking is working based on the knowledge the majority of the population already has, but if you work off that, you’re always going to have the same obstacles and progression.”
Even though we didn’t have the same education or background, she seemed to understand it. “That makes sense.”
“So, people call me a genius, when in reality, I just think differently.”
“But isn’t thinking differently the definition of being a genius?”
I’d never really thought of it that way before.
“I think you’re a genius. But since you think differently than I do, you don’t realize it.”
I held her gaze.
She closed her container because it was empty. “God, I just ate like a pig.”
“Then I’m a pig too.”
“But you’re a man. You can get away with it.”
“You can get away with it more.”
She grabbed the containers and threw them away.
I left my stuff behind and turned off the lights before we walked out together. I drove the golf cart, and we moved through the building as we headed to the Escalade waiting for us at the curb.
This question was overdue, but I asked it anyway. “What did you do this weekend?”
She turned to look at me, one hand on the straps of her purse. “I had a date, actually.”
I gave a slight nod, but I felt a jolt of both arousal and jealousy. “How’d that go?”
She shrugged. “Good.”
“You’ve been seeing him a while?”
“No, it’s casual.”
That was what I’d assumed based on my observations. She chose to remain unattached to a man despite her age, and that was fascinating to me. It didn’t seem like she couldn’t have a man; she just didn’t want one. And that was so sexy. She could have any man she wanted, but she didn’t feel obligated to have one. She was fulfilled on her own, didn’t need someone to make her happy.
It reminded me of myself…except I wasn’t happy.
“Do you see your parents a lot?”
We got to the Escalade, and she walked around to let herself in. I got into the seat, greeted Ronnie, and then we were off.
She laughed at the question I’d asked. “Oh, I see my parents waaaaaay